Venice

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Venice
<map lat='45.466528' lng='12.3' zoom='11' view='0' float='right'/>
Information
Country:
Flag of Italy
Italy
Population: 269,000
Licence plate: VE
Major roads: A4
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Venice is a city in Italy. The city itself is a collection of islands. You will probably arrive and leave through Mestre.

Hitchhiking out

Leaving the city can be a drag so better prepare the whole day for that. You can catch a ride from the start of the bridge, but avoid short rides to Mestre. Hitching out of Mestre is really hard.

West towards Verona, Bologna

Take bus 6 to the Via Petro Paleocapa in Marghera, walk to the roundabout, through the Via Cesare Begharia and through the Via de la Ponte on the right. At the very end, there's a path on the right to the AGIP petrol station. It's far from perfect but at its exit you can hitch both people from the petrol station or try to get someone over from the roundabout. Also possible to go east here if you are already in the eastern part (e.g. stayed at Camping Jolly, 500m from there).

East towards Trieste, Udine

If you are already in Marghera, see above.

Otherwise from Venice, take bus 2 to the last stop, Viale don Sturzo, go to Via Vallon and go to the end of the street where you will find a small path leading to the AGIP fuel station on the motorway.

Warning: "We tried to get to the Agip petrol station, walked for 20 minutes and didn't found anything (the village was looong). Eventually slept in field. Are you sure you can get there easily?"

(You might want to try taking bus #14 towards the motorway.)

South to Greece

There are ferries between Italy and Greece from Venice.

Money-saving Tips

  • Do all the snack-shopping in Mestre before you go on the islands.
  • Internet-cafés in Venice are ridiculously expensive. In Mestre within 10-minute walk from railway station you'll find places entitled "Internet Point" run by Chinese or Bangladeshi guys, where Internet is around €1.50 for 30 minutes. You'll need an ID if you want to use the Internet (by Italian law).
  • If you know exactly when you are going to arrive in Venice, buy tickets in advance on Venice Connected.
  • You can go inside Basilica San Marco for free - large bags and rucksacks are not allowed. Lnx, however, managed to sneak in with a small rucksack, SLR camera bag and a tripod case.
  • The Snack Bar in the square by the university (Campo Santa Margherita) is not too overpriced - sitting charge is €1.50, and the portions are decent. Also, take advantage of free breadsticks (i.e. included in that €1.50)
  • If you want to experience a Gondola ride and don't want to spend €80/hour, you can cross the Grand Canal in a Gondola for €0.50 (yes, 50 eurocents). The Traghetto runs between the west side (market) and the east side (just north of Rialto bridge) and crosses the Canal Grande in various points.

Sleeping

Venice offers a wide range of accommodation. Most of it is highly overpriced. If you are trying to find a host on Couchsurfing, it's nearly impossible in Venice itself, so use the option "expand search within ... miles"

There is a campsite called Camping Jolly. I wouldn't go as far as to recommend it, but you can rent beds in lockable tents there for less than 15 euros a night. Everything else there is highly overpriced but there's a supermarket nearby and maybe you can ask to use the kitchen in one of the bungalows. Takes you 10-15 minutes to walk to the bus which brings you to the Piazzale Roma in 15 minutes.

City Maps

It's very hard to find a decent map of Venice. Even harder to find a free one. The option which worked for Lnx - in Mestre, opposite the railway station there is a Best Western hotel. Often they have a pile of maps available at the reception; if not you can *very politely* ask for one. (Please do not abuse this option).


--It is very easy to get a decent map from one the five star hotels. Just turn right after Ponte Scalzi (the bridge) and walk the opposite direction from the train station. After about 50-100 meters on the right side of the street (Rio Terra Lista di Spagna) there is a luxurious hotel lobby. Walk in and ask for a map. It is free, nicely colored and detailed (Global Blue - Venice Tax Free Shoppin Map). (If you agree, please delete the previous mumbo-jumbo as it contradicts this info completely.) --Astikain 23:23, 28 April 2011 (CEST)

Public Transport

Walking around the main collection of islands is possible without a problem. The places you'll need to get public transport to include Mestre (unless you enjoy walking 5km on the bridge observing a swamp on one side and an oil refinery on the other), and the islands of Lido, Murano (glass museum), Burano (lots of brightly-coloured houses) and others.

You can get bus tickets for local buses for 1,10 euro (in the bus they cost 1,80 euro). The boats to get to other islands are ridiculously expensive (6,50 euro for 1 hour). You could risk going without a ticket on one stop, the fines are at 44 euros (July 20th 09). Little ticket controlling on the boat, but the ticket controllers often want to see a ticket before you board at "popular" stops -- Piazzale Roma, Railway Station etc.

There are also long-term tickets that are valid on all the local boats and buses: 12 hours = €16; 24 hours = €18 etc. You can buy a lot of tickets with discount if you pre-book them at least a week in advance online at Venice Connected

A train ticket from VE Mestre to Venice Santa Lucia costs 1 euro. There at the Venice S. L. railway station you can leave your bags (left-luggage) for 4 euro per bag for 5 hours (prices checked: july 15th 2009).