Short answer: A single vaporetto ride in Venice costs €9.50 (75 minutes, changes allowed), a 24-hour pass €25, 48 hours €35, 72 hours €45, 7 days €65; children under 6 ride free, and anyone aged 6 to 29 gets the 72-hour “Rolling Venice” pass for €27 plus a €6 card. From the third ride in a day, the day pass is cheaper. Easiest of all: tap your bank card or phone on the reader (“Tap to Pay”) – the system automatically charges you the cheapest fare. As of 11/2026, sources below.
It is 7:40 am at the Ferrovia stop. The Grand Canal is still in shadow; only the dome of San Simeone Piccolo across the water has caught the sun. A Line 1 vaporetto nudges up to the pontoon, the deck creaks, the deckhand loops the rope over the bollard and calls “Rialto, San Marco, Lido!”. You hold your card to the reader, it beeps, green – and ten seconds later you are gliding past palaces that other people pay €80 for a gondola to see.
We spent three days in Venice in early May 2025 and got around almost entirely by vaporetto. In this article: every current ticket price, which pass pays off for which length of stay, how Tap to Pay works, which lines you actually need (and which you don’t), the validation and luggage rules, the traps around buying tickets and the airport, a checklist and FAQ.
| Ticket (ACTV “Rete Unica”) | Price | Valid for | Source / as of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single ride | €9.50 | 75 minutes from validation, changes allowed, not on airport lines | venezia.net / Venezia Unica, 10/2026 |
| 24 hours (Venezia Daily Pass) | €25 | vaporetto, bus, tram, People Mover; includes regional train Venezia S. Lucia – Mestre | visit.venice.it, 09/2026 |
| 48 hours | €35 | as above | 09/2026 |
| 72 hours | €45 | as above | 09/2026 |
| 7 days | €65 | as above | 09/2026 |
| Rolling Venice (ages 6–29), 72 hours | €27 + €6 card | only with the Rolling Venice card (ID required) | 09/2026 |
| Children under 6 | free | full fare from age 6 | 09/2026 |
| Lido return (Line 14) | €16 | until midnight | 09/2026 |
| Marco Polo airport (ACTV bus Line 5 “Aerobus”) | €10 / €18 return | as a supplement to a pass: €7 one way / €13 return | 09/2026 |
| Alilaguna boat airport – city | €18 | separate company, NOT included in any ACTV ticket | vaporettopass.com, 2026 |
All passes run from first validation, not from midnight. The price shown at the machine or in the “AVM Venezia Official” app on the day of travel is the one that applies.
€9.50 for one ride – this is the most expensive public transport in Europe, and also the most beautiful. Which pass pays off is simpler than it looks.
The rule is simple: from the third ride in a day, the 24-hour pass is cheaper (3 × €9.50 = €28.50 versus €25). With two rides a day, stick to single tickets. For two days with three rides each, the 48-hour pass costs €35 – instead of €57 for singles. And for three days including a trip to Murano and Burano (Line 12, €19 return on its own), you are clearly ahead with €45 for 72 hours.
Two honest caveats: Venice is small on foot. From Piazzale Roma to St Mark’s Square takes 35 to 40 minutes, and the alleys are the real experience. If your room is in Cannaregio or Santa Croce and you mostly stay in the centre, two rides a day are often enough: once down the Grand Canal, once back in the evening. And: passes run from validation – start at 2 pm and your 24-hour pass lasts until 2 pm the next day. Use that by validating only in the afternoon of your arrival day and doing the island trip the next morning.
If you don’t want to do the maths, the reader now does it for you – with Tap to Pay.
At every ACTV validator you can now tap a contactless Visa or Mastercard (including phone or watch wallets). Every tap books a single ride at €9.50. The clever part: over a period of 24 hours to 7 days the system checks whether a pass would have been cheaper – and then charges only the pass (“Best Fare”). Two rides on day one stay single fares; from the third they become a day pass, on day two a 48-hour pass, and so on.
How to do it without hassle: always use the same card; up to five people can travel on one card if everyone taps within 60 seconds of each other; on the vaporetto tap only when boarding, no tap-out; on trams and mainland buses tap in and out, otherwise the maximum fare for that route is charged. At a ticket check you simply show the card you paid with. Keep handbags and backpacks away from the reader – otherwise it may book a second card.
Abroad we pay with a card that has no foreign-currency fee anyway – which one and why is in Money abroad: Wise, cash, ATMs. That leaves the question of which boat to board at all.
| Line | Route | Use it for | Time / frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Piazzale Roma – Ferrovia – Rialto – San Marco – Lido, every stop on the Grand Canal | the “sightseeing line”: 21 stops, every palace, every bridge | about 45 min to San Marco, about 65 min to the Lido; roughly every 12 min in daytime |
| 2 | Tronchetto – Piazzale Roma – Ferrovia – Rialto – San Marco, then on via the Giudecca Canal | the fast way to St Mark’s, and from the Tronchetto car park | noticeably faster than Line 1, fewer stops |
| 12 | Fondamente Nove – Murano – Burano – Torcello | island day trip | Burano about 45 min from Fondamente Nove |
| 4.1 / 4.2, 5.1 / 5.2 | circular lines around the old town, 4.x via Murano | the outer loop, Zattere, Giudecca | loop line, one per direction |
| N | night line along the Grand Canal and to the Lido | after midnight | less frequent |
| 14 | San Marco – Lido – Punta Sabbioni | beach, special €16 return fare | more frequent in season |
Routes and times per visit.venice.it (09/2026) and Venezia Unica; timetables change seasonally, the AVM app or the notice on the pontoon is what counts.
