There are various ways to arrive in Venice. Over the years I have arrived via train and by plane. For this trip we arrived by plane and left by train.
Flying into Venice is magical. Floating in the sky over the islands and canals of one of our planets most unique visual treasures is breathtaking. (Keep this in mind when you pick your seat on the plane!) Managing the Venice airport is very simple. You will quickly find yourself in the customs line upon arrival. Signs are very clear as to which line is yours, basically international traveller vs Italian nationals and residents. If you are an international traveller you will go through a turn style and scan your passport and have your photo taken by a machine, you will then step up to the customs desk and have your passport stamped. The next doorway will put you right into baggage claim. It is here you will find your luggage if you checked any and you will see many signs for drivers, escorts, and tour groups.
For this trip we arranged a transport from the airport to a water taxi that would take us directly to our hotel. I always struggle with this because the transportation in Venice is actually very easy. It feels like it would be overwhelming but once you get the hang of it it’s simple. For this trip we arranged transportation through our hotel. You pay a premium to be greeted, escorted, and assisted with baggage rather than make your way to the water taxis yourself. If you book a car, the driver drives you to another dock but still brings you by water taxi as there are no cars (or bicycles) in Venice.
As luck would have it, for the first time, we ended up needing to navigate this ourselves. Our escort was not there to greet us. I searched everywhere multiple times. So we made our way out of this small airport to see if the escort was outside. He was not. So we walked down the water taxis and called the hotel. While sitting down at the water taxi dock we watched the whole process. There is a desk where you book your water taxi and then you meet your boat at the assigned dock.
Our escort finally stumbled in, late, disorganized, and apologetic. (Our hotel was embarrassed, apologetic, and did not charge us for this service.)
My lesson during this trip was that in the future I want to just go down to the water taxi myself and book my own boat.
I am a boat girl, born and bred, so water taxis are my dream. Don and I had a joyful ride to our hotel in our taxi, taking in all the beautiful sites as we arrived to my favorite city.
When you arrive at your hotel via water taxi, your driver pulls right up to the hotel dock and the bellman assists you from there. Waterfront hotels and restaurants have both, a dock and a door out to the street.
For this trip we packed only carryon luggage, I have adopted this as my favorite way to travel. This would come in very handily when we left Venice via Vaporeto (water ferry) to the train station.
Arriving at our hotel