<p>Here's the biggest travel secret anyone's ever going to give you about getting around Venice. There is an incredibly efficient form of transportation that will take you to something like 80 per cent of all the sights in town. Unlike pretty much everything else in Venice it's free too.</p>
<p>What? Yes, free. It's called your feet. You don't imagine Venetians spend all the time waiting for boats to turn up then chug an agonisingly short distance, do you?</p>
<p>Walking is the best way of getting round central Venice. But you still have to get on a boat, for convenience or sheer pleasure. Just make sure it's the right one. Here's a brief guide to the usual ways the public rides the lagoon.</p>
<!--more--><p><b>First -- buy a ticket</b></p>
<p>Everyone wants to ride down the Grand Canal if only once. If it is just once then take a deep breath and pay the extortionate price for doing so -- six euros last time I checked. If you know you want to ride the boats a lot it pays to book in advance. Go to Venice Connected and <a href="http://www.veniceconnected.com/choose-service-withdrawal-date" target="_blank">reserve the ticket you want online</a>. It will be cheaper and you can pick it up quickly from several locations including the tourist booth at the airport. One week of travel on all the lagoon transport as far as Chioggia and up to Torcello just cost me 37 euros. It could have been 52 euros if I bought it here.</p>
<p><b>The airport boat</b></p>
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<p>This is the Alilaguna. Depending on the season it runs between various locations in Venice and Marco Polo airport. A return is around 25 euros. It may looks a sleek, swift boat but it isn't. The thing is slow, handles baggage badly and has poor views from the windows. The journey from Zattere to Marco Polo can take an hour and a half. Best avoided unless you have the time and are in walking distance of a departure point. Note too that you have to catch a busy to and from the awkward landing stage at the airport (with the old airport you could simply walk out of the door and get straight on the boat which is a lot nicer).</p>
<p><b>Water taxis</b></p>
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<p>A water taxi from the airport to central Venice will cost around 95 euros -- there are booths in the airport terminal where you can book a boat. Always, always agree a price first with water taxis. If it's your first time in Venice, the weather is lovely and you're feeling flush it's a wonderful way to arrive, watching the city emerge out of the horizon as you approach. Very expensive mind, and there can be awkward haggling moments if you try to book a taxi directly yourself. I usually just take the fast bus from the airport to Piazzale Roma, the Venice bus station. It takes 20 minutes and then if you have redeemed your vaporetto card at the airport you can walk straight onto a boat.</p>
<p><b>Vaporetti</b></p>
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<p>Everything gets called a vaporetto in Venice and strictly speaking none of today's boats deserves the name. Steam was replaced by diesel long ago. The true heirs to the vaporetto are craft like these that run slowly up and down the Grand Canal. The famed number 1 line stops at every single jetty along the way and is often overcrowded with tourists. The number 2 is somewhat faster since it makes far fewer stops. Either is great for a view of the canal but if you just want to get from Rialto to San Marco then try walking -- it's a lot shorter. Just look at a map.</p>
<p><b>Fast circular services</b></p>
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<p>These are my favourite boats in the whole of Venice -- small, fast craft that whizz around the island, rarely touching much of the Grand Canal. Here you can see one manoeuvring outside 'Vivaldi's church', <i>La Pietà</i>, not that Vivaldi would have recognised it -- the thing has been completely built. The 41/42 and 51/52 lines are a great way of getting a feeling for the lagoon and covering decent distances too. But to catch them easily you will need to be staying somewhere near the periphery, say Dorsoduro. They're a long walk from Rialto, though you can pick them up easily near San Marco.</p>
<p><b>The lagoon boats</b></p>
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<p>These are the bigger beasts that go out to Torcello, Burano and beyond from Fondamente Nove. They're leisurely craft built for the open lagoon, a bit like a boat excursion. And if you come to Venice and don't make it to Torcello you shouldn't be allowed back -- it's a wonderful excursion.</p>
<p><b>Gondola</b></p>
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<p>We all know these, don't they? I've had one gondola ride in my life. It was enough -- and thankfully somebody paid. Gondolas are there for the tourists along. No local would dream of using one (though they will patronise the traghetti, see below). I've no idea how much a gondola costs these days but it's a lot. If you're the 'try anything once' type then be prepared to pay. It can be interesting when you find yourself mid-channel on a busy Grand Canal. Boat fans should also make their way <a href="http://www.marina.difesa.it/venezia/index.asp" target="_blank">to the naval museum</a> near the Arsenale for some insight into the city's maritime past. And before you ask -- no, the above picture was not taken on this particular trip, but on a warm day in September.</p>
<p><b>Traghetto</b></p>
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<p>Yes, I know they look like big gondolas but they're not. These are ferry boats used to take people, locals mainly, across short stretches of the Grand Canal at specific locations you'll find noted on a map. It's the cheapest way to get someone to take you onto the water by hand. I think the cost is one euro per passenger or less -- you just queue up and when there are enough people the chap sets off for the short journey across the water. Only tourists sit down by the way. Locals prefer to stand.</p>
<p><b>General advice</b></p>
<p>Do pick up a timetable -- an <i>orario</i> -- from a ticket booth if they have one. The faster boats run less frequently, currently at twenty minute intervals. And do bear in mind that boat schedules change frequently so it's worth checking the current situation at the <a href="http://www.actv.it/english/home.php" target="_blank">Actv web site</a>. This isn't a comprehensive list of the public transport boats in the lagoon -- there are ferries and others too. But these are the ones most visitors will encounter -- and frequently struggle with. Good luck!</p>