Apart from services #1 and the #82, the water-buses skirt the city centre, connecting points on the periphery and the outer islands. In many cases the speediest way of getting around is on foot. Routes between major sights are sometimes tortuous but distances are extremely short (you can cross the whole city in an hour), and once you�ve got your general bearings you�ll find that navigation is not as daunting as it seems at first. Helpful yellow signs posted high up on streetcorners all over central Venice indicate the main routes to San Marco, Ferrovia (train station) and Rialto.
Water-buses
There are two basic types of water-bus: the vaporetti, which are the lumbering workhorses used on the Canal Grande services (#1 and #82) and other heavily used routes, and the motoscafi, which are smaller vessels employed on routes where the volume of traffic isn�t as great. The standard fare is e3.50 for a single journey (or e6 for two tickets, to be used before midnight), except for the Laguna Nord boats (to Murano, Burano and Torcello), which cost e8.50 and are valid for twelve hours, and Canal Grande trips on the #1, #3, #4 and #82: on these vaporetti the fare is e5 for any journey stopping anywhere between Piazzale Roma and San Marco Vallaresso, other than a one-stop traghetto hop (see below), in which case the fare is e1.80. The e5 ticket is valid for ninety minutes of travel; other single tickets are valid for just one journey. Children under 4 travel free. Tickets are available from most landing stages, from tabacchi, from shops displaying the ACTV sign, at the airport, from the main tourist office, and from the two ACTV public offices � at Piazzale Roma (daily: summer 6am�midnight; winter 6am�8pm) and in Ramo dei Fuseri, close to the northwest corner of the Piazza (Mon�Fri 7.30am�6pm, Sat 7.30am�1pm). In the remoter parts of the city, you may not be able to find anywhere to buy a ticket, particularly after working hours, when the booths at the landing stages tend to close down; tickets can be bought on board at the standard price, as long as you ask the attendant as soon as you get on board; if you delay, you could be liable for a e35 spot-fine on top of the fare. Unless you intend to walk all day, you�ll almost certainly save money by buying some sort of travel card as soon as you arrive. ACTV produces a one-day (24hr) ticket (e10.50) and a three-day (72hr) ticket (e22), which can be used on all ACTV services within Venice (including ACTV land buses from the airport). For seven days of unrestricted travel, you have to buy a Venice Card (see p.168). If you buy one of these unrestricted travel tickets at the train station or Piazzale Roma it will in all likelihood be automatically validated with a timestamp; the same goes for ordinary tickets. When using a non-validated ticket you must validate it before embarking, by inserting it into one of the machines at the entrance to the vaporetto stop or on board the bus (the machines are painted orange); the ticket is valid from that moment, and you need to validate it just once.
Water-bus services What follows is a run-through of the most useful services. Be warned that so many services call at San Marco, San Zaccaria, Rialto and the train station that the bus stops at these points are spread out over a long stretch of waterfront, so you might have to walk past several stops before finding the one you need. Services to San Marco will call either at plain San Marco or at the adjacent San Marco Vallaresso. As a further refinement, the San Zaccaria stop, which is as close to the Basilica as the San Marco Vallaresso stop, is sometimes treated as the third San Marco stop.
#1 The slowest of the water-buses, and the one you�ll use most often. It starts at Piazzale Roma, calls at every stop on the Canal Grande except San Samuele, works its way along the San Marco waterfront to Sant�Elena, then goes over to the Lido. The #1 runs every 20min between 5 and 6.30am, every 10min between 6.30am and 9.45pm, and every 20min between 9.45 and 11.45pm. For the night service, see #N.
#82 This service is the quickest means of getting from the train or bus station down the Canal Grande to San Marco, as it makes fewer stops than the #1. Its clockwise route takes it from San Zaccaria to San Giorgio Maggiore, Giudecca (Zitelle, Redentore and Palanca), Z�ttere, San Basilio, Sacca Fisola, Tronchetto, Piazzale Roma, the train station, then down the Canal Grande (usually calling at Rialto, Sant�Angelo, San Tom�, San Samuele and Accademia) to San Marco (Vallaresso); the anticlockwise version calls at the same stops. From Monday to Friday the #82 runs along most of the route (in both directions) every 10min from 6am to 8.30pm, then every 20min until 11pm, but for the section between Rialto and San Marco the bus runs only every 20min through the day and is even less frequent before 8am and after 8.30pm; at weekends the #82 runs every 20min for the whole route. In summer the #82 is extended from San Zaccaria to the Lido. For the night service see #N.
#41/42 The circular service, running right round the core of Venice, with a short detour at the northern end to San Michele and Murano. The #41 travels anticlockwise, the #42 clockwise, and both run every 20min from 6.30am until around 8pm, after which the service simply shuttles between Murano and Venice every 10�20min until around 11.30pm.
