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The Island city of Venice is shaped like a fish. Its major thoroughfares are canals. The Grand Canal winds through the middle of the fish, starting at the mouth where all the people and food enter, passing under the Rialto Bridge, and ending at St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco). Park your 21st-century perspective at the mouth and let Venice swallow you whole.
Venice is a car-less kaleidoscope of people, bridges, and odorless canals. The city has no real streets, and addresses are hopelessly confusing. There are six districts:
San Marco (most touristy), Castello (behind San Marco), Cannaregio (from the train station to the Rialto), San Polo (other sfide of the Rialto), Santa Croce, and Dorsoduro. Each district has about 6,000 address numbers. To find your way, navigate by landmarks, not streets. Many street corners have a sign pointing you to (per) the nearest major landmark, such as San Marco, Accademia, Rialto, and Ferrovia (train station).
Obedient visitors stick to the main thoroughfares as directed by these signs and miss the charm of backstreet Venice.
Arrival in Venice
A two-mite-long causeway (with highway and train lines) connects Venice to the mainland. Mestre, Venice's sprawling mainland industrial base, has fewer crowds, cheaper hotels, and plenty of parking lots, but no charm. Don't stop here, unless you're parking your car in a lot. Trains regularly connect Mestre with Venice's Santa Lucia station (6/hr, 5 min). Don't leave your train at Venezia-Mestre-the next stop is Venezia Santa Lucia (end of the line for Venice).

By Train: Venice's Santa Lucia train station drops you right into the old town on the Grand Canal, an easy vaporetto ride or fascinating 40-minute walk to St. Mark's Square. Upon arrival, skip the station's crowded TI because the two TIs at St. Mark's Square are better, and it's not worth a long wait for a minimal map (buy a good one from a newsstand with no wait. Confirm your departure plan (stop by train info desk or just study the departure-posters on walls). The train station can be crowded with long lines to buy train tickets, supplements, and cuccetta (overnight berth) reservations. You can take care of these tasks at downtown travel agencies. The cost is the same, the lines and language barrier are smaller, and you'll save time. Consider storing unnecessary heavy bags, even though lines for the baggage check may be very long (platform 14, daily 6:00-24:00; no lockers). Then walk straight out of the station to the canal. The dock for vaporetti #1 and #82 is on your left ; the dock for #51 and #52 is on your right. Buy a at the ticket window and hop on a boat after confirming that it's heading downtown (direction: Rialto or San Marco). Some boats only go as far as Rialto (solo Rialto), so check with the conductor.

By Car:The freeway ends at Venice in a parking lot on the edge of the Island. Follow the green lights directing you to a parking lot with space, probably Tronchetto (across the causeway and on the right), which has a huge, multistoried garage. From there,you'll find travel agencies masquerading as TIs and vaporetto docks for the boat connection (#82) to the town center. Parking in Mestre is easy and cheap (from Mestre train station, easy shuttle-train connections to Venice's Santa Lucia Station-6/hr, 5 min). There are also huge and economical lots in Verona, Padova, and Vicenza.

By Plane:Venice's sleek, modern Marco Polo Airport on the mainland, six miles north of the city, has a brand-new woodbeam-and-glass terminal, with a TI, cash machines, car-rental agencies, a few shops and eateries, and easy connections by bus and boat to the city center. Airport info: tel. 041-260-611, flight info: tel. 041-260-9240. You can get to St. Mark's Square by Alilaguna boat, the most direct transportation to the historical center (2/hr, 70 min, runs 6:15-24:00 from airport, generally departs airport around :10 and :40 alter the hour; runs 4:20-22:50 from Venice starting in Zattere, the Dorsoduro hotels; continuing to San Marco/Giardinetti and San Zaccaria around 4:30; tel. 041-523-5775, www.alilaguna.com). A water taxi zips you directly to your hotel in 30 minutes. The blue ATVO shuttle buses connect the airport and the Piazzale Roma vaporetto stop (2/hr,20 min, 5:30-20:40 to airport, 8:20-24:00 from airport, schedule listed in Un Ospite di Venezia, www.atvo.it). The cheaper orange ACTV bus #5 links the airport with the train station.
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