Venice - Private Tours

[sarar]

Can anyone reccommend any private tours to do while in Venice, as the Ships excursions are so expensive?

 

Thanks

 

Sara

[Keith1010]

Sara, Venice is really easy to do on your own. While I think both ship and private excursions are good in many ports, this is a port where you don't need an excursion.

 

Keith

[sarar]

Hi Keith

 

Thanks for the speedy reply. It sounds good just to do your own thing then. I am a part-time wheelchair user but I'm quite mobile now after having both knees replaced, and find it easier to walk on buses and such like, but I am quite happy to look around shops and sit outside a cafe.

[Keith1010]

sarar, there are a lot of little bridges that connect all of these little islands with one another.

 

I would recommend walking a little and sitting at a cafe as you mentioned and if it is not a problem going in a gondola and taking a nice ride.

 

Keith

[sarar]

Thanks Keith, was just wondering if you can remember how far from Venice Airport the cruise Terminal is?

 

Thanks

Sara

[CentaurTheFirst]

Hi Sarar

I am also looking for info on shore excusions so went to the library and got the Rough Guide to Venice & Lonely Planet guide. Both good with detailed info on what to do in a day. The Vaporetta I believe is the cheapest way to get to Venice from the Ship.:)

[Freckles_51]

Can anyone reccommend any private tours to do while in Venice, as the Ships excursions are so expensive?

 

Thanks

 

Sara

 

If you can handle getting on and off a vaporetto and a bit of walking here and there, you could buy a vaporetto pass to cover your time there, and use the vap. (#1 or #2 for Grand Canal) as hop-on-hop-off transport, so that you don't need to do quite as much walking.:)

 

Note that there is no vaporetto stop at the cruise port.:(

 

Here is the web site where you can get a route map, check schedules, etc.

 

http://www.actv.it

[sarar]

Thanks for that great tip Freckles.

 

Regards

Sara

[Keith1010]

Thanks Keith, was just wondering if you can remember how far from Venice Airport the cruise Terminal is?

 

Thanks

Sara

 

Sarar, we have visited Venice several times but all by cruise ship so hopefully someone else can answer this for you.

 

Keith

[sarar]

We are actually flying into Venice from Heathrow and then getting the cruise ship from Venice, but thanks for all your invaluable imformation.

 

Regards

Sara

[Keith1010]

You are very welcome.

 

Keith

[watercolor artist]

I thought I saw a post where the person wrote of taking the vapporetta from the cruise ship to St. Mark's because it was cheaper than the cruise ship transfer.That was my plan so I need to know if that's not possible.

[Freckles_51]

Thanks Keith, was just wondering if you can remember how far from Venice Airport the cruise Terminal is?

 

Thanks

Sara

 

I've never been yet but from my research, if I was going direct to the cruise port from the airport I would take a land taxi...probably takes no more than 30 minutes You could take water taxi as well but much more expensive and I've read that it's a bit of a walk from the airport terminal to the water taxi location

 

Least expensive is ATVO express coach for 3Euro, but that takes you to Piazzale Roma where from there you need to transfer to one of various options: port shuttle, land taxi, people mover.

[Freckles_51]

I thought I saw a post where the person wrote of taking the vapporetta from the cruise ship to St. Mark's because it was cheaper than the cruise ship transfer.That was my plan so I need to know if that's not possible.

 

You may be thinking of the Alilaguna M line - I believe it is direct from cruise port to S.Marco.

[agabbymama]

Tours aren't absolutely necessary, but I like to combine a tour, plus walking around on our own.

 

I used viator.com for a couple of tours. We did a ghost walking tour, and another walking tour that included a gondola ride. I paid $58 for the tour with the gondola ride, so felt I was getting my monies worth versus just 80 EUR for a gondola ride.

 

We also bought a 72 hour vaporetto pass and went to Lido and Murano. We were going to go on to Burano, but the lagoon got rough and it started to pour, so we headed back to our hotel.

 

Have a great trip, whatever you decide to do.