Validate your ticket at the floating stop before you board the vaporetto, every single time you board. That applies to single tickets, 1 to 7 day passes and contactless bank cards alike: hold the ticket, card or phone flat on the electronic validator until it beeps and shows green, then walk through. If you change boats, do it again at the next vaporetto stop. There is nothing to do when you get off.
Buying a ticket is not the same as validating it. A ticket sitting unused in your pocket, on a city card or in the official app does not by itself let you board, and inspectors in Venice treat an unvalidated ticket as no ticket at all.
In this guide:
- Where to validate
- How each type of ticket works
- Passes and changing boats
- Paying by contactless card
- Current fares
- When something goes wrong
- FAQ
Where to scan before boarding
Look for the electronic ACTV validator at the entrance to the imbarcadero, the floating platform. At big vaporetto stops such as Ferrovia, Piazzale Roma, Rialto, San Marco and Lido you meet a row of validators at the access gates before the waiting area. Smaller Venice landings may have a single validator by the entrance, but you still check in there, before boarding.
Do not wait until you are on the vaporetto looking for a machine. Unlike buses on the mainland, where the validator is inside the vehicle, Venice’s water network expects a valid scan before you reach the boarding area. The operator says so in its General Conditions of Transport.
The sequence is usually:
- Find the correct pier and platform for your line and direction.
- Have your ticket, city card, phone or bank card ready in your hand.
- Hold it on the validator until you hear the beep and see the green light.
- Go through the gate, if there is one, and wait for your vaporetto.
At piers that serve several lines, a green light tells you the ticket is valid, not that you are on the right platform. Check the departure screen and the line number separately.
How each kind of vaporetto ticket works
Paper and card passes from machines and offices
An electronic ticket bought from a machine or ticket office has a chip inside. Place the physical ticket flat on the marked contact point and hold it still until the machine responds; waving it quickly past the validator is the most common reason for a failed read. Once your ticket is valid, presenting it again shows its expiry time on the screen.
Do not hold your whole wallet against the machine. The validators also accept bank cards, so the operator recommends taking out only the ticket or card you mean to use, or the machine may charge a contactless card by mistake.
The city card
If you bought your pass online and collected it on a city card, hold the card on the validator just like a ticket. If several products are loaded on the same card, the screen may ask you to choose one and then present the card again. When in doubt, use the validator’s information function rather than trying repeatedly.
App purchases with a QR code
Tickets bought in the official AVM app use a dynamic QR code:
- Open the ticket in the app and activate it.
- On the validator, press the QR button at the top of the screen first.
- Hold the phone with the code facing the scanner.
- Wait for the confirmation before going through.
Pressing the QR button switches off the bank-card function for that scan, which matters if Apple Pay or Google Wallet is active on the same phone. Screenshots, printouts and codes forwarded to another phone are not accepted. Some travelers find the scanners slow to read the code, so turn the screen brightness up before you reach the gate.
Do you need to scan a pass on every ride?
Yes. A 1, 2, 3 or 7 day Venice transport pass starts running from its first scan, not from the day you bought it, and then lasts 24, 48, 72 or 168 hours. After that, ACTV’s conditions say validation is always mandatory at the start of each journey, including with a pass.
For example, if you ride from Ferrovia to Rialto, spend a few hours on foot, and later board at San Marco, scan the pass again there. The second scan does not start a new pass; it simply records the new boarding.
Changing vaporetti on the way
Changing vaporetti in the city means checking in again at the landing where you change. Traveling from San Marco to Murano and then on to Burano, for instance, you present your pass at the Murano landing before boarding the second boat. There is no extra charge, so think of it as checking in rather than paying again.
If you are still deciding which vaporetto routes suit your stay in Venice, our guide to getting around Venice compares walking, vaporetti and other city transport, and the pass versus single tickets guide works out which is cheaper for your plans.
Paying with a contactless bank card
You can skip buying a ticket altogether and pay at the validator with a Visa, Mastercard, Maestro or American Express card, or with a phone or watch wallet. A single touch on the validator is both the purchase and the check-in, and each boarding on the Venice vaporetto costs the standard €9.50 fare.
- Best fare cap: the system automatically charges the cheapest combination of single fares and 1, 2, 3 or 7 day passes, so three rides in 24 hours cost €25 rather than €28.50.
- No exit scan: on the water network you only scan when boarding, never when getting off.
- Same card throughout: a plastic card and the same card in your phone wallet count as two different devices, so stick to one.
- Groups: up to five people can travel on one card if every scan is made on the same validator within 60 seconds.
- Inspections: show the same card or phone you paid with. Charges appear on your statement the day after travel.
AVM’s contactless payment page has the current conditions. Pagobancomat-only Italian debit cards are not accepted.
