This airport is over capacity and on the verge of chaos
The airport
Venice Marco Polo International Airport, VCE
Marco Polo is completely lacking in wow factor.Credit: iStock
The flight
ITA Airways AZ1466 from Venice to Rome (FCO).
The arrival
The airport is busy not just with regular visitors but cruise
passengers, since Venice is a major ship arrival and departure hub. It
lies eight kilometres from Venice but is well-connected by public buses
and water shuttles. Taxis are a pricey €40 ($66) fixed fare. You won’t need your camera unless you have a fetish for roundabouts and sprawling car parks decorated by dusty oleander bushes.
The look
The nation of style and flair ran out of both when building this airport, whose functional, industrial architecture is unrelieved by the slightest decorative element. Marco Polo has far exceeded its expected capacity. Crowds surge everywhere, and queues block the flow. Try not to arrive too early.
Check in
Check-in desks for both international and domestic (which means the Schengen zone) share the same overcrowded concourses over two levels and around unexpected corners, which is confusing. Lines for my flight to Rome are long, sluggish and chaotic. A vigilant eye on wannabe queue-jumpers is required.
Security
The line moves at a decent pace thanks to a bellowing security officer with a voice like a brigadier-general, and one of those systems that spits out trays and has multiple spots where passengers can offload their belts, laptops and bag-loads of make-up. Annoyingly (as always, these days) you have to zigzag through duty free afterwards, but at least you’ll smell fabulous after passing through clouds of Fendi perfume.
Food + drink
Food and drink at the airport is reasonably priced, by Venice standards.Credit: iStock
Food in Venice is awful and overpriced, so kudos to Venice airport for trying to right the balance by providing – for an airport – fairly decent food at a not-too-outrageous cost. A freshly put-together baguette stuffed with tomato and mozzarella is €7.50 ($12.50), gnocchi or lasagne with fruit salad and a drink €15.50. You can also get salads, grilled food and other hot dishes. Head to the back of the second level near Homeburger and you’ll find a hidden terrace for al fresco dining and plane-spotting.
Retail therapy
Why anyone buys overpriced goods at airports remains one of travel’s great mysteries, but at least this airport avoids the usual bland, international predictability in favour of abundant Italian products. Snap up a football-club jersey (strangely found in the toy section of a souvenir shop), Boggi fashions from Milan, Venchi chocolates, balsamic vinegar, or fancy velvet slippers that will make you feel like an Italian count. Glassware, leather bags and feathered carnival masks are among posh Venetian souvenirs.
Passing time
Plenty of well-signed recharging stations will keep the juice flowing for your social-media browsing. The only light, bright part of the departure area is at the back, where soaring windows overlook the tarmac, allowing you to see planes shuffle back and forwards and the arms of the boarding bridges lurch in and out.
The verdict
Marco Polo is completely lacking in wow factor, far beyond capacity, and seemingly on the verge of chaos, yet somehow gets the job done – for which it ought to be congratulated.
Our rating out of five
★★★
The writer was a guest of Seabourn.
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