Venice street race

[Mrs H]

Okay - this is the year - and one of the reasons this is the year is that Ryanair is forced to fly into Marco Polo because Treviso is closed until December.

I've just booked some flights from East Midlands Thursday - Tuesday for £48 all in - Stansted is cheaper at £35 - but it's further away. If you don't want to be stung for all sorts of extras you need a prepayment card. I got one from Fairfax because it came out well on the money websites. it works and it saves me £5 per flight (£10 return) per person on Ryanair.
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[EddieH]

Mrs H, I've tried to send you a pm but am not clear that it went.

[Mrs H]

Nothing from you Eddie but some very useful info from Epocian. Will check it out when I get home(( am currently in a yurt in Glastonbury )

[Jayne]

Re: accomodation - I usually go on tripadvisor and then generally get the best thing for what I can afford. The cheaper things are in the less touristy areas, e.g. canereggio and near the station but everything is pretty much walking distance.

[Wendles]

We're hoping to make this our first trip to the Event but I'm wondering if I'm on the right website? http://www.orivenezia.it/index_eng.html. It says it's live from two days ago, but I can't get into anything. Am I on the right site and is this normal? Could someone please confirm the dates?

[Jayne]

Yes, completely normal. They're always a bit on the slow side. It's the 12/13 November (with the main race on the Sunday). We've already booked flights. For entry you have to register the club and then everyone who enters for that club needs the password (or one person does it). Last year I think the first 50 or so people to enter were Brits, turns out sometimes we are organised!

[madmike]

Wendles,
Jayne is spot on - just have faith it's the only way with the Venice Weekend.

The Italians take enormous delight in minimal pre-planning and doing it all (very well) at the last moment - "The trouble with you British is that you always worry too much" was what we heard a lot when working with the Italians.

The Venice race has happened on the same weekend for last 32 years so go for it.

PS: c u there but I'll be going on the train this year

[Mrs H]

Thanks for the info everyone - is the race always run from the same place - if so, where?

Eddie I've not heard anything from you - is one of your mail boxes full or something? Try e-mailing me at lynden(at)mado.org.uk

[paul]

See http://www.syo.routegadget.co.uk/cgi-bi ... =28&kieli= for an old course. The event centre is normally the 'zigzag' building just north of control 28 which is a sport centre.

[Spookster]

Thanks for the info everyone - is the race always run from the same place - if so, where?

As far as I know the event centre has always been the sports centre ("zig-zag" building), but the start locations have generally been quite different, involving a reasonably long walk from assembly sometimes. The warm-up race on Saturday has always been at the eastern end of the city, in the "easier" bits.

[epocian]

Entries are now open at
http://www.orivenezia.it/

[frog]

Quite fancy going, a shame neither Ed or Glasgow have direct flights to venice at that time of year (or not that I can find)

[awk]

Comfortably our favourite event of the year. Limited to Saturday-Sunday, We're flying in and out of Gatwick, which gives us a decent amount of time in Venice. The journey's worth it.

[madmike]

Mrs H,
if you are flying into Marco Polo you may find this useful:

Transfer to and from Marco Polo Airport - Venice main island by ACTV local buses
ACTV AerobusMoving by land from Marco Polo Airport to reach the historic city centre of Venice, you arrive in Piazzale Roma, the bus terminal and the end of the road in historic Venice and entrance to the Grand Canal. Marco Polo airport is connected by land to the city by the following ACTV's bus routes: AeroBus no. 5, and also no. 15 and no. 45.

The ACTV's no. 5 AeroBus runs every quarter hour most of the day, and takes 22-25 minutes to reach Piazzale Roma (or vice versa) with limited stops along the route.

From Piazzale Roma (bus terminal) it is a 50m walk to the jetty where you can get a Vapretto (Water Bus) to jettys close to most hotels. Pretty much everywhere is a shortish walk from a Vaporetto stop but be aware some Hotels claiming to be Venice are actually on the main land.

It is also worth also looking up Venice Connected for travel passes, which include airport bus and vaporetti.

However, if you and Mr H are feeling flush you could get a water taxi across the lagoon to your hotel but not cheap.

if you are feeling romantic there is, of course, a gondola ride but bear in mind the following advice we were given:

When you ask the price - if you like the answer you didn't hear the price orrectly

[epocian]

Or you could use the waterbus from the airport
Alilaguna (Blue Line). especially if your hotel is in Castello

http://www.alilaguna.it/index.en.html