Venice Vaporetto Guide 2026: Tickets, Prices, Lines and How to Ride

Vaporetto ticket prices 2026 (official ACTV fares)

ACTV's tariff for the urban network, which it calls Rete Unica, covers the vaporetto, the mainland buses, the Mestre tram and the People Mover with one ticket (ACTV, 2026). The 2026 prices are:

Single ticket, 75 minutes: 9.50 EUR. Valid for unlimited changes within 75 minutes of validation on every urban line except the airport routes. 24-hour Venezia Daily Pass: 25 EUR, which also includes Trenitalia regional trains between Venezia Santa Lucia and Mestre. 48-hour pass: 35 EUR. 72-hour pass: 45 EUR. 7-day pass: 65 EUR. Rolling Venice 72-hour pass for ages 6 to 29: 27 EUR, plus 6 EUR for the Rolling Venice card itself. Return ticket to the Lido beaches on Line 14 (Lido and Punta Sabbioni): 16 EUR, valid until midnight.

All passes run from the moment of first validation, not from midnight, so a 24-hour pass validated at 3pm covers you until 3pm the next day. The airport is outside the urban tariff: adding Marco Polo to a pass costs a 7 EUR supplement one way or 13 EUR return, and the ACTV airport bus (Aerobus, line 5) is 10 EUR single or 18 EUR return (ACTV, 2026). Residents and holders of a Venezia Unica card with resident status pay 1.50 EUR per ride, which is why the person next to you paid a fraction of your fare.

Day pass or single tickets: the maths

Two single rides cost 19 EUR; three cost 28.50 EUR, already more than the 25 EUR day pass. If you will board a vaporetto more than twice in a day, buy the pass. Over a typical stay the passes work out as follows: the 48-hour pass at 35 EUR equals 3.7 single rides, the 72-hour pass at 45 EUR equals 4.7 rides, and the 7-day pass at 65 EUR equals fewer than seven rides, or less than one ride a day.

The case for single tickets is a short stay in a hotel near where you will spend your time. Venice is small: from the railway station to St Mark's Square is a 30 to 35 minute walk, and from Rialto to St Mark's about ten minutes. Many visitors take the vaporetto twice in three days, once for the Grand Canal ride on Line 1 and once to the islands, and for them two singles at 19 EUR beat any pass. Anyone planning Murano, Burano and Torcello in a single day should buy the 24-hour pass for that day alone: the island loop is at least four boardings.

Children under six travel free. There is no child fare above that age; the Rolling Venice card is the only youth discount and it only pays off if you buy the 72-hour pass.

Which vaporetto line to take

Line 1 is the boat most visitors mean when they say vaporetto. It runs the full length of the Grand Canal from Piazzale Roma and the railway station (Ferrovia) to San Marco and on to the Lido, stopping at every landing stage, about 45 minutes from Piazzale Roma to San Marco. It is the slowest and the best way to see the canal, and it is crowded in the middle of the day. Line 2 covers the same Grand Canal stretch as an express with far fewer stops, then continues round the Giudecca Canal past the Zattere and the Redentore, so it is the faster choice between the station and San Marco and the right one for Giudecca and San Giorgio Maggiore.

Lines 4.1 and 4.2 circle the city in opposite directions via Murano, and lines 5.1 and 5.2 do a wider loop via the Lido; the numbers ending in .1 run anticlockwise and .2 clockwise. Line 12 leaves Fondamente Nove on the north shore for Murano Faro, Mazzorbo, Burano and Torcello, and is the line for the islands. Line 14 links San Zaccaria, the Lido and Punta Sabbioni. The night service, Line N, follows a Grand Canal and Giudecca loop after the day lines stop. Timetables change with the season; the current sheets are on ACTV's site and on the boards at each stop.

The Alilaguna boats to and from Marco Polo Airport are a different company with different tickets. ACTV passes are not valid on them, and they are covered on the airport transfer page.

Where to buy vaporetto tickets in Venice

Tickets and passes are sold at Venezia Unica offices (Piazzale Roma, the railway station, San Marco Vallaresso, Rialto, Lido and the airport), at the automatic machines on the larger landing stages, in many tabacchi and newsagents displaying the ACTV sign, and online through Venezia Unica, which issues a code to collect the ticket at a machine or office (Venezia Unica, 2026). The AVM Venezia Official app sells the same fares and shows them on your phone.

Buying online before you arrive avoids the queues at Piazzale Roma and the station, which are the longest in the city because every arriving visitor passes through them. If you arrive by train, the Venezia Unica office is on the left as you leave the station and the machines are on the landing stages directly in front of it; if you arrive by car or bus, the machines at Piazzale Roma stand at the top of each pontoon.

On board, a ticket bought from the crew costs more than the standard fare and is only available on some lines, so treat it as a fallback. Tickets are valid on the whole network, so a pass bought at the airport office is the same pass as one bought at San Marco.

How to validate your ticket and avoid a fine

Every ACTV ticket and pass must be validated before boarding by holding it to the white and orange reader on the pontoon until it beeps and the light turns green. A pass is validated once, at first use; a single ticket must be validated at the start of each 75-minute journey. A valid but unvalidated ticket counts as no ticket, and inspectors board boats and check at landing stages daily; the fine is charged on the spot on top of the fare (ACTV, 2026). The commonest way visitors get fined is walking through an open gate behind a crowd without tapping.

At busy stops in high season the pontoon gates are staffed and the crew direct boarding. Let passengers off before you step on, keep the gangway clear, and on Line 1 head to the open bow or stern seats early: they are the ones with the view and they fill first. Standing is normal and the boats are steady in the canal. Announcements and the digital sign at the front give the next stop; the stop name is also painted on the pontoon.

Luggage, bikes and accessibility

Each passenger may carry one piece of luggage free of charge, with larger or additional pieces subject to a charge under ACTV's general conditions of transport; in practice a standard suitcase and a bag travel free and the rule is applied to trolleys and oversized items (ACTV, 2026). Keep luggage out of the gangway and off the seats. Bicycles and scooters are not allowed on the urban vaporetto lines except folded in a case; a bicycle ticket at 1.50 EUR applies only on the ferry-boat routes to the Lido and Pellestrina.

The vaporetto is the most accessible way around Venice. The landing stages are floating pontoons with ramps, the boats have a level entry from the pontoon, and there is space for wheelchairs on board. Holders of an EU Disability Card pay 1.50 EUR per journey and a designated companion travels free. The People Mover, the elevated shuttle between Piazzale Roma and the Tronchetto car park, is included in the Rete Unica ticket.

When not to take the vaporetto

The vaporetto is slow by design: it stops every few hundred metres and shares the Grand Canal with barges, taxis and gondolas. Between Rialto and St Mark's, walking is faster than waiting for a boat. Between Piazzale Roma and the railway station, it is a five-minute walk over the Calatrava bridge. Save the boat for the length of the Grand Canal, the crossings to Giudecca and San Giorgio, and the islands.

For a Grand Canal crossing with no bridge nearby, the traghetto gondolas cost 2 EUR per person and take two minutes. A water taxi is the fast, expensive option: private boats charge by the trip and typically run 70 EUR and up within the city, with fixed tariffs to and from the airport. A vaporetto from the airport does not exist; that route is served by Alilaguna, the Aerobus, or a taxi.