Venice Card Today
 

7 day Tourist travel card ACTV + Airport transfer bus one way
€ 53.00
what is included, what is not? vaporetto to vce? direct service vce san marco?

looks like alilaguna tickets are separate adders.

where do i buy it at vce or or san marco, or the train station or wherever??? how do i pick it up, or what do i get. somehow i mail money 7 days in advance. then i go to an actv machine?? and get a what?? does that have any museum discount stuff in it?

the website makes no sense whatsoever. the website dates do not go beyond dec 31, either.

Venice Card
 

I agree that the procedure for obtaining and using the Venice card is confusing. Also, there are several websites for purchasing it, some are much more confusing than others. You want to buy it online. I believe that you can purchase it at the reduced price either four or seven days before you want to use it. So, the website doesn't go beyond 12/31/2011, but there is no reason to do it two months in advance. The reason why is that the ticket prices vary according to how many tourists are anticipated to be in Venice at the time. The more crowded, the higher the price. And to make a proper estimate they cannot do it too far in advance.

Once you select your arrival date, it will show you tabs for the things you can buy; transportation; parking, cultural, toilet use, and Wifi. Click on transportation. Here you can add tickets to your basket for the vaporetti, bus transport from the airport to Piazzale Roma (one way or round trip - round trip is called a return ticket), or you can choose to take Alilaguna boat to Venice. The bus ride is and Piazzale Roma are ugly. I much prefer the Alilaguna boat to the Venice. On the transportation tab you have to note that the ACTV pass, the airport to Venice bus, and the airport to Venice Alilaguna are three separate things. You purchase each on separately at the Transportation tab.

You can buy for one, two, three, or seven days. If you by the ACTV card will have unlimited use of vaporetti during that time. The clock starts when you activate the card. It must be activated on the day you selected because the price at purchase depends on high or low season, with one day difference potentially meaning a big price change. In other words, you can't buy a ticket in low season at a reduced price, and use it during high season.

Scroll down in the transportation window (I'm assuming you clicked the box for the english version), and click on one way or return trip bus to Venice ticket. Or, skip that, go down further, and buy the Alilaguna ticket to Venice, one way or return trip.

You will get a voucher by email. Giving you a PNR number. When you get to the airport, take it to the Alilaguna window. They will give you a ticket. Unless you're going in high season, it's cheaper by internet than at the window. Even in high season when the price is the same online and in person, you'll save time if you already have your voucher/PNR. Then just go to the boat, validate it, and get on board. Save it for the return.

You will have a separate voucher for the vaporetto if you purchased it. When you get to Venice, go to one of the automated ticket machines. The vaporetto lines with people are way too long. Touch the screen, and choose the Venice card option. It will ask for your PNR. Put it in, and the machine will give you your pass that will work for the period you chose.

If you want to purchase Wifi, click that tab, and buy it for the period you want. It doesn't work everywhere, just at hot spots in the major areas, and along the Grand Canal. You can click on Culture, and there are a selection of museum options, ranging from a one day pass to several museums, to a pass that allows you to visit many of them over three months.

So, to answer your question, the museum discount, the Alilaguna airport boat, the vaporetti, etc, are all independent, different passes that you buy on their website. Buying it there will have you Try this page:

http://www.veniceconnected.com/ecomm...g=2&g=20111117

The website is indeed very confusing. To get the online discount you must purchase your pass 7 days in advance. My online attempt failed, and since that made me wary of the process I decided to buy in person. Only cost about 4 euros more. You can buy the pass from an agent at VCE or the train station as well as a few other stops (Accademia) - or buy from a machine at any stop.
Just returned from Venice and found the 7 day Vaporetto pass a terrific value even tho I didn't buy it online. Did not buy a museum pass. - consider carefully whether you will visit enough of the sites to make it worthwhile.
Good luck

Third on the value of the vap pass. We might have been able to get by without it, but once we had purchased it, we found it quick convenient to hop on and off whenever we wanted.

first we are to arrive on 11 jan. about as low as season gets.
thank you for the clarifications. the alilaguna is not practical, as we are staying at arsenale, and from alilaguna dropoff that' just too many bridges to cross. we can catch the #1 from the bus stop, and depending upon where the arsenale dock is now parked either none or one bridge.

it is quite possible we miss our connection in vie. if that is the case, we would take a water taxi to our hotel. is the 7 day vaporetti activated when we decide to activate it? is it done at the machine as we get on the boat dock?

the last venice card we had was the first year they were sold. we stood outside the booth at Ferrovia(train sta) while someone hand wrote the ticket(just 1 for everything including toilets)

is there an extention of the 4x busses that go to the airport?

Venice Card
 

Don't know anything about the buses. I can't resist sticking to boats when in La Serenissima. January is a great time to go to Venice. The NY Times did a nice pictorial about it. You can see it here:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/201...128VENICE.html

I have to go to Venice every two or three months and have to stay for about a month. Last year I got to spend most of last winter there. It's so much better than going in the summer. Nothing like having the city in its natural state, not overrun with tourists. Nothing like walking in the cold mist, and dropping inside a warm barcaro for cicchetti. I don't know if you've been there during aqua alta. Be prepared to buy boots.

For your question, I don't know anything about the trains. I understand your reluctance about the bridges (Arsenale is such a great place to stay), but I always stay on the boats. As for when the ticket is activated, it is activated by the machine at the dock when you pick it up.

The value of the pass when picked up during off season, it is true, is a matter of a modest amount of euro's. During busy season buying it over the internet is the same cost at buying a ticket at the vaporetto stop. But the value is even greater. There are long, long lines at the ticket counters, with 20 to 40 people in front of you asking multiple questions. It's great to be able to just wave your pass and step on the boat. For museums, instead of waiting for two hours on a line to enter a museum, with the Venicecard, you get to go right to the front of the line. You won't have many lines to deal with, so the value to you will be a savings of $10-20 euros, depending on what you buy.

delite dupe

http://slawecki.com/#single:img144jpgif i pay on line, will they send me the card,which i can just activate, or will i have to go to someplace to pick it up?

http://slawecki.com/#single:img144.jpg

Venice Card
 

When you buy the ticket online they will email a voucher to you that you print out and take with you. It will have your PNR number. You have to convert that voucher into a pass, and can do it two ways. There are a few Venice Connected spots, one in San Marco Piazza, one at Piazalle Roma near the bus stop, one in the main parking garage at Tronchetto, and one in the main train station at Santa Lucia. You can go to one of these and do it in person. Or, you can go to most of vaporetto stops and do it at an automated ticket point machine. There is an automated ticket machine at the Arsenale vaporetto stop. There is also one at Piazalle Roma where the bus will drop you off. They are past the booth where you purchase tickets from a person, so walk past it as if you were going to board the vaporetto. You should see the machine that says automatic ticket point. Touch the screen to activate it, touch the button for the language you want, and you'll get a menu. Touch "Venice Connected." Then they'll be a touch pad keyboard for you to type in the PNR. You do that, and then your receipt and your Venice Connected/IMOB pass will drop down into the slot for you to pick it up. Just as with a regular ticket that you buy from a person at the booth, you have to swipe it at the little machine before boarding. For entrance to museums, they email the actual ticket to you. You have priority, and can go to the front of the line. For the Alilaguna boat you have to go bring your voucher to the Alilaguna window at the airport. I don't really know about the bus. You can go to the Venice Connected booth at the airport and they will take care of it. So, they don't email the card to you, they just send an email with you that you have to print out and take with you to show at the Alilaguna window at the airport, or at one of the four Venice Connected booths, or to use the PNR at the automated ticket point to get it to print out your Venice Connected/IMOB ACTV pass.