Venice City Guide

Public transport

Operator. The vehicles and boats belong to the municipal holding company AVM, the operating company is called Actv. Sales run through Venezia Unica, the City of Venice's ticket distribution, with its own counters, machines, and a web shop. The network area is the entire municipality of Venice, meaning the historic center, the mainland around Mestre and Marghera, the islands of Lido and Pellestrina, and the lagoon lines out to the terminals of Chioggia Vigo, Punta Sabbioni, and Treporti Ricevitoria. What matters for travelers is the boundary outward. Alilaguna's boat lines to the airport and ATVO's express buses aren't part of it, they're private operators with their own fares. An Actv ticket or an Actv multi-day ticket isn't valid there, nor on lines 16 and 19 or on the Casinò line.

Network. Vaporetti instead of buses. Tickets are time-based and day passes almost always pay off.

Modes of transport. Vaporetto (scheduled boat) · Vehicle ferry (lines 11 and 17) · Bus · Tram (Mestre only, lines T1 and T2) · People Mover (Tronchetto–Piazzale Roma)

Operating hours. Actv doesn't publish a single network-wide operating window, every line has its own timetable as a PDF. As a benchmark, line 1 serves, the main line through the Grand Canal. It starts from Piazzale Roma at 5.01 am, initially running every 20 minutes, from late morning every twelve minutes, from around 8 pm at wider intervals again, and leaves Piazzale Roma for the last time at 11.55 pm. The last trip reaches the terminal after midnight. From 11.30 pm the N night line runs in parallel, so no gap forms between daytime and night service. Timetables for all navigation lines are available individually as PDFs on the AVM website, and there's also real-time information at oraritemporeale.actv.it.

Night service. Night service has existed since 1996 and is a fully planned network, not an emergency service. Actv states the window as midnight to 5 am, in practice the N boat line already starts at 11.30 pm from San Marco San Zaccaria and ends at 5.26 am at the Lido. It connects Lido, Giardini, San Marco, Rialto, Ca d'Oro, Ferrovia, Piazzale Roma, Tronchetto, Sacca Fisola, Giudecca, and Zattere, running the full length of the Grand Canal. From Tronchetto it departs every 20 minutes until 1 am, then every 30 minutes until 5 am. There's also the NMU boat line between Fondamente Nove and Murano and the NLN line into the northern lagoon toward Burano, Torcello, and Punta Sabbioni. On land, night buses N1 and N2 in Mestre and Marghera and line 11N toward Lido, Pellestrina, and Chioggia round things out. The connections are coordinated with each other, transfer points are Piazzale Roma and Piazzale Santa Maria Elisabetta at the Lido.

Buying tickets. The most convenient way is the machines right at the landing stages and the Venezia Unica counters at Piazzale Roma, Ferrovia, and other hubs, plus partner sales points and advance purchase on veneziaunica.it. Buying on board follows two opposite rules. On the boat, the ticket must be requested from staff when boarding, it's paid for exclusively via the card reader, cash isn't accepted, and it's already validated. On the bus, by contrast, only cash is accepted, the amount must be exact, the on-board ticket costs 3.00 euros instead of 1.50 euros and must be validated on board. On the tram and People Mover, buying on board isn't possible at all. Validation is required at every boarding and every vehicle change, at the landing stages and in the People Mover stations at the posts, and on board on the bus and tram. Anyone buying via the app instead keeps the ticket ready on the bus and activates it three minutes before boarding.

App and payment. The official app is called AVM Venezia Official App and covers purchase, activation, and validation, it reads the QR code at the readers on the landing stages. There's also Chat&Go by muoversivenezia, a sales channel via WhatsApp offering three tickets, the 75-minute ticket for bus, tram, and People Mover at 1.50 euros, the Aerobus ticket at 10.00 euros, and the 75-minute ticket for the entire city network including boats at 9.50 euros. Cardholders can additionally use Tap to pay, tapping the contactless bank card directly on the validator, the system works to the EMV standard. Cash is only accepted on the bus from the driver. On the boat, cash has been excluded since July 2024. Reserved tickets and passes run through the Venezia Unica chip card, which can also be registered in the app.