Vaporetto tickets and passes: current fares
| Ticket | Price | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Single ticket | €9.50 | 75 minutes from validation |
| Daily pass | €25 | 24 hours |
| 2 day pass | €35 | 48 hours |
| 3 day pass | €45 | 72 hours |
| 7 day pass | €65 | 168 hours |
| 3 day pass with Rolling Venice (ages 6 to 29) | €33 | 72 hours |
A single ACTV ticket lets you change boats within the 75 minutes, provided you scan it at each boarding, so a 75-minute ticket gives you just over an hour of travel. Children travel free on the vaporetto until their sixth birthday. Passes cover the vaporetto lines and urban buses but not the Aerobus airport link. You can buy tickets at the official Venezia Unica site, in the app, or at machines and ticket offices at the main piers.
Where to buy
You can buy vaporetto tickets and passes in several ways: online before you travel, in the official app, at self-service machines at the busiest vaporetto stops, or at ticket offices at the main transport hubs such as Piazzale Roma and the railway station. Buying a pass online saves a line on arrival, but you still need to scan it before your first vaporetto. If you only plan one or two rides in the city, single tickets or a contactless card are the simplest way to pay; three or more vaporetto rides within 24 hours usually make a pass the cheaper option. For a typical Venice stay, most visitors use a 2 or 3 day pass and then walk the rest of the city.
As a guide to how much time you spend on board, Line 1 takes roughly 45 minutes, close to an hour at busy times, from the railway station to San Marco along the whole Grand Canal.
Luggage
Each passenger can carry up to three items free, as long as each one measures no more than 150 cm when you add length, width and height. Each further group of up to three items needs its own full fare, bought and validated. Anything larger than 150 cm is not allowed on board.
When something goes wrong at the validation machine
The screen turns red
Do not push through the gate. Read the message, take the ticket or card away, place it squarely on the validator again and hold it still. If it still fails, the ticket may have expired, the wrong product may be selected, or the card itself may be faulty. With a QR ticket, check that you pressed the QR button first and that the live code is on screen.
Every machine at the pier is broken
ACTV’s conditions say that if all the validators at a pier are out of order, you should ask the crew member, the marinaio, to check your ticket as you board. Do it straight away rather than sitting down and explaining later to an inspector.
The gate opened, so it must be fine?
Not necessarily. ACTV states that an opening turnstile does not by itself prove your ticket was accepted. Watch for the green light and listen for the beep, especially at busy piers where it is easy to follow the person in front without checking your own result.
Fines
Inspectors check tickets on board the vaporetto and at the stops. Traveling with an unvalidated ticket is treated like traveling without one, so you pay an administrative fine under Veneto regional law plus the fare. You have 30 days to send a written defense if you think the fine is wrong.
Late arrivals and closed offices
You do not need a staffed ticket office; validators work whenever the boats run. The challenge is getting a ticket in the first place, which is where a contactless bank card or the app is the easiest way out. Machines at the main Venice stops sell tickets around the clock, and night services (the N line) run along the Grand Canal and to Lido after the day timetable ends.
ACTV and Alilaguna are separate systems
Airport boats cause a common mix-up. Alilaguna runs its own airport routes, with separate tickets for its Blue, Orange and Red lines, while ACTV runs the city’s vaporetto network. An ACTV pass is not valid on Alilaguna. Some shared piers have validators that can scan Alilaguna QR codes using the same QR button, but that does not make the fares interchangeable.
The city’s day-tripper access fee is also a separate charge. It applied on selected days between April and July 2026 and is not part of any transport ticket.
A simple routine for every ride
Before each ride, have the right ticket in your hand, check the line and direction, scan at the landing and wait for the green light. At every change, repeat it. On a phone, know whether you are scanning an app QR code or paying with your wallet, because those are two different actions. If your Venice itinerary includes several vaporetto connections, hotel transfers and island visits, you can organize the rest of your Italy route around the transport you expect to use.
FAQ
How do you use a ticket in Venice?
Hold your pass, card or phone flat on the electronic validator at the stop entrance until it beeps and shows green, before boarding. For an app ticket, press the QR button on the validator first.
Do you scan out when getting off?
No. On the Venice water network you only scan when boarding. There is no exit validator.
Is a pass checked on every journey?
Yes. Validate at the start of every journey and at each change of vaporetto, even though the pass is already active.
What time does the first boat start?
Most daytime vaporetto lines start around 5:00 to 6:00 and run until roughly midnight, with night services on the main routes after that. Check the timetable at the pier or on the ACTV website for your line.
Which is the best line to see Venice?
Line 1 runs the full length of the Grand Canal, stopping at almost every pier, so it is the classic sightseeing ride. Line 2 is faster, with fewer stops, and both run through the heart of the city past Rialto.
Are children free?
Children under 6 travel free on any vaporetto in Venice. From their sixth birthday they need the standard adult fare.