Venice

[flibbertigibbert]

Ryanair are doing fairly cheap flights to Venice at the moment and I'm considering taking DP for a Christmas present as I've always wanted to go. Couple of questions though:

Is it worth going if we fly out late Friday and come back late Sunday? Or do we need longer?

Is early December an OK time of year to go or will it be too cold?

Is it to Marco Polo or "near" Venice?

If Marco Polo, then yes go for a weekend. Of course you'll need longer, but hey...

Depends on what you call too cold I bet it's beautiful on a sunny winter's day.

Yes, No, Yes.

You'll be flying in to Treviso which is a town near Venice, not to Marco Polo airport.
We spent 36 hours there recently - you will always need longer in Venice but any time is good.
It won't be warm - may be cold or foggy or clear but not warm.

So how long does it take from Treviso?

Marco Polo was fab cos you can get the water bus into Venice.

Thanks for the responses. I'm really liking the idea, and DP is keen too.

I didn't realise there were two airports. Can anyone talk to me about getting from Treviso to Venice itself?

Also, I want somewhere cheap to stay if anyone can recommend anywhere.

If you stay on the mainland it will be cheaper. It's not as nice, by any stretch of the imagination, it's a normal city, but you can easily get a train from the main station to the island, which is the nice bit. Takes about 15 minutes across the causeway, or whatever it's called. And I bet they go until late.

Don't bother with the gondolas, they cost a fortune. The water buses, "vaporetti" are fab. Get a day pass and hop on and off them all day. Or the traghetti, which are like gondolas, but not touristy. They just go direct across the canals like a floating bridge, instead of along them.

(may have got wrong spelling, it was some time ago!)

yy you need to fly to Marco Polo.

Treviso is miles away.

Deffo worth going for a few days; DH and I went in January one time and it was fab, misty and cool but not freezing or anything and very very very not busy, unlike in spring/summer (apparently).

We saw kids going to school, people going to work etc instead of crowds in St Mark's Square.

Downside is that some restaurants etc not open. Not a major prob tho.

I loved loved loved the vaporetto, we bought a 3-day ticket which took us everywhere, even out to Murano (glass), Burano (lace) and Torcello (fantastic church). Last one was almost deserted but the size of the path to the church was an illustration of how many people go there in summer

Can't find many pictures of interior of Torcello basilica but this gives a flavour of the mosaic.

From the Ryanair page on Treviso airport:

"Ryanair?s low cost flights to Venice-Treviso Airport land 29km from central Venice, the capital of the northern Italian region of Veneto. A 70-minute bus ride after your direct Venice flight ..."

From Marco Polo airport you can either get a shuttle bus or the Alilaguna service that takes you by boat across to Venice.
Buy a Venice Connected ticket in advance for journeys within Venice (this includes all the islands but not the boat from the airport) - you can get these for 12/24/36/48 hours etc. Cheaper if bought in advance - you just validate it on arrival.

Gondolas cost 80 - 85 Euro for 40 minutes!

Hmmmm I read that the water takes 30 minutes. So it sounds as though it's only an extra 40 minutes rather than hours which isn't too bad given the financial saving.

DP is now planning to take the day off work on Friday so we can either get a flight early on Friday or even late Thursday eve which makes things easier.

MaryMotherofCheeses - Expedia have some cheap hotels on the island. I'd rather save money on the flights and try and get an island hotel if possible.

Clary - that sounds encouraging about January. Something that put me off Venice before was hearing how crowded it could get.

We went in December a few years ago and it was beautiful - bright sunshine, very cold, very crisp. Not too busy, I am so glad we went in winter, it can be very busy, and very stinky, in summer!
Treviso is quite a hike away, if you are only going for a couple of nights the commute up there will really eat into your time in the city.

i can recommend the starhotels hotel splendid in venice. we stayed three weeks ago. it was fab, right in the middle between rialto and san marco.