Venice ain’t cheap. It’s also a city with no off-season – it’s a year-round tourist destination. This means that anything you can do to save a bit of money is worth looking into. There are several passes and cards which you can buy which will cover both transportation and sights in Venice. Here’s a bit of information about each of the tourist discount cards for Venice:
The old orange and blue VeniceCards have been combined into one overall VeniceCard, the so-called “official City Card of Venice.” The VeniceCard gets you free admission to the group of sights called the Musei Civici di Venezia (including the Doge’s Palace, Correr Museum, Ca’ Rezzonico, Glass Museum, Lace Museum, and Palazzo Mocenigo) as well as 16 churches and the Jewish Museum in Venice, reduced admission to (among other things) the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. You’ll also get two free uses of the city’s public (pay-to-use) toilets, discounts at many shops around the city, and a welcome kit that includes a Venice map. Not only that, cardholders don’t have to wait in lines at museums included on the card. The VeniceCard is good for 7 days after you validate it the first time, and costs €39.90 for adults (age 30+) or €29.90 for ages 6-29. Learn more on the VeniceCard site.
There are tourist-only travel cards which you can purchase for riding Venice’s public transportation; they include for unlimited travel on nearly all transportation services, both on land and in the water. The Alilaguna vaporetto that runs between Marco Polo Airport and the Venice center isn’t included, along with a couple other things, but for most tourists these passes are a great value. They come in 12, 24, 36, 48, or 72-hour increments (there’s also a 7-day pass) and they include one piece of luggage per person (this is important when you’re using the vaporetto to get to and from the train station!). You can buy these at vaporetto ticket kiosks bearing the “helloVenezia” or “venice>connected” logos or online at the Venice Connected site before you leave home (there’s usually a good discount if you do this), and they range in price from €16 for a 12-hour card to €33 for a 72-hour card (the 7-day card is €50). Learn more about the transport passes on the Venice Connected site.
This card covers the main sights most visitors to Venice are going to see, namely the Doge’s Palace and Correr Museum (and a couple more museums you get to from within the Correr). Buying your Museum Card at the Correr saves you waiting in the longer Doge’s Palace line. The card is €14 for a full-priced ticket, and it’s known as the pass for Museums of St. Mark’s Square – or the “i Musei di Piazza San Marco” in Italian. There’s a discounted version of this card available for those under 25 or over 65. You can buy this card once you’re in Venice, or ahead of time on the Venice Connected site.
In addition to the Doge’s Palace and Correr, this pass also gets you into Ca’ Rezzonico, Mocenigo Palace, and the museums for glass-making and lace-making on the islands of Murano and Burano respectively. The card is €18 for a full-priced ticket, and there are discounts available for those under 25 or over 65. The Venice Connected site also has discounts available on most of these passes. If you’re going to buy it in Venice, it’s quicker to buy the Museum Pass at a less popular sight to avoid waiting in long lines.
This card is specifically for younger visitors to Venice, as you can only buy it if you’re between the ages of 14 and 29. Membership costs a mere €4, and then you get big discounts on public transportation passes. For instance, a 72-hour pass which is good on all water and road public transportation goes from being €33.00 to being only €18.00. The Rolling VeniceCard also grants its holder some of the same discounts as the Junior Orange and Blu VeniceCards listed above. This card can’t be purchased in advance online, however, it must be purchased in Venice. Also, when you’re using your Rolling VeniceCard you’ve got to produce another piece of ID as well, so that people know you’re actually within the age you’re supposed to be to get all the discounts entitled to the cardholder. Learn more on the Rolling Venice section of the VeniceCard site.
