I wouldn't push it! The wonderful arrival from the sea isn't the trip from Mestre to Venice, but coming in from the lagoon and seeing St Marks, the Doge's palace and Sta Maria della Salute. To replicate this get one of the vaporetti that chugs across from St Mark's to the island of Giudecca and return!

And then stay on the bus from Mestre to Piazzale Roma in Venice!!

Thanks for your advice, Alcasienne.
I had come to the same conclusion.
Even the Venice tourist office (remarkably friendly and fast by email) gave the same advice.
Greetings,
Topaz

Topaz

fill us in when you get back

We;ve got a Ryanair 1p flight in and out in 48 hours and it's cheaper than taking our caravan out as we found a cheap hotel RO so going to eat Pizza for 2 days

an idea of prices would be great

Hi Alsacienne fancy seeing you here

OK, we made it there and back (partner and I).
Dates September 23-26.

We travelled by Ryanair: Charleroi - Treviso, no real problems except that Ryanair charges, and controls, everything to the point it is no longer funny (there were at least two suitcase repacks at Treviso on the way back).
The ACTV bus is very good and you get a very clear timetable showing how the buses meet the various flights. Cost: 6 Euro per trip; 10 Euro return. Time: about 1 hour 10 mins I think.
The bus arrives and leaves on Piazzale Roma at the D2/D3 bus "platforms".
You walk about 50 meters across the bus station to the Vaporetto "station", next to Calatrava's bridge (now open but not suitable for luggage on wheels or wheelchair users !).
Vaporetto costs: 6.50 Euro per trip; we took a 72-hour ticket for 31 Euro - Note this includes trips to Murano and Burano but not to the (Treviso) Airport, a mistake in my edition of the Rough Guide.
It has to be said that we just about got our money's worth (since walking was often the easiest way from A to B) but we never saw anyone controlled for a ticket :-)
Remember, the slow way on the Canal Grande is line 1, the fast way is line 2 (which is line 82 renamed).
We stayed at Locanda Antico Casin, not easy to find but very near San Marco and highly recommended: from a typical clean but shabby cul-de-sac (the end is a small canal used for freight deliveries) you enter a modern, design house (how else do you describe a 5 room "hotel"). Reviewers have complained about the fact that two rooms open directly into the reception area but since there is almost never anyone in reception we did not find this a problem. The rooms are on floors 2 and 3 (where ground floor is 0) but the stairs are wide, clean and safe. No lift.
We paid 135 per room per night, including breakfast and any taxes and service charges that may apply.
Our only complaint - which we pointed out - was that supermarket plastic-wrapped pastries and those awful toasts that the Dutch like was not worthy of the "hotel" for breakfast. We soon found fresh bread and yoghout supplements to this camp diet. Their excuse seemed to be based on not having an authorised kitchen and thus not being allowed to handle fresh food-stuffs: Brussels providing an excuse again ? The coffee is good; if you want volume ask for cappucino.
There is an excellant snack bar (Carla's) just around the corner: super sandwiches, tapas, simple meals, excellant coffee (3 sandwich-equivalents, 1 coffee, 1 beer costs us 11 Euro).
Another lunch was from a take-away fresh pizza place: 2.5 Euro per piece.
An evening trip to Giudecca is fun: the lagoon is different at night (this was late Sept). We ate in Do Mori restaurant (Rough Guide and local recommendation) but found the prices/quality disappointing
77.50 Euro for two: starter, main, 50 ml house wine, coffee).
Important cultural point: In general, you do not get, or are offered, anything with the main course so if you want potatoes, rice or a salad remember to ask for them: munching on a "bare" steak is, well, unusual.
Entrance fees:
Academia: 8.50 full, 6.50 over 65, 7.0 double (!) audio guide
Murano glass (recommend: glass blowing demo - the sell was not too hard, you can escape before being herded into the shop; the museum and SS Maria e Donato (not a ship!) )
Murano Museum costs 4.5 Euro per person.
San Marco Basilica: free entry but crowded even in September, 3 Euro to see gold screen, 4 Euro to go on upper floor and parapet overlooking Piazza San Marco - all worth it. We were lucky (I think), the basilica is a pretty gloomy place but there was a choir visiting and sang at the 11 a.m. Mass. For this they turned the lights on and the place came to a golden life - with live sound.
Civic Museo's: There us an unsplittable bundled ticket for: Museo Correr, Archeological museum, Marciana library (the one spectacular room), Palazzo Ducale. There was also a splendid one-man show included at the moment (Eduard Angeli).
Costs 13.0 Euros full, 7.50 over 65 and has to be used in one day, which is daft.