#51/52 Similar to the #41/42, this route also circles Venice, but heads out to the Lido (rather than Murano) at the easternmost end of the circle. The #51 runs anticlockwise, the #52 clockwise, and both run fast through the Giudecca canal, stopping only at Z�ttere and Santa Marta between San Zaccaria and Piazzale Roma. Both run every 20min for most of the day. From 4.30�6am & 8.30�11pm the #51 doesn�t do a complete lap of the city � instead it departs every 20 min from Fondamenta Nove and proceeds via the train station to the Lido, where it terminates; similarly, from 7�11pm the #52 (which starts operating at 6am) shuttles between the Lido and Fondamente Nove in the opposite direction, and from 11pm to around 1.30am goes no farther than the train station.
#LN For most of the day the #Laguna Nord runs every half-hour from Fondamente Nove (hourly early in the morning and evenings), calling first at Murano-Faro before heading on to Mazzorbo, Burano (from where there is a connecting half-hourly #T shuttle to Torcello), Treporti and the Lido.
#N This night service (11.30pm�4.30am) is a selective fusion of the #1 and #82 routes, running from the Lido to Giardini, San Zaccaria, San Marco (Vallaresso), Canal Grande (Accademia, San Samuele, San Tom�, Rialto, Ca� d�Oro, San Stae, San Marcuola), train station, Piazzale Roma, Tronchetto, Sacca Fisola, San Basilio, Z�ttere, Giudecca (Palanca, Redentore and Zitelle), San Giorgio and San Zaccaria, then retracing its route. It runs along the whole of the route in both directions roughly every 30min, and along the Rialto to Tronchetto part every 20min. Another night service connects Venice with Murano and Burano, running to and from Fondamente Nove every 30min between midnight and 4am.
Traghetti
Costing just 40cents, traghetti (gondola ferries) are the only cheap way of getting a ride on a gondola, albeit a strippeddown version, with none of the trimmings and no padded seats � it�s de rigueur to stand in the traghetto gondolas. The gondola traghetti across the Canal Grande are as follows; in the winter months it�s common for traghetti services to be suspended. Santa Maria del Giglio�Salute (Mon�Sat 9am�7pm) Ca� Rezzonico�San Samuele (Mon�Sat 7.40am�1.20pm) San Tom�Santo Stefano (Mon�Sat 7am�8.50pm, Sun 8am�7.50pm) Riva del Carbon�Riva del Vin (near Rialto, Mon�Sat 8am�2pm) Santa Sofia�Rialto (Mon�Sat 7am�8.50pm, Sun 8am�7.50pm) San Marcuola�Fondaco dei Turchi (Mon�Sat 7.30am�1.30pm) In addition to these, some vaporetti and motoscafi operate as traghetti: for example, if you want to go from San Zaccaria over to San Giorgio Maggiore, or from one bank of the Canal Grande to the bank immediately opposite, you need only pay the lower traghetto fare of e1.80. If your journey is a short single-stop trip across a body of water, a traghetto fare almost certainly applies, even if it�s not shown on the tariff list on the ticket booth.
Gondolas
The gondola is the city�s biggest clich�, but it�s an astonishingly graceful craft, perfectly designed for negotiating the tortuous canals, and an hour�s slow voyage through the city can give you a wholly new perspective on the place. To hire one costs e62 per fifty minutes for up to six passengers, rising to e77.45 between 8pm and 8am; you pay an extra e31 for every additional 25 minutes, or e38.75 from 8pm to 8am. Further hefty surcharges will be levied should you require the services of an on-board accordionist or tenor. Even though the tariff is set by the local authorities (and has stayed the same since 1997, so a rise must be imminent), it�s been known for some gondoliers to try to extort even higher rates � if you do decide to go for a ride, establish the charge before setting off.
Taxis
Venice�s water-taxis are sleek and speedy vehicles that can penetrate all but the shallowest of the city�s canals. Unfortunately their use is confined to all but the owners of the deepest pockets, for they are possibly the most expensive form of taxi in western Europe: the clock starts at e8.70 and goes up e1.30 every minute. All sorts of additional surcharges are levied as well � e1.60 for each extra person if there are more than four people in the party; e1.50 for each piece of luggage over 50cm long; e5.50 for a ride between 10pm and 7am. There are three ways of getting a taxi: go to one of the main stands (in front of the Piazzetta and at the airport), find one in the process of disgorging its passengers, or call one by phone (T041.522.2303 or 041.723.112). If you phone for one, you�ll pay a surcharge of �.6.