Which ticket. The standard ticket for the entire city network including boats costs 9.50 euros and is valid 75 minutes from first validation, transfers included. Anyone traveling only on land, meaning bus, tram, and People Mover without the boat, pays 1.50 euros for the same 75 minutes, a book of ten costs 14.00 euros. The time-based tickets are officially called the Venezia Daily Pass and Biglietti 2, 3 e 7 giorni and cost 25.00 euros for 24 hours, 35.00 euros for 48 hours, 45.00 euros for 72 hours, and 65.00 euros for 168 hours, each from first validation. Converted, the 24-hour ticket equals 2.6 single rides, the 48-hour ticket 3.7, the 72-hour ticket 4.7, and the weekly ticket 6.8 single rides. The Venezia Daily Pass also includes Trenitalia regional trains within the municipality, meaning Santa Lucia, Porto Marghera, Mestre, Carpenedo, and Mestre Ospedale. Travelers aged 6 to 29 get a 72-hour ticket for 27.00 euros, for which the Rolling Venice card is needed, costing 6.00 euros and available at Venezia Unica counters. All day and multi-day tickets exclude trips to and from the airport. Anyone wanting to use them there anyway buys a surcharge at the same time, 7.00 euros for one direction or 13.00 euros for round trip, adding it afterward isn't possible.

Fare zones. No zones. A single price applies across the whole city area out to Lido, Pellestrina, Punta Sabbioni, and Chioggia Vigo. Excluded are all trips to and from the airport as well as lines 16, 19, Casinò, and all Alilaguna boats.

Tip. Line 1 runs the length of the Grand Canal and is the cheapest city tour.

Links

• Actv, current fares for the city area of Venice
• AVM, network maps and landing stage maps
• AVM, boat line timetables
• Actv, night service
• AVM, timetables, high water and fog regulations
• Alilaguna, fares
• ATVO, airport express buses
• Viaggiatreno, departures from Venezia Santa Lucia
• Network map

Getting there

Main station

Location. The station sits directly on the Grand Canal. Venezia Mestre is on the mainland and cheaper.

Long-distance trains. The terminus station on the Grand Canal is the endpoint of all lines, every train turns around here. High-speed service runs largely on an hourly frequency. To Roma Termini and Napoli Centrale, a Frecciarossa departs each hour at 26 minutes past, to Milano Centrale at 48 or 22 minutes past, plus individual trains to Torino Porta Nuova and a long-haul train to Lecce. Across the border, a EuroCity runs at 9.52 am to the Brenner Pass with a connection toward Austria and Germany. At night an Intercity Notte runs at 10.05 pm to Rome, in the opposite direction an Intercity Notte to Trieste departs at 6.35 am. Regional service is dense and serves Padua, Verona, Bologna, Treviso, Udine, Trieste, Bassano del Grappa, Conegliano, Portogruaro, and Adria. To Venezia Mestre on the mainland, regional trains run continuously, and this route is included in the Venezia Daily Pass. A rail station at Marco Polo Airport is set up in the timetable system but isn't served by any train.

Opening hours. First departure 4.51 am toward Verona, the first Frecciarossa at 5.26 am to Rome. In the evening the last trains leave shortly after 11 pm, on Sundays as late as 0.13 am to Treviso.

Airports

Local quirks

• Day fee for visitors. On certain days, day visitors have to pay an entry fee, booked online. Overnight guests are exempt.
• High water rewrites the timetable. In fog, or when the tide exceeds 95 centimeters above sea level, AVM/Actv switches boat service to a special plan agreed with the city. Lines are shortened, rerouted, or canceled. Changes are posted on the information boards at the landing stages, via the call center 041 041, and via the @muoversivenezia channels. Anyone planning to take a specific line in the morning should check there in advance if high water has been announced.
• Every landing stage has letters. Large stops like San Zaccaria, Piazzale Roma, or Rialto consist of several floating pontoons, numbered with letters A, B, C, and onward. In the timetable, the letter appears right after the name, for example Rialto D or San Marco San Zaccaria B. Anyone waiting at the wrong pontoon will see their boat pass by at another one. AVM publishes dedicated landing stage maps as PDFs for eleven major stops. At several of these pontoons there's also priority boarding for regular customers and for people with reduced mobility.

Good to know

Currency

EUR €

Emergency number

112

Plug type

C · F · L

Time zone

Europe/Rome

Driving

right

Speed limits. built-up areas 50 km/h, outside towns 90 km/h, 110 km/h on expressways, motorway 130 km/h

In rain, the motorway limit is 110 km/h instead of 130, and 90 instead of 110 on expressways. Drivers who have held their license for less than three years may drive at most 100 km/h on the motorway and 90 km/h on expressways. Within built-up areas, 50 km/h is the rule, though signposted city roads allow up to 70 km/h.

Tipping. Not expected. Bills often carry a coperto or servizio. If you were happy, round up.

Tolls. Most motorways are tolled. Take a ticket on entry, pay on exit. No vignette.

Access restrictions. Many historic centres are closed to non-residents. Cameras read the plate and the fine arrives home months later. Hours and boundaries differ from city to city.