Which ticket to choose
Boat Transfer: Punta Sabbioni to Venice San Marco
€15
Best for:Families who want a guaranteed place and a direct landing at San Marco
- Return trip
- Guaranteed seat on board
- Several return departures
- Cancellation up to 6 hours before
Vaporetto Pass: Venice Public Transport Ticket (ACTV)
from €12
Best for:Staying all day and using other lines around the lagoon
- Lines 14 and 15 included
- Vaporetti in the centre, the Lido and the islands
- Options from 75 minutes to 7 days
Venice Islands: Boat Tour From Punta Sabbioni
from €15
Best for:Skipping Venice and going straight for Murano, Burano and Torcello
- Guided sailing
- Visit to a Murano glass furnace
- Stop at Burano
Doge's Palace & St. Mark's Basilica Combo
from €76.50
Best for:Arriving early and doing the two main visits without queueing twice
- Doge's Palace
- St Mark's Basilica
- Smartphone audio guide
Punta Sabbioni to Venice is the shortest crossing for anyone on holiday along the Cavallino coast: the pier sits at the tip of the peninsula, in the municipality of Cavallino-Treporti, directly opposite the St Mark's basin. From here the ACTV ferry crosses the lagoon in 35 minutes and lands you at San Zaccaria, three minutes' walk from St Mark's Square. No bridges, no hunting for a car park in the city, no queue on the causeway.
It is the standard arrangement for the thousands of families who stay at the campsites between Cavallino, Treporti and Lido di Jesolo. It works well, but it needs two decisions made before you leave: which ticket you buy and when you come back.
Punta Sabbioni to Venice: the three ways of crossing
There are three different ways of making the crossing from Punta Sabbioni, and they are not interchangeable.
| Option | Price | Time | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACTV line 14 | €9.50 each way | 35 min | Anyone who also wants to get off at the Lido |
| ACTV line 15 (direct) | €9.50 each way | 30 min | Anyone going only to San Marco who catches the right sailing |
| Tiqets boat transfer | €15 return | About 30 min | Families who want a guaranteed place |
| Vaporetto day pass | €25 | Unlimited | Anyone using other lagoon lines the same day |
The sum that surprises almost everyone: two ACTV tickets at €9.50 come to €19, which is more than the €15 direct transfer that already includes the way back. The vaporetto only makes sense if you buy the day pass and genuinely use it, or if your plans keep changing.
ACTV lines 14 and 15: route, timetable and real journey times
Line 14 is the main link, and this is its route:
San Marco-San Zaccaria "A" → Lido Santa Maria Elisabetta "C" → (Lido San Nicolò, request stop) → Punta Sabbioni → Burano "B"
Journey times from the timetable in force since 8 June 2026:
- Punta Sabbioni → Lido S.M.E.: 21 minutes
- Punta Sabbioni → San Marco-San Zaccaria: 35 minutes
- Punta Sabbioni → Burano: 25 minutes
Frequencies change through the day. In the morning, departures from Punta Sabbioni towards Venice run every 30 minutes, with the first sailing shortly after 05:00. In the early afternoon, when everyone heads back, the gap drops to 20 minutes: 12:00, 12:20, 12:30, 13:00, 13:30 and so on. In the other direction, from San Zaccaria, the afternoon is busier still, with departures at 14:00, 14:15, 14:30, 14:45, 15:05 and 15:15.
Evening service holds up late: from San Zaccaria there are sailings at 23:00 and 23:45, plus a night departure at 00:30. From Punta Sabbioni the last useful one is at 00:20. That is the summer timetable; from 1 October the winter one takes over, with fewer evening sailings.
Line 15 is the direct version: San Marco-San Zaccaria ↔ Punta Sabbioni with no intermediate stops, about 30 minutes. It is not a continuous service; rather, some sailings shown in the line 14 timetable are actually run as a direct 15. You can spot them in the printed timetable by the note referring to line 15 and by the dash where the Lido time would be.
