Trains to Venice

Please note that on selected dates between 3 April and 26 July 2026, visitors to Venice’s historic centre must pay an entry fee set by the Municipality of Venice. If your journey includes Venezia S. Lucia, please check whether the fee applies to your travel date and whether you qualify for an exemption. Learn more here.

Few visitors come to Venice without great expectations. And the great thing about Venice is that the city invariably lives up to those expectations. This is a city whose wealth and reputation were sealed by the sea (which may eventually seal the fate of the sinking city, too).

No ifs, no buts.... Venice is superb. If you have time for just one Italian city, make it Venice (Venezia in Italian). The city has a reputation for being formidably crowded, but Venice makes space for everyone. If you cut away from the main tourist trails, it’s always possible to discover quieter corners of the city. Make time for rides on vaporetti to the Lido and the islands of the lagoon.

The only railway station on Venice’s main island is Venezia Santa Lucia. To step out of Venice Santa Lucia station and see the Grand Canal makes for one of the most memorable moments of arrival in the world. Trains reach Santa Lucia over a long and rather uninspiring bridge from the mainland. Venice’s other station is called Venezia Mestre. It is on the wrong side of the bridge. Trains from major Italian cities all terminate at Venezia Santa Lucia. These include services from Naples, Rome, Florence, Bologna, Turin, Milan and Verona (with a choice of two operators from all those Italian cities, viz. NTV Italo or Trenitalia). Venice has had direct trains from Genoa since 2018, with the launch of a new daily Frecciarossa service from the Ligurian city. Cities closer to Venice such as Vicenza, Padua and Trieste all have direct trains to both Mestre and Santa Lucia.

Venice Santa Lucia is the starting point for many overnight and international services. Every evening overnight trains depart for Munich, Vienna, Paris and Rome. There are also direct daytime trains to Geneva, Munich and Vienna - all routes which include a good dose of Alpine scenery along the way. Another innovation in 2018 was a new once-daily direct train from Zurich and Lugano to Venice.