The Venice Film Festival. The only red carpet you arrive at by boat.
Eleven days on the Lido in early September. Venice is the one city where a car alone will not get you to the door, and where the wrong plan costs you an hour on the water.
The festival
Venice 2027 at a glance
- WhenEarly September 2027The 84th edition. La Biennale had not published exact dates when we last checked; the 2026 festival ran 2 to 12 September.
- WhereLido di VeneziaThe Palazzo del Cinema and Sala Grande sit on Lungomare Marconi, with the Palazzo del Casinò alongside.
- Getting inWater first, road secondThe Lido is one of the few islands in the lagoon with roads and cars, but everything arrives across water.
- Nearest airportVenice Marco Polo, VCEOn the mainland at Tessera, with a water taxi dock a short covered walk from the terminal.
We check the Biennale's published dates each spring and update this page and the calendar together.
Next dates
Tell me when the dates are announced
The 2027 dates for Venice Film Festival are not confirmed yet. Leave your email and we will tell you as soon as they are announced, so the travel can be planned while the best options are still open.
Thank you. We will email you as soon as the dates are announced.
The geography
Venice punishes a generic travel plan
Most itineraries for Venice are written by someone who has never had to do it under time pressure. The historic centre has no roads at all: cars stop at Piazzale Roma or the Tronchetto car park and go no further. The Lido, where the festival lives, does have streets and cars, but you can only reach it by boat, either a private water taxi across the lagoon or the vehicle ferry from Tronchetto.
So the good version of a festival arrival looks like this. You land at Marco Polo, walk the covered route from the terminal to the water taxi dock, and a private launch takes you across the lagoon to a jetty on the Lido, usually the Excelsior or the Casinò. A car is waiting on the island to carry you the short distance to the Palazzo del Cinema, your hotel or a dinner at the far end of the Lido. That is two transfers, two operators and two sets of timings, and the reason it works is that somebody owns the join between them.
Journey times
Getting to the Lido
| Leg | How | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Marco Polo to the Lido | Private water taxi | 30 to 40 minutes across the lagoon |
| Marco Polo to Piazzale Roma | Car | 20 to 35 minutes, longer at the evening peak |
| Piazzale Roma or Tronchetto to the Lido | Private water taxi | 20 to 30 minutes |
| Tronchetto to the Lido with a car | Vehicle ferry | Around 40 minutes afloat, plus loading and the queue |
| Around the Lido | Car on the island | 5 to 15 minutes end to end when the roads are quiet |
| Milan to Venice | Road | 3 to 4 hours |
Planning guidance, not promises. Lagoon times move with weather, traffic on the water and the state of the tide.
What clients usually book
One contact for water and road
- A private water taxi from Marco Polo to a named Lido jetty, met and timed against the actual landing
- A car and chauffeur held on the Lido for the evening, arranged through operators we know in the Veneto
- The same arrangement in reverse for a dawn departure, which is where most festival schedules fall apart
- Aircraft into Marco Polo arranged for a party arriving together, with the boats already alongside
- Cars in Milan, Portofino or the Cote d'Azur for anyone continuing after the festival
- A second launch on standby for luggage, wardrobe and crew when a party is travelling heavy
Timing
Screenings and the carpet set the traffic
The pressure points are predictable. Late afternoon, when the evening Sala Grande screening draws everyone to the Palazzo del Cinema at once, and the hour after a premiere finishes, when several hundred people want a boat from the same three jetties. Water taxis are not infinite, and in the second case they are all already booked. The only reliable answer is to hold your own launch rather than call for one, and to agree a jetty in advance so that your driver on the water and your chauffeur on the island are looking for each other in the right place.
If you are working the festival rather than attending it, tell us the screening schedule and the events you must be at, not the times you would like to leave. We will work backwards from the doors.
Arriving by yacht
If you are coming on your own keel
September brings yachts into the northern Adriatic, and the festival can be worked from a berth in the lagoon or from one of the marinas on the mainland side, with a tender or a hired launch running guests in. We can arrange the charter, the shore transport and the transfers in between, and a car to meet guests at whichever landing point you are given on the day. Berths within reach of the Lido for festival week go a long way ahead, so ask early and we will tell you honestly what is still open.
Book early
The Lido is a small island in September
Hotels, launches and cars on the Lido are all finite, and the festival fills them for eleven days. Tell us your dates as soon as you have accreditation or a hotel, even if the rest of the plan is still moving.
Around the festival
Related pages
Italy and the water
The festival circuit
Request a quote
Tell us your dates
Your dates, how many of you, where you are staying on the Lido and whether you need the aircraft as well as the ground and water transport. We reply with a clear price. Nothing is booked or charged online.
Prefer to talk? +44 2030 048300 or WhatsApp, at any hour.
Questions people ask
About Venice transport
Can a car take us all the way to the Palazzo del Cinema?
On the Lido, yes, once you are on the island. You cannot drive there from the mainland without putting the car on the Tronchetto ferry, which is slow during the festival. Almost everyone crosses by water and uses a car on the island.
Are these your own cars?
No. Our own fleet and employed chauffeurs cover London and Manchester. In the Veneto we arrange cars through operators we have worked with, and we stay the single point of contact.
Can you hold a water taxi for the evening?
Yes, and for premiere nights we recommend it. Calling for a boat when a screening ends is how people lose an hour.
What happens if the flight is late?
We watch the inbound flight and move the launch, not the other way round. The point of one contact is that you do not have to call two companies from the aircraft.
Are you connected to the Biennale or the festival?
No. We are an independent company arranging transport to and around the festival, with no official status of any kind.
