What a great story, Graham!   I think now that bicycles are completely prohibited in Venice.  I don’t know how that’s enforced.  I’m guessing they wouldn’t let you out of the train station these days!  Not speaking the local language is sometimes a great way to escape touchy situations :)

The plan is to find a place (first choice Tessera, second choice Mestre) to receive and hold our bike cases while we are touring.  We'd ride to there, pack up our bikes and leave them there while we visit Venice with just day packs.  Another reason to bring daypacks along.

We were lucky to spend a week in Venice in January 2006 (pre-cycle touring). We rented an airbnb studio on a tiny little street in the Castello area, and walked and walked all through the city. Castello was mostly a working class area and an easy walk to San Marco. January was a great time to visit because there weren't many (other) tourists and we saw only one medium-sized cruise ship. We flew to Treviso and took a shuttle bus from the airport to the parking lot across a footbridge from the Venice train station. We quickly hopped onto a vaporetto (water bus) going down the Grand Canal to our stop at Castello. It was our first look at the city and absolutely magical. I'd definitely recommend staying in the city for at least two nights, so that you would have a whole day there to explore. For a visit in June, you'd  certainly want to walk in the early mornings and evenings when the crowds thin out.  All the neighbourhoods are worth seeing; even those on the periphery have interesting buildings and features. In the meantime if you're a fan of mysteries,be sure to read Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti novels. They're a great way to get to know the culture and geography of Venice.

I’ve read a few of Donna Leon’s books and watched the TV series on MHZ Choice (worthwhile subscription; all the Montalbano episodes and many other good European TV series). 

I’m so looking forward to this trip!

“ I think now that bicycles are completely prohibited in Venice.“

Rich now I feel really guilty. Was it the locked purple touring bike and grubby Australian cycle tourist incident of 1979 which led to this ban? 

With hindsight, may be they were banned backed then and I somehow gormlessly pedalled by the signage. Come to think of it I didn’t notice any other bikes in central Venice.  

Thanks for solving this 42 year old mystery of why excitable, uniformed guards surrounded my innocent bike in Venice. 

Hi Jacquie,
Go for it, absolutely.  Marcia and I spent a week in Venice in 2007, just bef the cruise ships arrived. (Exterminate all the brutes, sez I.)  We stayed in a small hotel in Canareggio, one vaporetto stop from the train station. (We were taking a break on work travel, so no bikes involved:  I did see one, though, a wooden item from a show of Leonardo's creations.)

Extraordinary place in every way, and we made a day trip to Verona by train. That included a municipal museum built into the hillside above the Teatro Romano, and a cathedral built atop an ancient Christian church which had been a repurposed temple to Mithradates.

And, the food and wine was pretty good, as I recall.
Cheers,  John

Hi Jacquie,

You can drive on the Lido, so presumably you can cycle there as well. Ferry’s run from the mainland and there are hotels on the island. It’s also served by the vaporetti so access to the city proper is easy. One option might be to book a hotel there and check for airport shuttles to get you on your way home. 

Cheers,

Keith 

I thought about that, but getting our packed bike cases across to the airport might be challenging or, at the least, expensive.  Ride around to the Lido and back?  It's so tempting to keep adding destinations to the trip!