Suitcases, pushchairs and tides: the practical side of water taxis

How many suitcases really fit in a water taxi

A Venetian water taxi is a motorboat with a cabin and a small space at the stern. Your suitcases travel on board with you, and it’s normally the driver who loads and unloads them at the landing. Consorzio Motoscafi Venezia, one of the main operators, gives a limit of 10 passengers, with a maximum of 12 suitcases on board. The legal capacity, though, depends on each boat’s certificate: treat “about 10 people” as a guide, not a guarantee.

Space is rarely the problem. Price is: both the city tariff and the operators count bags, and the rules change depending on who you book with.

The Comune’s official rules, explained with examples

The Comune di Venezia tariff (council resolutions 227/2011 and 516/2011) sets two surcharges linked to the load.

The first is for luggage: €3 per item for bags that exceed both the threshold of 4 and the number of people travelling. Both conditions must apply. The second is for people: from the fifth person up, each with one bag included, you pay €5 or €10. The sheet shows €5 under the heading “meter and route” and €10 under “route” alone: on fixed routes, it’s wise to budget for €10. For residents and passengers with disabilities, the same amounts are reduced by 20%.

Three concrete cases, on the official airport ↔ historic centre fare of €110 per boat:

• Couple with 4 suitcases. The bags don’t exceed 4: no surcharge. You pay €110.
• Couple with 6 suitcases. Two suitcases beyond the fourth, and beyond the number of passengers: 2 × €3 = €6. You pay €116.
• Six friends with 8 suitcases. Two people beyond the fourth, with one bag included each. That leaves 2 suitcases beyond the 6 people: +€6. At €10 per person you pay €110 + €20 + €6 = €136, about €23 each; at €5 per person, €126, or €21 each.

The city fare board, it must be said, isn’t entirely clear: it shows two boxes of surcharges, one headed “metered and route” and the other “route”, with different figures for extra people. If the driver applies different figures, ask to see the board posted at the landing. It’s mandatory at every official city taxi rank.

Operators and platforms: rules that differ from the Comune’s

When you book a commercial transfer, you don’t pay the city fare but the operator’s price, under its own rules. Consorzio Motoscafi, for example, charges €10 per person from the fifth and €5 per suitcase from the fifth, up to 12 suitcases. Those figures differ from the Comune’s.

On the platforms, each product’s description applies. The shared transfers on Tiqets include carriage of luggage but exclude “any costs for extra luggage”, without saying from which item they apply. The shared airport transfer on GetYourGuide, according to the product listing, includes one suitcase and one piece of hand luggage per person; extra items are charged. The private airport water taxi on GetYourGuide, our reference product, costs about €215 at the time of checking and, according to the listing, carries up to 6 people with 8 suitcases per boat; airport porterage covers one item per person.

The rule of thumb: before paying, search the voucher for the words “luggage”, “baggage” or “suitcase”. If you can’t find a number, write to the operator and get the answer in writing. More on how booking works in our guide to booking a water taxi.

With lots of luggage, the cost per head changes. The shared taxi at €39 per person charges for every item beyond the one included; the GetYourGuide private boat includes up to 8 suitcases for the whole boat. For four people the private boat costs about €54 each, for six about €36, already less than the shared taxi. The full comparison is on our shared water taxi page.

Hotels with no water door: the last stretch on foot

Plenty of Venetian hotels have a private landing or a water door, but just as many don’t. Those on the Grand Canal are the most likely to; those on the inner canals or down alleys away from the water often don’t.

If your hotel has no landing, the taxi drops you at the nearest one it can reach. It’s usually a few minutes’ walk, almost always with at least one stepped bridge. The driver unloads your suitcases onto the quay; from there, though, you carry them.

Write to your hotel before the trip and ask three things. Does it have a water door? Can it be used at any tide? If not, which landing does it recommend, and how many bridges are there in between? With those answers you can give the driver the right address.

High tide, low tide: why the taxi may stop short

On the inner canals the tide can block access for opposite reasons.

• When the water rises, there may not be enough clearance under the lowest bridges. The canal is navigable, but the motorboat won’t fit.
• When the tide drops a long way, the canal may be too shallow, or the height difference between the side of the boat and the hotel’s steps makes getting off unsafe.

In both cases the taxi takes you to the first landing it can reach, often about five minutes’ walk away. Some hotels on the inner canals, according to reports from many travellers, can only be reached at certain tides. Check the tide forecast the day before and allow for the pick-up time slipping.

Wheelchairs and reduced mobility

The Comune di Venezia has reserved 25 water-taxi licences for boats fitted with a wheelchair lift, out of 250 licences in total. These boats can also moor at the scheduled public-transport piers, not just at taxi ranks: a real advantage, because the ACTV network has about 150 floating piers across the lagoon.

Passengers with disabilities are entitled to the 20% reduced rate in the city tariff, on fixed routes, the meter and surcharges. Ask for a boat with a lift when you book, stating whether the wheelchair is manual or electric, with its dimensions and weight, and whether the passenger can manage a few steps: the limits depend on each boat, and the operator confirms them. Be careful with platform products: according to their listings, the shared airport transfer and the private station transfer on GetYourGuide aren’t suitable for wheelchair users, and for the private airport transfer the need must be flagged in advance.

If you’re arriving by ship, you can request assistance at the cruise terminal by notifying the carrier or the terminal operator at least 48 hours ahead; the details are on our cruise port page. On land, the Radio Taxi Venezia cooperative says it has wheelchair-accessible cars and minivans with up to 8 seats; the ATVO bus from the airport is wheelchair accessible.

Pushchairs and small children

On a water taxi the pushchair travels folded, on board. Count it among your items when you check the surcharges: the tariff doesn’t explicitly exclude it. The city tariff has no age-based discounts: the price is per boat, not per person.

On Alilaguna, by contrast, shopping trolleys, prams and folded pushchairs travel free. On ACTV vaporetti, children under 6 travel free. If you’re travelling with a pushchair and few suitcases, public transport remains a realistic option.

Comparison: how much luggage each option carries

Two notes on the data. For the ATVO bus, a product resold on Tiqets states just one bag per person of 85×45×25 cm, which contradicts the ATVO website: the terms printed on the ticket you buy are what count. For Alilaguna, the same line can also be booked on GetYourGuide as a “boat transfer with 3 routes”: it’s the scheduled service, not a taxi. The full comparison is on our taxi or Alilaguna page.

Checklist before you travel

For full prices, night surcharges included, see the water-taxi price list and our page on the night water taxi.