Venice Travel Blog

'Aerial Venice' at Venice for Visitors

We're about to launch a new subsidiary site of Venice for Visitors. It's called "Aerial Venice," and it's designed to let you explore Venice from above before your visit.

The site makes use of Google satellite-photo maps. Each image measures at least 750 x 500 pixels (which is fairly large, as such maps go), and the typical page has two pictures:

1. A satellite-photo map that looks straight down and gives an overview of the featured location and its surroundings.

2. A close-up or "bird's eye" view, usually at a 45-degree angle, that matches what you might see in the final minute or two of a parachute descent.

To provide a more enjoyable experience, we've avoided the use of the teardrop-shaped markers and dialogue balloons that clutter and hide details so many Google-based photo maps. Instead, we've preceded each set of images with a description of what you'll see. (We've also included links to related Aerial Venice pages and Venice for Visitors articles in our descriptions.)

Aerial Venice topics range from major squares and sights to transportation hubs such as the Santa Lucia Railroad Station, the Piazzale Roma, Venice Marco Polo and Treviso Airports, and the Venice cruise port.

If you'd like to see the pages that are online when you read this, click the link below or type the name into your browser:

aerialvenice.com

Photo in banner: Matthew Dixon.

"Introducing Venice" at Venice for Visitors

ABOVE: Santa Lucia Railroad Station is on the edge of Venice's centro storico or historic center.

We've just published an article at Venice for Visitors that we should have written long ago: It gives an orientation and overview of Venice in three easy-to-read pages.

The article is titled "Introducing Venice," and it covers several important topics:

• Basic geography, with a satellite-photo map that shows the Venetian Lagoon, the city's historic center, the airport, the railroad station, the cruise terminals, and other major landmarks.

• Picking the right hotel location, with a zoomed-in photo map to help you understand which areas of town are likely to be the most convenient (or inconvenient) for your purposes.

• Arriving and getting around, with links to our articles on arriving in Venice, using public transportation, navigating Venice on foot, and related topics.

If you're visiting Venice for the first time, this quick tutorial will help you avoid confusion, and it could save you from making costly and frustrating planning mistakes. To read it, go to:

• Introducing Venice at Veniceforvisitors.com

Barzi Bus connects Treviso with Venice and Marco Polo Airport

Barzi Bus Service, a coach line that has operated in the Veneto region since 1954, now offers two airport-bus routes between Treviso and Venice:

Airport Line 1 connects Treviso Airport with Venice's Piazzale Roma, with an intermediate stop at Mestre Railroad Station. Total travel time is 40 minutes, and a one-way adult ticket is  €7. (If you're returning within 10 days, you can buy a roundtrip ticket for  €13.) 

Airport Line 2 runs between Treviso Airport and Venice's Marco Polo Airport, with an intermediate stop in the center of Treviso (across the street from Treviso's railroad station). Travel time between the two airports is 30 minutes. A single ticket costs  €8, while a roundtrip is  €15.

Travel is by air-conditioned coach with underfloor baggage compartments.

• Note: Treviso Airport (TSF) is the so-called "Venice" airport used by Ryanair, BelleAir, Transavia, Wizz, Germanwings, and SkyTrain. It's located on the outskirts of Treviso, a pleasant and historic town about 26 km or 16 miles from Venice. (TSF shouldn't be confused with Marco Polo Airport or VCE, the main airport for Venice.)

For current timetables, visit en.barziservice.com.

Photo: Barzi Bus Service.