On every trip to Italy, I have always gone to Venice. Venice is probably one of the best cities any person travelling to Italy could ever visit. This is because it is a city that offers almost all the comforts of modern times but still keeps the atmosphere of the olden times. If you are planning to go on a vacation to Venice in Italy, one of the things that you need to pay attention to is getting there.

Arriving In Venice

Depending on your location, Venice could be reached via plane, boats, trains and cars. Once you arrive in Italy, there are many ways in which you can reach Venice and one of the easiest - not to mention the fastest - would be via plane from the Marco Polo Airport. Actually, the airport could be considered as an attraction itself because of its high-tech features and facilities. The airport system is very passenger friendly to avoid confusion especially on foreign visitors. It basically consists to two floors - the ground floor mainly reserved for various rental agencies, desks for water-taxi reservations, booths cruise agents, escorts and guides, area for public transportation and kiosks for tourist information while the first floor is where the gates for departure as well as the duty-free zone that offer various Italian products for easy and convenient shopping experience.

If you are flying to Venice from the United States, it is best to rely on Delta Airways because they are the only one who has direct flight. From JFK airport in New York, you can fly directly to Venice without so much hassle but if you are coming from other areas in the States, you can have connecting flights to other cities in European like London, Rome, Frankfurt, Milan, Paris, or Amsterdam off to Venice.

If you are coming from neighboring cities such as Rome, Milan, Treviso, Florence or Padua, you can take the train into the Santa Lucia railway station. Since Venice is serviced by national and regional train lines, you can get to the city in no time. It is how we arrived in Venice the last time - on a night train from Vienna (Wein), Austria. But if you prefer to get there by car, you will have a big problem since Venice is literally built on water, so it is considered a "no car zone". However, you can still get near Venice using the car only up to the terminal using the bridge Ponte della Liberta coming from Mestre. From there, you can park your car and take the ferry from Lido and then you will have to take the "vaporetti" off to Venice.

Before arriving in Venice, it is a must that you have a plan where you will stay while in Venice, since it can be quite complicated especially for first timers. The major thing that you should consider include the time of the year of your visit.

Choosing A Season To Visit

Since you are not familiar with the country, it is best to know when is the best time to get to Venice so you can enjoy almost everything it has to offer. While most seasons offer different sightseeing opportunities, I prefer spring and fall the best. Wintertime in Venice is cold, damp and cloudy on most days. Also you'll need to carry a heavy coat and plan to dress in layers. This fact alone makes wintertime a bad time for me personally. I've been there in the summer when it was hot, but with the water everwhere, the breeze coming off the canal will be cool on most days.

My last trip I was there in September, and it was terrific. Warm days, so I did not need a coat. I had my backpack and my digital camera and that was all I had to carry. The nights were cool and great for sleeping. I left my window open at night and enjoyed the warm breeze and slept like a baby.

Despite the economy I hope you are travelling and enjoying yourself. Until next time, let me know what is on your mind, and how you are doing, O.K.?

Jim Fortune - the Bella Budget Travel Guy