From Venice to Marco Polo airport by water

The trip back differs from the arrival in one crucial way: there’s a deadline you can’t miss. So here we work backwards, from your flight to your hotel door. First choose how you’ll travel, then where you’ll board, then what time to leave.

Which piers the shared water taxi to the airport leaves from

The shared water taxi to the airport doesn’t pick up from every hotel. The best-selling product on GetYourGuide, “Shared Water Taxi Transfer to Marco Polo Airport”, lists Piazzale Roma, San Marco, Santa Maria Elisabetta (Lido) and San Zaccaria among its departure points. According to the product listing, the full list also includes Carlton, Sabbioni, Santi Apostoli, Rialto, Accademia and Trinità. It doesn’t stop at hotels on the inner canals: only at those on the Grand Canal.

Your voucher shows the exact time and place to turn up. Get there a few minutes early: the boat collects passengers at several points and doesn’t wait long for no-shows.

The service runs on set departure times, not on demand. According to the operator (Bucintoro Viaggi, on its Venicelink website), departures are roughly every 90 minutes. According to the GetYourGuide product listing, pick-up is set about 3 hours before your flight, and the exact time and place are confirmed by 15:00 the day before. If the time offered looks tight, ask for an earlier run.

The version sold on Tiqets (“Water Taxi From Venice City Center”, €39) works differently: it promises pick-up from most central hotels and, for addresses away from the main canals, an agreed meeting point a short walk away. It has fewer reviews (4.2 stars from about 380), can be booked for groups of up to 8 and the supplier is the same, Bucintoro Viaggi. Pick-up time and place are confirmed the afternoon before departure.

Hotel pick-up or pier: what changes

At the pier. You carry your own luggage to the boarding point. From a hotel in Cannaregio to San Zaccaria that can mean twenty minutes of alleys and bridges with a trolley case. If the pier is right outside your door, the shared taxi is unbeatable on price.

Hotel pick-up, shared. The Tiqets product picks you up wherever the boat can reach; otherwise you meet at a nearby point. It’s a halfway house: less walking, but still with other stops.

Private taxi, door to door. The boat comes to your hotel’s water door, if there is one and it’s reachable at the current tide. The boatman loads your bags and heads straight for the airport, with no other stops. It’s the only option where you choose the time.

If your hotel has no water door, the taxi waits for you at the nearest reachable landing, usually a few minutes away. Venezia Taxi charges €25 extra, paid to the driver, when the route goes into the inner canals: ask when you book. For bulky luggage, pushchairs and wheelchairs, see our guide to luggage and accessibility.

What it costs to get to the airport: options by pier

The Comune di Venezia tariff sets the historic centre ↔ airport trip at €110 per boat, in either direction. If the taxi picks you up away from an official city taxi rank, a call-out fee (€5) is added; the night band, from 22:00 to 06:00, costs another €10.

The comparison in one line: for two people, the shared taxi comes to €78; the private boat on GetYourGuide €215; Alilaguna €36; the bus €24 plus getting yourselves to Piazzale Roma. These are the figures on the day we checked and may vary from one season to the next. All the numbers, surcharges included, are on our prices and fares page.

Private or shared for the return: the cost per head

The reasoning is the same as on the way in: with a private taxi you pay for the whole boat, with a shared one for each seat.

• Two of you: €107.50 each by private boat, €39 by shared taxi.
• Four of you: €53.75 each on GetYourGuide. Book direct with Consorzio Motoscafi (€160 for up to 4 people and 4 suitcases) and it drops to €40 each.
• Six of you: €35.83 each. Here the private boat costs less than the shared one, and leaves when you want.

On the way back there’s one more argument for going private: no waiting at other piers and no risk of the shared boat running late before it reaches you. With a tight flight, those minutes count. More on the private water taxi and shared water taxi pages.

What time to leave: working backwards

Time on the boat is only part of it. Add up every piece, starting from the time you need to be at the check-in desk or at security.

