4010 getting to venice,car or train.?

go by train the cost is not a lot, look on trenitala's web site, the view when you walk out of the station is fantastic, I would go by train for the view alone.

Dawn.

I've made the trip by car from Lake Garda to Venice several times.

After you've driven across the causeway/bridge, cars are directed to the right towards a huge multistorey carpart -- Tronchetto.

Something that never fails to p*** me off is the touts buzzing around like flies on the proverbial on the first floor that has free parking spaces. Unless the authorities have finally done something about these (*&^$£%, they'll try to direct you to park as soon as you come off the spiral ramp. Given the chance, they will then excort you from your car, into the elevator and then out of the carpark to a pier where you will be put on a very expensive water taxi with some more mugs.

Smart people just drive past these parasites -- honk your horn, shout, make rude gestures, rev your engine and make as if you're ready and willing to run them over if necessary -- and park at the far end of the very long building. If you go down the stairs there, you'll be close to the landing barges for the waterbuses. Buy a day ticket. It'll cost you a fraction of what you would have spent on a single watertaxi ride to Piazza San Marco.

On the other hand, my next door neighbours were staying at a campsite on Lake Garda last month and they told me that getting the train to Venice was the best day of their holiday. For what it's worth, they've never been to Italy before, they speak not a word of Italian and they have an 18 month old child.

Al

Have travelled to Venice lots of times.

Arriving by train was great, as you step out of the station the view and the atmosphere is wonderful.

The car park at Tronchetto is chargable (about 18 euros per day) so have never used it. The other car parks in Piazzale Roma are even more costly. See the official tronchetto website [url]http://www.veniceparking.it[/url]

On another visit we parked in Mestre (the town on the mainland) the multistory by the mainstation was reasonable (can't recall how much but maybe 5 euro per day) and we then caught the train across the causeway to arrive in venice by train again.

Do get a one or three day waterbus pass if you want a good reasonable way of travelling around.

Have fun Venice is wonderful - best visiting St Marks Sq early or late in the day when the crowds have thinned.

Doh, the Orient Express goes there :D

great replies, thank you. so it looks like either is a good option, thank you
for mentioning the touts,otherwise i'm sure i would sucuum to their tactics.

So the main road leads almost to venice itself?

will try to get there early around 9.30 am, what with the crowds/heat.
cannot wait now.

[QUOTE=giovanni]So the main road leads almost to venice itself?[/QUOTE]
Yes, the road goes out into the lagoon on a long causeway that I recall being less than 10 metres above the water. (One of Mussolini's projects, BTW.)

There are train tracks in the middle with road traffic heading out into the lagoon on one side and traffic heading for the mainland on the other side of the tracks.

I'm sure that it is a wonderful experience to come out of the train station and find yourself in the middle of the wonderful place that Venice is, but driving out over the water toward a city that's just a hazy smudge on the horizon is weird and wonderful in its own way.

I really would advise you to use the Tronchetto car park. It is in Venice: it's just another man-made island in the lagoon. The waterbus to Piazza San Marco doesn't take long. If memory serves, 15 or 20 minutes if you get the bus heading in the right direction. Not that you're likely to want the trip to end too soon.

Al

[QUOTE=AllanMason]Yes, the road goes out into the lagoon on a long causeway that I recall being less than 10 metres above the water. (One of Mussolini's projects, BTW.)

There are train tracks in the middle with road traffic heading out into the lagoon on one side and traffic heading for the mainland on the other side of the tracks.

I'm sure that it is a wonderful experience to come out of the train station and find yourself in the middle of the wonderful place that Venice is, but driving out over the water toward a city that's just a hazy smudge on the horizon is weird and wonderful in its own way.

I really would advise you to use the Tronchetto car park. It is in Venice: it's just another man-made island in the lagoon. The waterbus to Piazza San Marco doesn't take long. If memory serves, 15 or 20 minutes if you get the bus heading in the right direction. Not that you're likely to want the trip to end too soon.

Al[/QUOTE]

great, thanks.. i am favouring this idea, get a early start and get there for
9.00 to 9.30 am, sounds good. cheers.

Hi Giovanni,

We did exactly the opposite - we took the train from Venice to Desenzano. Wanting to show off to my other half the excellent train services I remembered from previous visits, we had a bit of a surprise when there were works ongoing on the railway lines & we were delayed. But we had a compartment to ourselves!

However, it was a very relaxing trip and as that was last year, I'm sure all the works are sorted now! ;)

There are regular services even in the evenings, so I'd definitely recommend it. It didn't cost the world either... :)

[QUOTE=Iona]Hi Giovanni,

We did exactly the opposite - we took the train from Venice to Desenzano. Wanting to show off to my other half the excellent train services I remembered from previous visits, we had a bit of a surprise when there were works ongoing on the railway lines & we were delayed. But we had a compartment to ourselves!

However, it was a very relaxing trip and as that was last year, I'm sure all the works are sorted now! ;)

There are regular services even in the evenings, so I'd definitely recommend it. It didn't cost the world either... :)[/QUOTE]

i am starting to feel a little spoilt for choice!

really will have to see how i feel, when we are there, but its good to know
that there are good alternatives...