Every transfer from Venice Marco Polo Airport is either a bus to Piazzale Roma, where the road ends, or a boat across the lagoon. In 2026 the cheapest way in is the ACTV Aerobus at 10 EUR one way and about 24 minutes to Piazzale Roma (ACTV, 2026). The Alilaguna water bus costs 18 EUR one way and sets you down at a landing near your hotel (Alilaguna, 2026).
The choice is really about where you are sleeping and how much luggage you are carrying. A bus ticket is cheap and quick, and then you walk or take a vaporetto from Piazzale Roma, which can add half an hour and several bridges. Alilaguna costs almost twice as much and takes far longer, and it puts you on the water at a stop that may be two minutes from your door. A private water taxi is the fastest and by far the most expensive, and its price is quoted rather than published.
This guide gives the 2026 fares and journey times for each option from Marco Polo, the separate arrangements from Treviso Canova, the luggage rules that catch people out, and where each ticket is actually sold. Fares come from the operators' own tariff sheets and timetables, all checked in September 2026.
How much is a transfer from Marco Polo Airport to Venice?
Four prices cover almost every arrival. The ACTV Aerobus to Piazzale Roma costs 10 EUR for a single and 18 EUR for a return, and a combined ticket that adds 90 minutes on the rest of the Rete Unica network, including the vaporetti, costs 18 EUR (ACTV, 2026). The Alilaguna water bus costs 18 EUR one way and 32 EUR return between the airport and Venice, with the shorter airport to Murano leg at 10 EUR single and 18 EUR return (Alilaguna, 2026). The ATVO express coach to Mestre railway station costs 12 EUR single and 20 EUR return (ATVO, 2026). A licensed car taxi from the airport rank to Piazzale Roma is a fixed 40 EUR, or 35 EUR to central Mestre (Cooperativa Artigiana Radiotaxi, 2026).
One figure needs a caveat. ATVO's regional tariff sheet, in force since 16 April 2025, still lists airport tickets at 10 EUR single and 18 EUR return (ATVO, 2025). The timetable currently posted for the airport express prints 12 EUR and 20 EUR, so treat the timetable as the price you will pay and the tariff sheet as the older document.
If you are going to use public transport for several days, compare the airport ticket against the ACTV travel cards: one day costs 25 EUR, two days 35 EUR, three days 45 EUR and seven days 65 EUR, and travellers aged 6 to 29 can buy a three-day card for 27 EUR with a 6 EUR Rolling Venice card (ACTV, 2026).
Alilaguna water bus: lines, fares and luggage
Alilaguna is the scheduled boat service between the airport and the city, and its dock is a walk away from the terminal building. Three lines serve the airport. The Blue Line runs east and then round the city: Murano Colonna, Fondamente Nove, Ospedale, Bacini, Lido Santa Maria Elisabetta, Arsenale, San Zaccaria, San Marco Giardinetti, Zattere, Giudecca Stucky, Tronchetto and the railway station at Santa Lucia. The Orange Line runs into the Cannaregio and San Marco canals: Madonna dell'Orto, Guglie, San Stae, Rialto, Sant'Angelo, Ca' Rezzonico and Santa Maria del Giglio. The Red Line is seasonal, running from April to November on a shorter version of the Blue route (Alilaguna, 2026).
Pick the line whose stop is closest to your accommodation, because the boat calls at every landing and the difference between the first stop and the last is substantial. The fare is the same on all three.
Every ticket covers one hold bag and one item of hand luggage; each additional bag costs 4 EUR. Children aged six and under travel free with a paying adult, and pushchairs are carried free. Alilaguna also sells its own time passes valid across the network apart from the Green Line, at 40 EUR for 24 hours, 60 EUR for 48 hours and 80 EUR for 72 hours, and these include the airport run. The passes are sold at ticket offices only (Alilaguna, 2026).
Can I take a bus from Marco Polo Airport to Venice?
Yes, and it is the fastest cheap option. ACTV line 5, the Aerobus, runs between the airport and Piazzale Roma, the road terminus at the western edge of the historic centre. The published timetable gives 24 minutes from the airport to Piazzale Roma and 21 minutes in the other direction. Departures from the airport start at 04:08 and the last one leaves at 01:10, with a bus every 15 minutes through the day (ACTV, 2026). Piazzale Roma is where cars, coaches and taxis stop, so from there you walk, or take a vaporetto, or cross to the railway station.