Our tip: ride Line 1 once from end to end, Piazzale Roma to San Marco, ideally early in the morning or in the evening light, outside at the stern – it is the cheapest boat trip in the world down the Grand Canal. For everything after that take Line 2, which rushes past the palaces. And for the way from the car into town: Line 2 runs directly from Tronchetto, both lines from Piazzale Roma – how to park there and what it costs is in Parking in Venice 2026. But a ticket alone is not enough: without the beep you are a fare dodger.
Validating: Every ticket – paper, app or bank card – goes on the white-and-orange reader before you step onto the pontoon, until it beeps and turns green. Passes once, at first use; single tickets at every new 75-minute window and at every change. An unvalidated ticket counts as no ticket; inspectors often stand right at the pontoon or board at Rialto and collect the fine on the spot – guides quote around €50 plus the fare, the amount may differ.
Luggage: According to the ACTV luggage rules (verified 6 November 2026 by venicexplorer.com) you may bring two pieces up to 120 cm each and one up to 150 cm (length + width + height) at no extra charge; additional pieces need an extra ticket, and nobody guarantees you space on board. A normal suitcase plus backpack is no problem – a wedding party with six suitcases is.
Buying: Venezia Unica offices (Piazzale Roma, station, Vallaresso, Rialto, Lido, airport), machines at the larger pontoons, tobacconists with the ACTV sign, online at veneziaunica.it (collect with a code at a machine) or in the AVM Venezia Official app. On board the crew sells only on some lines, card only and at a higher price – and some inspectors have still fined tourists who tried to buy on board. So: beforehand.
Even people who know all the rules fall into the same three traps. Here they come.
Now you know the traps. How to get to Venice cheaply in the first place is next.
From Vienna the Railjet runs via Villach straight to Venezia Santa Lucia (around 7.5 hours), and the station is on the Grand Canal – the Ferrovia stop is 50 metres away. By car you park at Tronchetto or Piazzale Roma; details and prices in Parking in Venice 2026. Compare flights to Venice Marco Polo (and to the often cheaper Treviso airport) on Kiwi.com (advertisement); from Marco Polo, ACTV bus 5 takes about 25 minutes to Piazzale Roma. Where you sleep then decides how many rides you need – our room with a roof terrace at Piazzale Roma and the whole trick of seeing Venice without the tourist traps are in Venice without the tourist traps.
Guide tip: Our PDF guide “Venice without the tourist traps” sums up parking, vaporetto, the access fee and our favourite corners – with all official links as QR codes. You will find the “Buy the guide” box below this article.
Italy is an EU and Schengen country: Austrians, Germans and Swiss enter with a valid passport or national ID card, no visa is needed, and the new EU travel authorisation ETIAS does not apply to EU citizens. Current advice from the Austrian Foreign Ministry is at bmeia.gv.at → Reiseinformation → Italien; the official EU information on the Entry/Exit System and ETIAS for non-EU citizens is at travel-europe.europa.eu. Pay the Venice access fee only at cda.ve.it; mobility and parking are official at muoversi.venezia.it.
Warning: There are intermediary websites that charge many times the price for the €5 access fee, for “ETIAS” or for vaporetto tickets and rank above the official pages in search results. We once fell for such a site ourselves – since then: official sites only, type the address yourself, never click through an ad. In the guide you will find all official links as QR codes.
€9.50 for 75 minutes from validation (as of 10/2026), changes allowed within that time. Airport lines and the Alilaguna boat are not included.
From three rides in one day: €25 versus €28.50 for three singles. With two rides, stick to single tickets or pay by Tap to Pay, which automatically picks the cheaper fare.
Yes: hold a contactless Visa or Mastercard (also on your phone) to the reader. Each ride costs €9.50 and the system automatically caps at the cheapest pass. Up to five people can travel on one card if they tap within 60 seconds.
Under 6 yes; from age 6 the full fare applies. Ages 6 to 29 can get the 72-hour “Rolling Venice” pass for €27 plus €6 for the card (as of 09/2026).
Line 1 stops at all 21 stations from Piazzale Roma to the Lido (about 45 minutes to San Marco); Line 2 covers the same route faster with fewer stops. For Murano and Burano take Line 12 from Fondamente Nove.
Not automatically. The ACTV Aerobus Line 5 costs €10 one way or a €7 supplement on a pass; the Alilaguna boat (€18) is a separate company and cannot be used with any ACTV ticket.
If this has got you hooked, read next Venice: the sights that are really worth it – with our real costs for three days – and, if children are coming along, our best tips for travelling with kids. Looking for a place to stay? How we book Airbnb the right way.
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