Example with a private taxi. You want to be at check-in at 9:00. Take off 10 minutes of walking, 40 on the boat and 20 of margin: the taxi needs to leave your hotel at 7:50. Book it for that time.

Example with a shared taxi. Same goal, check-in at 9:00. You need about 40 minutes on the boat plus 10 on foot: the boat must leave your pier by 8:10, and with the margin by 7:50. If the nearest available run leaves at 8:30, that’s too late: take the one before, even if it means waiting at the airport.

Example with Alilaguna. According to the official summer timetable, the Blue Line takes about 85 minutes from San Marco Giardinetti to the airport, and before 8:00 it runs once an hour. To be at check-in at 9:00 you need the 6:46 departure, which arrives at 8:10: the 7:46 gets in at 9:10, too late.

Dawn flights: the options before 7:00

A 7:00 flight means leaving your hotel when almost everything is still shut. There are two realistic options.

Private water taxi. It’s the only boat that leaves when you want it to. Consorzio Motoscafi operates 24 hours a day, with a call centre that’s always staffed. Allow for the night surcharge: €10 under the city tariff (22:00–06:00), €15 on the Consorzio’s terms (22:00–07:00), €10 with Venezia Taxi (22:00–07:00). Book at least a day ahead: Venezia Taxi doesn’t take same-day online bookings.

ATVO bus from Piazzale Roma. The first bus to the airport leaves at 04:20, then roughly every 30 minutes, with a 20-minute journey. The problem is getting to Piazzale Roma at dawn with your luggage: from Santa Croce or the station you can walk it, from San Marco you can’t. A road taxi from Piazzale Roma to the airport costs a fixed €40, surcharges included, if you take it from the rank.

On the official summer timetable (valid until the end of October), the first Blue Line boat leaves San Marco Giardinetti at 3:46 and reaches the airport at 5:10; the first Orange Line boat leaves Santa Maria del Giglio at 6:15 (Rialto 6:31) and arrives at 7:26. The timetable changes in winter: check it on the official website before you rely on it. For everything that happens at night, late arrivals included, see our night water taxi page.

Luggage, tides and last-minute snags

Each option has its own luggage limits:

• Alilaguna: your ticket covers one suitcase up to 160 cm (the three dimensions added together) and one piece of hand luggage at no extra cost; additional items cost €4 each and must be paid for before you board.
• Taxi at the city fare: €3 for every item beyond the fourth and beyond the number of passengers.
• Consorzio Motoscafi: 4 suitcases included, then €5 per suitcase; a maximum of 12 suitcases and 10 people.
• Shared taxi: the limit is on your voucher and may be lower. Check it before you pack.

The tide can move your pick-up point: at high water or low tide the boat may not be able to reach your hotel’s door, and the taxi waits for you at the nearest reachable landing. Ask your hotel the day before where the taxi moors at that time of day.

During a local public transport strike, ACTV guarantees only minimum services, and buses and vaporetti may skip runs. Alilaguna and the ATVO buses are scheduled services too and can be affected: check the notices on their websites the day before. The water taxi is not a scheduled service.

Book your transfer to the airport

Four products, with an honest note on each. The GetYourGuide shared taxi has by far the largest pool of reviews. The GetYourGuide private taxi works in both directions, for up to 6 people. The private motorboat “From Venice to the airport” is new: for now it has only 2 reviews and states a 50-minute duration, longer than the standard private taxi; too early to judge. According to the product listing it takes up to 10 people per booking, with one large suitcase and one piece of hand luggage each. The Tiqets shared taxi is the alternative with hotel pick-up.

This applies to all of them: free cancellation usually ends 24 hours before, and on Tiqets products it’s Venice local time that counts. How to read vouchers and terms is explained in how to book a water taxi. To compare the service with the operator behind it, read our profiles of Bucintoro Viaggi, the shared-taxi supplier, and Consorzio Motoscafi Venezia.

Arriving and leaving from the same airport? The reverse route, including the walk from arrivals to the boat basin, is on our from Marco Polo airport to Venice page. If you’re staying on the mainland, see road taxis and Mestre.