In many cities of the world such ships are used for romantic water excursions, and for Venice it’s only public transport – a usual city bus with routs, crowds, stops and unified tickets. If you come to Venice by rail train, than you’ll see the water-tram stop as soon as you leave the railway station.

Here is where the most popular routs going through Canale Grande start. There are stops along the canal. You can land at any of them to get quickly to your hotel. Depending on the size, the rams are called vaporetto (big and massive) or motoscafo (lower and smaller).

A one-way ticket may cost about 3.5 euros or 8 euros for a family of three. If you are going to go for a day’s row around the city and the lagoon’s islands, you can buy a 24-hour-ticket for 10.50 or a 72-hour-ticket for 22 euros. There is also a Grand Canal Ticket for 5 euros that is valid only for routs within Canale Grande during 90 minutes. The tickets are to be punched. You can buy tickets at special stalls at the wharf or if there is no such stall or if it’s closed, you can ask a uniformed person mooring vaporetto to sell you a ticket.
For a round-up excursion about the city choose Route 41 or 42. They are circular and go around the historical centre of Venice.

In guide-books vaporettoes are called water-trams, busses but it’s enough to glance at the map to understand: vaporetto is Venice’s Metro. You can see it yourself: the routs are called lines as in big cities, they are marked by different colours on the scheme, the vaporetto-stations have set names – San Marco Station, Rialto Station, Ca d’Oro Station (a celebrated palace on Canale Grande). Besides, just like Metro-stations, vaporetto-wharfs have several enters for various directions. It’s hard to get confused with the traffic diagram of vaporettoes but if you are very tired to find out your way on the map, just buy a ticket and ask a person mooring the ship: “E per San Marco?” – “Does this go to San Marco?” You are sure to get a polite answer and be shown the needed direction. And the last thing. Ladies and gentlemen! It can be very crowded on board. Watch your pockets!