Venice Marco Polo Airport to Venice Lido
About 18 km; the Alilaguna Blue line runs to the Lido for โฌ18, taking around an hour to an hour and a quarter.
The barrier island between the lagoon and the Adriatic โ the only part of Venice with roads and cars, twelve kilometres of beach, and the film festival every September.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Venice Lido, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from โฌ160). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from โฌ14) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car โ so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo ยท 1 traveller | โฌ14 | โฌ160 | Bus |
| Couple ยท 2 travellers | โฌ28 | โฌ160 | Bus |
| Family of 4 ยท 4 travellers | โฌ56 | โฌ160 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority isโฆ | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From โฌ14, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3โ4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Ferry
โฌ18 and about seventy minutes. From the landing stage the Lido's own bus runs the length of the island, and there are taxis โ the one part of Venice where a wheeled vehicle can reach your hotel.
Where to catch it: Direct from the airport dock, calling at Murano and Fondamente Nove before crossing to the Lido at Santa Maria Elisabetta.
Best for scenic harbour crossingsPrivate transfer
The film festival fortnight in early September is the exception to every price and availability note here โ book well ahead or accept the waterbus.
Where to catch it: Direct across the lagoon to a Lido landing stage or a hotel's own dock, of which the larger beach hotels have several.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsBus / shuttle
Ninety minutes with the change, and no cheaper than the direct boat. The vaporetto is more frequent than Alilaguna, which matters if you land in the evening.
Where to catch it: The land route: bus to Piazzale Roma, then a vaporetto round the edge of the city and across to the Lido.
Best for solo & budget travellersCar rental
Almost nobody should do this. The Lido has buses and taxis of its own, and bicycles are the usual way residents get around the island.
Where to catch it: Cars reach the Lido only on the line 17 vehicle ferry from Tronchetto, which needs its own ticket and timetable check.
Best for travellers who want to exploreVenice Lido & Venice in photos
Buying tickets in Venice
Venice is the one airport here where you choose between road and water, and the two have entirely separate ticketing. By road, ATVO's express and ACTV's line 5 both run to Piazzale Roma in 20โ25 minutes for about โฌ12 single, โฌ20 return โ buy the return on arrival if you are flying home from the same airport. Piazzale Roma is where all wheeled transport in Venice stops for good; a vaporetto ticket beyond it is bought separately and is not cheap. By water, Alilaguna waterbuses leave from a dock about seven minutes' walk from arrivals at roughly โฌ18, serving San Marco, Rialto, Fondamente Nove, Murano and the Lido โ approximately hourly per line, between about 08:00 and 20:00, so check the last departure before counting on it. Large luggage can attract a small extra charge. For Mestre on the mainland, a separate bus runs for around โฌ8, and trains from there into the island take ten minutes for about โฌ1.50.
Taxi scams & safety in Venice
The real trap in Venice is not a dishonest fare, it is the bridges. There are around four hundred of them, most stepped, with no lifts or escalators anywhere in the historic centre โ so a hotel three hundred metres from a vaporetto stop can mean two bridges with heavy cases. Ask your hotel which stop it uses and how many bridges lie between before you book any transport. Private water taxis are the only vehicles that can reach a hotel's own water entrance, at โฌ190โ280 and up; agree the price and the exact drop-off point before boarding, since night and luggage supplements are normal and the fare is not metered. Shared water taxis at around โฌ39 a head are the sensible middle. Two specific things to decline: the "free transfer" offered near vaporetto stops for Murano, which is a glass-showroom sales trip rather than transport, and any suggestion that a hire car will be useful โ it cannot pass Piazzale Roma, and garage parking there is charged by the day.
Getting from VCE to Venice Lido
The Lido is the part of Venice with roads. Cars drive on it, buses run along it, and taxis take you to your hotel door โ none of which is true anywhere else in the lagoon. It is a barrier island twelve kilometres long between Venice and the open Adriatic, with beach on the seaward side and a vaporetto ride to San Marco on the other. For anyone who wants Venice without carrying luggage over bridges, this is the answer.
Getting there directly by water
Alilaguna's Blue line runs from the airport dock to Santa Maria Elisabetta on the Lido, calling at Murano and Fondamente Nove on the way. About โฌ18 and around seventy minutes. From the landing stage the island's own buses run the length of it, and there is a taxi rank โ an ordinary one, with cars.
The land route, and why it is no better
Bus to Piazzale Roma, then vaporetto 5.1 or 6 round the edge of the city and across the water. Ninety minutes and two tickets, coming to about the same money. The vaporetti are more frequent than Alilaguna, though, which matters if you land in the evening after the last direct boat.
A water taxi, and when it is justified
โฌ160 to โฌ240, forty minutes, straight across the lagoon to a landing stage or to one of the larger beach hotels, several of which have their own docks. In the first fortnight of September, during the film festival, this becomes both expensive and hard to arrange, so book it well ahead or plan on the waterbus.
The beach, and how it works
Most of the seafront is divided into concessions with rows of numbered cabins and loungers, hired by the day or the week. There are free public stretches at either end โ the Blue Moon area near Santa Maria Elisabetta and the beaches towards Alberoni in the south โ and they are perfectly good. The sand is fine and the water shallow a long way out.
What the film festival does
The Mostra runs at the Palazzo del Cinema in early September and it takes over the island. Hotel rates rise sharply, transport fills, and the Lungomare becomes a security perimeter. If you are coming for the festival, book months out. If you are not, avoid that fortnight entirely โ it is the one time the Lido is more expensive than Venice.
Getting into Venice each day
Vaporetti run constantly from Santa Maria Elisabetta to San Zaccaria by San Marco, taking about fifteen minutes. It is one of the better commutes available anywhere: you cross open water in front of the Doge's Palace twice a day. Buy a multi-day travel card rather than singles.
Bicycles, which is how residents move
The Lido is flat, long and quiet, and hire shops near the vaporetto stop rent by the hour or the day. Cycling to Malamocco and Alberoni at the southern end takes most of a morning and passes the old fortifications and the Alberoni dunes, which are a protected nature reserve. This is the best thing to do here that has nothing to do with the beach.
The architecture people miss
The Lido was built as a resort in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the Excelsior and the Hรดtel des Bains are substantial pieces of that era โ the latter is where Thomas Mann set Death in Venice. There is a scattering of liberty-style villas along the side streets that repays a walk, though several are in poor condition.
Cars, and the ferry that carries them
Vehicles reach the Lido only on the line 17 ferry from Tronchetto, which has its own timetable and its own ticket. Almost nobody visiting should bother โ the island has buses, taxis and bicycles, and bringing a hire car across is a considerable amount of effort for very little gain.
Out of season
From November to March the Lido is close to empty, the beach concessions are shut, and the wind comes off the Adriatic. Some hotels close entirely. It is a fine place for a winter walk and a poor one for a winter stay, and rates in Venice itself fall enough in those months that the reason for being here largely disappears.
