Venice for Cruisers

ABOVE: Compagnie du Ponant's L'Austral during a roundtrip Adriatic cruise from Venice.

Venice, Italy is one of the most popular cruise ports in Southern Europe, and it's tied with Rome's Civitavecchia as the busiest port in Italy.

The city is located within the Venetian Lagoon, which has a port entrance that leads to the Adriatic Sea. Its cruise-ship piers are on the edge of the historic center, and Venice's Marco Polo Airport is only about 6 km or 4 miles away. (See our Venice Satellite Photo Map for a geographic overview. Our Aerial Venice: Cruise Port photos will also come in handy.)

For more information on Venice's cruise terminals, ground transportation, and other cruising topics, please read these articles:

Important tips:

• The Port of Venice often provides free shuttle buses from the Piazzale Roma (where land taxis and Venice airport buses discharge passengers) to the pier and back. The buses are coaches with luggage space underneath, and they typically run at half-hour intervals from the time the ship disembarks one batch of passengers until boarding of new passengers is complete. Check with your cruise line to learn if a shuttle will be available.

• If you're staying in Venice before or after your cruise, we strongly urge you to read our Venice Cruise Terminal Hotels article before booking a hotel room.

• Do not assume that your cruise-travel agent knows Venice: We often get panicky e-mails from cruisers who have been booked into hotels that are a long distance on foot (or a painfully expensive water-taxi ride) from the cruise piers.

More transportation advice:

Arriving in Venice
How to reach the city by plane, train, car, or ship, with links to articles on airport transportation and related topics.

Getting Around Venice
An introduction to Venice's water transportation system, with links to articles on vaporetti, gondolas, traghetto ferries across the Grand Canal, etc.

Accessible Venice
If you use a wheelchair, can't walk long distances, or have trouble with steps (e.g., on bridges), read this article before you arrive in Venice. The article includes links to special maps and other local resources in English.

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for Venice, Italy since 1997

• About Venice for Visitors

Too many bridges, too little time?

Choose from handpicked Venice hotels (in all price ranges) within 0, 1, or 2 bridges of airport buses, taxis, trains, cruise piers, and airport-boat stops. We show maps, directions, booking links, and hotel Web sites.

• Click for easy-to-reach hotels

Venice for Cruisers:

• Roundtrip Cruises from Venice
• L'Austral Cruise Review
• MSC Poesia Cruise Review
• Costa Magica Cruise Review
• All Venice Cruising Articles

Our blogs:

• Venice Travel Blog
• Maggie in Venice dog blog

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