ACTV line 15 does the same job for Mestre, taking 25 minutes from the airport to Mestre railway station, roughly every half hour, with the first bus at 05:45 and the last at 20:15 on weekdays (ACTV, 2026). Both lines take the flat airport fare.
ATVO runs a coach on the same Mestre corridor in 20 minutes, from 04:20 to 00:40, with luggage included in the fare and no limit on the number of bags (ATVO, 2026). On the ACTV buses the free allowance is three items whose three dimensions add up to no more than 150 cm each, with an extra ticket needed for every three bags beyond that (ACTV, 2026). That rule is the usual reason a family with four suitcases is better off on the coach or the boat.
Venice airport water taxi and land taxi
A private water taxi is the only transfer that takes you from the airport to a hotel's own water door without a walk at either end. The boats leave from the same dock as Alilaguna. Consorzio Motoscafi Venezia runs more than a hundred of them, each carrying up to ten passengers and ten suitcases, with a 24-hour call centre and online booking (Consorzio Motoscafi Venezia, 2026). The consortium does not publish a fixed airport tariff on its site, and the Comune di Venezia's tariff page was not reachable when this guide was checked, so no price is quoted here. Agree the total with the driver or the booking desk before you board, and confirm whether your hotel has a landing that a taxi can actually use, because many do not.
The land taxi is a different service with published fixed fares. A licensed car taxi from the airport rank charges 40 EUR to Piazzale Roma, 35 EUR to central Mestre and 45 EUR to the Marittima cruise terminal. Those fares include luggage, apply to the shortest route and are not available for telephone bookings (Cooperativa Artigiana Radiotaxi, 2026). For two or three people arriving late, when the buses have thinned out, a car taxi to Piazzale Roma costs about the same as three Alilaguna tickets and gets you to the edge of the city in around 20 minutes.
How do I get from Treviso Airport to Venice?
Treviso Canova is the airport most low-cost flights use, and it is a separate journey with its own operator. ATVO runs the connection, and since 10 August 2026 it has been route 351, which the operator times at 30 minutes to Mestre and 40 minutes to Venice (ATVO, 2026). The published timetable, valid from 10 August to 24 October 2026, matches that: the first coach leaves Piazzale Roma at 04:20, reaches Mestre railway station at 04:35 and Treviso airport at 05:00, and the last departures from the airport run to about 22:30, arriving at Piazzale Roma around 23:10 (ATVO, 2026).
The fare is higher than the Marco Polo one. The Canova route costs 12 EUR single and 22 EUR return, dropping to 11 EUR each single for groups of two to nine and 10 EUR each for ten or more, with luggage included (ATVO, 2025).
Two details matter when flights slip. ATVO states that departures from Treviso can be moved to follow flight arrivals, even after the timetable is published, and that the service is suspended if a flight is cancelled (ATVO, 2026). Coming out of the terminal, the stop is reached over the pedestrian footbridge from the arrivals hall, and tickets are sold at a machine in the baggage hall and at the arrivals desk (ATVO, 2026).
Which airport transfer to choose, and where to buy the ticket
Staying in San Marco, Dorsoduro, Castello or on the Lido, and travelling light: take Alilaguna, because the boat stop will be closer to your door than Piazzale Roma is. Staying in Cannaregio or Santa Croce, near the top of the Grand Canal: take the Aerobus to Piazzale Roma, which is a short walk away, and buy the 18 EUR combined ticket if you will need a vaporetto at the far end (ACTV, 2026). Arriving after midnight: line 5 runs until 01:10, and after that a car taxi at 40 EUR is the only way in (ACTV, 2026b; Cooperativa Artigiana Radiotaxi, 2026). Staying in Mestre, where hotels are cheaper: the ATVO coach takes 20 minutes to the railway station (ATVO, 2026).
Buy Alilaguna tickets online or at the airport dock; the time passes are sold at ticket offices only (Alilaguna, 2026). ACTV tickets come from the machines and the counter in the arrivals hall or through the AVM app. ATVO sells online, at its machines in the baggage hall and at its office in Piazzale Roma next to the Carabinieri (ATVO, 2026).
One habit is worth keeping whichever ticket you hold: validate it when you board. Fares here are checked, and an unvalidated ticket is treated as no ticket.