Bought a two-ball ice-cream at the lagoon side of P. San Marco = 2 Euros and huge - we could not believe our luck !
Average coffee price, 3-4 Euros per cup.
By chance we found a restaurant near the station (streets Lista di Spagna, Rio Terra), mostly tourists but excellant service and food (59 Euro for 2 with 1/2 bottle of wine). Will search out name.
Further recoimmendations: if you really want to walk about a lot and know were you are, and are going - take a compass (seriously) and buy a map with ALL street names on (I bought one for 2.5 Euro but that was not good enough).

Filled you in madcaravanner? If anyone wants to know more, just reply to this post.

topaz wrote:

OK, we made it there and back (partner and I).
Dates September 23-26.

The ACTV bus is very good and you get a very clear timetable showing how the buses meet the various flights. Cost: 6 Euro per trip; 10 Euro return. Time: about 1 hour 10 mins I think.
The bus arrives and leaves on Piazzale Roma at the D2/D3 bus "platforms".

You walk about 50 meters across the bus station to the Vaporetto "station",
Vaporetto costs: 6.50 Euro per trip; Remember, the slow way on the Canal Grande is line 1, the fast way is line 2 (which is line 82 renamed).

We stayed at Locanda Antico Casin, We paid 135 per room per night, including breakfast and any taxes and service charges that may apply.

We are staying at The Hotel Giovannina, Via Dante 113, Mestre at £43 a night RO so once we dump the bags we will jump on the bus or train from there

There is an excellent snack bar (Carla's) just around the corner

: Which street please ?

Important cultural point: In general, you do not get, or are offered, anything with the main course so if you want potatoes, rice or a salad remember to ask for them: munching on a "bare" steak is, well, unusual.

Ta for the heads up on that need the salad

Bought a two-ball ice-cream at the lagoon side of P. San Marco = 2 Euros and huge - we could not believe our luck ! Average coffee price, 3-4 Euros per cup.

Now come on where abouts tempting us with tasty morsels

take a compass (seriously) and buy a map with ALL street names on (I bought one for 2.5 Euro but that was not good enough).

I've got a Pocket PC with Tom-Tom on so getting lost is not likely we are programming stuff already

Which street please ?

Strictly, San Marco 1535
I'm sure Tom-Tom understands Venitian street numbers :-)
If you start from Vaporetto stop "San Marco Vallaresso", go up Calle di Ca'Vallaresso, which dog-legs into Calle Frezzaria. Dodge through a sottoportego on your left and you are almost opposite Carla's bar (in Ct. Contarina, according to a real map).

Hope this helps - and that you see something of Venice and don't spend the whole time staring at a 4x6 cms screen

topaz wrote:

Which street please ?

Strictly, San Marco 1535
I'm sure Tom-Tom understands Venitian street numbers :-)
If you start from Vaporetto stop "San Marco Vallaresso", go up Calle di Ca'Vallaresso, which dog-legs into Calle Frezzaria. Dodge through a sottoportego on your left and you are almost opposite Carla's bar (in Ct. Contarina, according to a real map).

Hope this helps - and that you see something of Venice and don't spend the whole time staring at a 4x6 cms screen :)

Ta for that
My PDA is a little bigger than that too and I just let it talk to me via an earpiece don't like those Tom-Tom only machines for what they do they are bulky and overpriced

We are back from our two day one night trip to Venice via Ryanairs one pence flights

a couple of tips about bus and vaporetto fares

buys a ticket for as long as you can need it shorter timed tickets cost far more
24 hours cost €18 whereas 12 hours cost 14€

don't validate the ticket until you need to short bus trips are fixed price 1€10 (Mestre to Venice is an example)

Buses to Venice are plentiful check which routes pass your hotel as there maybe more than one
trains are equally plentiful if you need to go further
fares are fairly cheap but always check out buses as the trip by bus above is 8€ on the train

Vaporetta LOL they go one route then even if it looks like they might do a circular trip they don't they return the same way they went out and don't forget your ticket it's a 44€ fine if you get caught without a ticket
route are clearly timed to if you look carefully

and

when you buy your ticket you get a free map that shows all the stops and lots of tourist places to visit

for the Tom Tom users like me it does work but not constantly due to the tall buildings and you can search out specific addresses easily especially if you have the paper map as back up