Current timetables and downloadable booklets: actv.avmspa.it
The right stop in Venice
You arrive at San Marco-San Zaccaria "A", on Riva degli Schiavoni. From there:
- St Mark's Square: 3 minutes' walk west
- Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale): 2 minutes, with the visitor entrance under the Porta del Frumento
- Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri): 1 minute, the first bridge you meet walking towards the square
Get off at Lido Santa Maria Elisabetta instead and you are on the public beach in ten minutes on foot: a sensible alternative on days when the historic centre is saturated.
Tiqets transfer or ACTV ticket: how to choose
The Boat Transfer: Punta Sabbioni to Venice San Marco costs €15, is rated 4.7/5 from 43 reviews and is among the best-rated transport products in the Venetian catalogue. It covers the return trip, your place on board is guaranteed and there are several return departures through the afternoon and early evening. You can cancel up to 6 hours before.
The real advantage is not the price: it is the guaranteed place. On Sundays in July and August the 09:00 and 10:00 ACTV ferries leave full, and with two children and a pushchair, being left behind for one sailing means half an hour standing in the sun.
The Vaporetto Pass: Venice Public Transport Ticket (ACTV) on Tiqets starts at €12 and is rated 4.5/5 from more than 3,200 reviews. Choose it for what it is: a pass for moving around the whole lagoon, not a crossing ticket. If your plan is Punta Sabbioni → San Marco → Murano → Burano → Punta Sabbioni, the day pass is right. If it is a simple return to San Marco, you are paying for services you will not use.
Official ACTV prices for comparison: €9.50 for the 75-minute Rete Unica ticket, €25 for a day, €35 for two days, €45 for three days and €65 for seven. Anyone aged 6 to 29 with a Rolling Venice card pays €27 for the three-day pass. Under-6s travel free. The full picture of lines and fares is on the vaporetto and ACTV fares page.
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Parking at Punta Sabbioni: cars, campervans and motorbikes
The pier is served by two paid parking terminals, Terminal A and Terminal B, run by the council of Cavallino-Treporti, plus a string of private car parks along via Fausta and the side roads.
Indicative 2026 rates:
- Car: from about €2 an hour and €9 a day
- Campervan: around €13.50 a day
- Summer season from 1 April to 30 September, winter for the remaining months, with different rates
The private car parks are often closer to the boat: some are a few dozen metres from the pier and stay open from 07:00 to midnight. In high season, from late July through the August peak, the spaces are gone by 09:30 at weekends: arrive earlier, or leave the car at the campsite and take the bus.
A rule of thumb if you are sleeping locally: parking at Punta Sabbioni costs a fraction of parking in Venice. The municipal car park at Piazzale Roma charges €35 for 24 hours. Taking a car into the city makes no sense financially or practically.
Getting to Punta Sabbioni from the campsites
From Cavallino-Treporti the pier is simply the end of the road: every campsite along the coast is between 2 and 15 kilometres away along via Fausta, and the ACTV local bus runs the whole length of it with stops outside the site entrances.
From Lido di Jesolo you need one more leg: the bus crosses the bridge over the Sile at Cavallino and carries on to the terminal. Allow 40–50 minutes from the centre of Jesolo, plus the wait for the ferry. If you are starting from Jesolo, there are other options on the page about what to do at Lido di Jesolo.
By bicycle: the coastal cycle path runs all the way to the terminal and there are racks at the boarding point. Taking a bike on board costs €1.50, and places are limited on safety grounds, at the captain's discretion.
The islands: Murano, Burano and Torcello without going via Venice
This is the structural advantage of Punta Sabbioni that almost nobody uses: you are closer to Burano than to the historic centre. Line 14 continues to Burano in 25 minutes, while anyone setting off from Fondamente Nove needs 45.
