Water taxi from Venice train station to your hotel

Where to catch a water taxi at the train station

Santa Lucia station opens straight onto the Grand Canal. For the area the city calls Ferrovia (“railway”), the Comune di Venezia lists two official taxi ranks: one opposite the Scalzi church, the other next to the ACTV vaporetto stop. Both display the board with the city’s official fares, as the regulations require.

If you’ve booked online, though, don’t just hop into the first free boat. The shared transfer sold on Tiqets meets you at the Alilaguna desk outside the station, on your left as you walk out, at the corner by the Scalzi church (the same spot given for the shared transfer sold on GetYourGuide); a member of staff then walks you to the boat. The listing also gives the desk’s opening hours, but in two different places and with times that don’t match: if your train gets in early in the morning or late in the afternoon, check before you travel. The private Tiqets transfer waits at the city taxi rank on the right-hand side of the station. Either way, the exact meeting point is on your voucher: check it before you get off the train.

For official fares, the station and Piazzale Roma count as one zone. If you arrive by car or bus at Piazzale Roma, you pay the same tariff as someone stepping off a train.

The most-asked routes, at official tariff prices

The city tariff sets one price per route between taxi ranks, for the whole boat. It comes from council resolutions 227/2011 and 516/2011, which are still in force. These are the routes starting at the station.

Three things to know about these prices.

• They are pier-to-pier. The tariff works rank to rank. If you want to be dropped at your hotel’s water door, ask the driver how much first. When a trip starts or ends away from a taxi rank, the city board adds €5 as a call-out fee. Either way, get the total before you set off.
• They cover up to 4 people. From the fifth passenger the board adds a per-head supplement, luggage included: €5 or €10 — the board shows both figures in two different boxes and it isn’t clear which applies, so ask first. Every suitcase beyond the fourth, and beyond the number of passengers, costs €3.
• Nights cost more. Between 22:00 and 06:00 the city surcharge is €10.

In practice the consortia sell the station → hotel trip at a fixed, “all-inclusive” price, usually above the official tariff. Booking on its own website, Consorzio Motoscafi Venezia charged €80 for station → hotel, with 4 people and 4 suitcases included. Travel guides quote figures between €60 and €80. The full detail is on our water-taxi prices page.

The €39 shared taxi: when it really pays

The shared taxi from the station works like a small, bookable waterbus. You pay for a seat, board with other travellers and the boat makes several stops along the way. The Tiqets product includes the ticket and carriage of your luggage; extra suitcases are charged separately.

The price is about €39 per person at the time of checking, in either direction. It makes sense in one specific case: you’re travelling alone, you have a heavy suitcase and your hotel is far from a vaporetto stop. Then €39 against €50–80 for a whole boat is a real saving.

With two of you the maths already changes: €78 for two shared seats against €50–60 at the official fare for a whole boat to Rialto or San Marco. The Consorzio’s fixed price (€80 for up to 4 people) comes out about the same too. With a private boat you don’t wait for other passengers or stop for them.

The calculation uses the private Tiqets taxi at about €150 per boat, which carries up to 6 people according to the listing. The break-even point falls between 3 and 4 people: from four up, the private boat costs less than the shared seat, before you even count the time saved. With six of you it drops to €25 each.

There and back: from the hotel to the station

The return trip is booked separately. The Tiqets product from your hotel to Santa Lucia station also costs about €39 per person and includes hotel pick-up and luggage.

If your hotel isn’t on a canal the boat can reach, you agree a meeting point a short walk away. Do it in writing and get it confirmed, because the tides come into play (see below).

Two practical tips for departure day:

• Build your margin around the train, not the boat. The shared service makes several stops and you can’t know whether you’ll be first or last on board. The listing warns that the pick-up time may differ from the slot you chose: confirmation comes by email in the 24 hours before, and you must be ready at least 15 minutes early. So pick a slot with a comfortable margin before your train leaves.
• For cancellations, the hour and the date both matter. At the time of checking, the return listing allows free cancellation up to 24 hours before the booked time slot. On the inbound listing the limit is based on the date. Reread the conditions on the product page before you pay. How Tiqets handles reviews, refunds and any booking fees is explained in our Tiqets profile.

A boat to yourselves: private on Tiqets or GetYourGuide

There are two online offers for a private station ↔ hotel transfer, at very different prices.

One costs almost twice the other, and price alone doesn’t tell you which is better value. The Tiqets offer is cheaper but has very few reviews: it’s a product still to be proven. The GetYourGuide one costs much more but has a long, very positive track record.

Both boats carry up to 6 people according to the product listings. With six of you, the Tiqets private boat comes to €25 each, the GetYourGuide one to about €49. With GetYourGuide, also allow for station porterage, which the listing prices separately.

Keep the kerbside option in mind as well. For the same trip at a fixed price, a consortium with its own website charged €80. All these figures sit above the official city tariff: you’re paying for a guaranteed booking, assistance and delivery to your hotel. We explain it in full in our guide to the private water taxi in Venice.

The €9.50 alternative: the vaporetto from the station

In front of the station stops ACTV line 1, which runs the full length of the Grand Canal — Ferrovia, Rialto, San Marco and on to the Lido — calling everywhere. The whole route takes about 45 minutes. Line 2 is semi-fast and also goes along the Giudecca Canal.

The 75-minute single ticket costs €9.50 and is also valid on buses, trams and the People Mover. You can carry 3 bags per person, each up to 150 cm in total dimensions, at no extra cost.

The vaporetto has two real drawbacks:

• Crowds. Line 1 between Ferrovia and San Marco is the busiest stretch in the city, especially 10:00–12:00 and 16:00–19:00. With two large suitcases you may not get on the first boat.
• The last stretch is on foot. From the stop to your hotel you walk, often over one or more stepped bridges. That’s a problem with small children, heavy suitcases or limited mobility.

There’s a middle option too. Alilaguna’s Blue line (linea Blu) leaves from the station and reaches San Marco (then continues to the airport). Station to San Marco costs €10, with one suitcase up to 160 cm and one piece of hand luggage included. The full comparison between public boats and taxis is on the page water taxi, Alilaguna or vaporetto.

If your hotel has no water door

Many Venetian hotels have no private landing. Those on the Grand Canal usually do; those on the inner canals often don’t, or can only use it at certain tides.

• High tide: under the bridges of the smaller canals there may not be enough headroom for the boat.
• Low tide: there may not be enough water in the canal, or the hotel’s steps end up too low for a safe landing.

In either case the driver drops you at the nearest accessible pier, usually about five minutes’ walk away, and hands you your bags. The Tiqets listings say so plainly: for hotels away from the main canals, a nearby meeting point is agreed.

Before you book, ask the hotel in writing whether it has a private landing on the canal and whether it can be used at every tide level. The full checklist is in our luggage and accessibility tips.

Paying, spotting a licensed boat, making a complaint

If you haven’t booked and take a boat at the rank, agree the price before you board: per boat or per person, whether it includes suitcases and the run to your hotel. Don’t assume you can pay by card on board: some licence holders prefer cash. Say so straight away if you don’t have any.

Licensed water taxis are identified by yellow reflective bands and a black-on-yellow TAXI flag at the bow. Venice has 250 licences in total. If you disagree over the price:

• photograph the fare board displayed at the rank and note the licence number;
• report it to the Comune, via the DIME online help desk or by calling 041 041.

Alternatively you can call 199 48 49 50, the number the Comune gives for water taxis (without saying who answers). Arriving in the evening? The surcharge rules are on our page about the water taxi at night. If you’re heading on to the airport afterwards, read the guide from Venice to the airport.

In short: which to choose at the station

Frequently asked questions