The Venice Islands: Boat Tour From Punta Sabbioni on Tiqets costs €15 (4.4/5 from 66 reviews) and covers the guided sailing to Murano, Burano and Torcello, with a stop at a glass furnace. It makes a complete alternative day out without setting foot in the centre: useful on peak days, or when the Venice access fee is in force.
From Burano the ferry to Torcello (line 9) takes 5 minutes and is included in ACTV passes. More on the islands: Murano and Burano.
Luggage, pushchairs and bikes: the ACTV rules
The rules apply on every boat line, lines 14 and 15 included:
- One bag included in the price of the ticket, if its three dimensions add up to no more than 150 cm
- A maximum of three pieces per paying passenger
- Beyond three pieces you need a second ticket, at the same price as a passenger ticket
- Items over 150 cm in total are not accepted without prior agreement
- Bicycles and scooters: €1.50, free if folded and carried in a bag
Pushchairs travel with no supplement, and the line 14 ferries have a boarding door level with the pier: you push on rather than lift. If you have suitcases and are arriving by train rather than by car, the left luggage page explains where to leave them.
When to go and when to come back
The same patterns repeat every day in high season, and knowing them changes the day.
Best departure: 07:30–08:30. You reach San Zaccaria before 09:00, while St Mark's Square is still crossable and the light on the basilica's facade is the best it will be. The Doge's Palace opens at 09:00 and there is barely a queue for the first half-hour.
Avoid: 10:00–11:30. This is when the coaches from Mestre, the cruise ships and the Punta Sabbioni ferries all arrive at once. Boats leave full and the square is at its most crowded.
The sensible return: after 19:00. The flow reverses between 16:00 and 18:00, when the San Zaccaria landing stages turn into a crush. Staying for a spritz — the local aperitif — and taking the 19:35 or 20:05 sailing means a seat and the best light on the lagoon.
From September to June the problem does not arise: the ferries are half empty and the crossing is one of the more pleasant ways of arriving in the city.
The Venice access fee applies to you
If you are sleeping at Cavallino-Treporti or Jesolo and spending the day in Venice, you count as a day visitor: you are exactly the profile the council charges the contributo di accesso (Venice access fee) on the dates in the 2026 calendar.
It costs €5 booked in advance and €10 last minute, and it is paid only on cda.ve.it. No ticketing platform, Tiqets included, can sell it or bundle it: anyone offering it to you is not selling the official fee. Keep the QR code on your phone for the checkpoints, which on active days are in place at San Zaccaria and the other main landing points. Everything else, exemptions included, is on the Venice access fee page.
Anyone staying overnight within the municipality of Venice — which includes the Lido — is exempt, but the campsites at Cavallino-Treporti and Jesolo are in different municipalities.
What to do once you land
You are at San Zaccaria: the whole monumental quarter is within ten minutes' walk.
- Doge's Palace — 2 minutes. Fast track entry on Tiqets costs €35 (4.6/5 from more than 8,700 reviews) and is the answer if you arrive mid-morning.
- St Mark's Basilica — 4 minutes. Booking is compulsory in high season; shoulders and knees covered.
- Bridge of Sighs — 1 minute, visible from the Ponte della Paglia on the Riva.
- St Mark's Campanile — 5 minutes, with a lift: from the top you can see Punta Sabbioni and the whole Cavallino coast.
- Riva degli Schiavoni — it is the landing stage itself, the longest waterfront in the historic centre.
The Doge's Palace & St. Mark's Basilica Combo costs €76.50 (3.9/5 from 665 reviews) and is worth it only with a full day in hand. If you arrive on the 10:00 sailing and leave at 16:00, pick one visit and walk.
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In short
From Punta Sabbioni to Venice is 35 minutes by ferry and €9.50 each way with ACTV, or €15 return on the direct transfer to San Marco, which works out cheaper and guarantees your place. Park at the terminals for €9 a day rather than taking the car to Piazzale Roma at €35, leave before 08:30, come back after 19:00, and remember the Venice access fee if you are returning the same day. The rest of the city's transport options are gathered on the Venice tickets page.
