La_Tour_de_Cause

We've been living in SW France and will be driving a rental car to Paris before we fly back to California for the winter. We're taking the scenic route, via Umbria and Venice, then to Prague, then to Paris/CDG and home.
We'll be traveling with a couple of large bags and our small dog, plus the dog kennel.
Question for the Venice stopover...we've located a hotel in Mestre that seems nice enough (considering the cheap price), and they'll let us bring the dog.
But we're wondering about Venice itself? Is Italy as dog-friendly as France? Will we be able to bring the dog into the trattoria with us, or will we be forced to eat al fresco and pay the price? Or will they not permit the dog to be on the restaurant premises at all? Anyone have any experience with this? We hate to leave her locked in a hotel room all day/night while we prowl the streets of Venice.

Also, has anyone stayed at Villa Dori and do you (please) have something nice to say about it?

Thanks for any tips.
Ciao! (and Heather the dog says "Chow!&quot

tashak

I hope someone with more definitive info replies, but I was in Venice several years ago on a holiday weekend in November and Venice was jam-packed full of tourists from France. And there were people and tourists walking with their dogs all over the place! It was really striking...I had never seen anything like this in Italy before.

I didn't see any in restaurants (but I wasn't looking for them either). But I guess the place must have been at least somewhat dog-friendly or everyone wouldn't have been walking around with them... My bet is that you will find at least some restaurants--and certainly cafes-- that will allow Heather to join you.

TopMan

I've seen Italian dogs ON trains and IN restaurants, both outside and inside. It may depend on the restaurant and then again it may very well depend on how well you are able to sweep into the place and be seated as if this is a non-issue which, I think, it will be.
Have a great trip.

La_Tour_de_Cause

mille grazie, regazzi (better start brushing up on my Italian)...guess we'll just go walking with the dog and see what happens. I'm not going to worry about it too much; we'll take our chances.

Now, has anyone stayed at Villa Dori? It seems to cheap to be real (62E/night). What am I missing? What are they not telling me? are they cheap just because they're in Mestre?

Anyone?

Eloise

Please don't stay at the Villa Dori! It is not even in Mestre but in Marghera. Before you can even take the train to Venice, you have to go 5 kilometers to the Mestre train station.

Please, please do yourself a favour and take a hotel in Venice itself!

La_Tour_de_Cause

Yikes! How can they say that they are in Mestre? (silly question, I guess)
However, if we have a car, which we do, couldn't we just drive to Mestre or somewhere, from Villa Dori, park the car and take a vaporetto?
I know it would be nicer to stay in Venice, but I'm not sure we can afford it, plus we have the car and all our crud to deal with (baggage for the trip home, with gifts, dog kennel, etc.)
Any suggestions for dealing with all of that, and staying within Venice?

mclaurie

The aggravation you'll go through to stay anywhere BUT in Venice and have to travel with the dog will not be worth it. Post the price you found at this place and let's see if we can find you some place in Venice proper, or at least maybe Lido. I saw lots of dogs (small and well behaved) walking around Venice and on the vaparetto but can't remember seeing any in restaurants.

Eloise

If you have a car, you can take it to the Mestre train station, where there is, so others have said on this board, parking.

You cannot take a vaporetto from Mestre to Venice. You have to take the train to Venezia Santa Lucia, and then take a vaporetto there for wherever you are going. Depending on the length of your stay in Venice, you may consider one-day or three-day passes for each of you, since you will be taking the vaporetto along the Grand Canal frequently if you decide to stay on the mainland. A 90-minute ticket for any vaporetto that travels the Grand Canal is 5 Euros.

But think about it: Add 10 Euros per person per day = 20 Euros. You can probably find a hotel in Venice for your Villa Dori price plus 20 Euros... And you can experience Venice at night, when the daytrippers have gone and the evenings are magical. Trains do go to Mestre until fairly late, but check it out on www.trenitalia.com.

Eloise

There is parking at the Venice end of the causeway. I'm no expert on this, because I always take the train. But the general advice seems to be that if you park there, you should make sure that all your belongings are hidden in the trunk.

La_Tour_de_Cause

I'm learning, I'm learning. For now, I'm holding on to my reservation at Villa Dori, BUT I will continue to look for accommodations in Venice. I was concerned that Lido would also cost more money, not only for the nightly fee but because we'd need to take a vaporetto or something everytime back and forth from the hotel...but with the vaporetto pass that shouldn't be too big a problem.

OK, the floodgate opens...any recommendations for decent place to stay, with dog, in Venice, for 80 euros or less (taxes incl, per night). I'm only paying 62€ at Villa Dori.

We are good walkers, not demanding of luxury, but the bed needs to be clean and not too uncomfortable. Any ideas?

Eloise

Have a look at the following Web site:

http://www.veniceby.com/accommod/bb_venice.htm

It's the bed&breakfast page of Veniceby; you can also look at different categories of hotels, 2-star, 3-star, etc. Or you can look by location; late in the season, prices on the Lido should be low.

The reason why I recommend this site is that a) it gives room prices (and you are presumably traveling in low season -- after mid-October, say -- so you can pretty well count on getting the lowest price stated; and b) on the Faqs page of each hotel and b&b, you can scroll down -- pretty close to the end -- to see whether they take pets or not. I found two b&bs in Venice itself that did take pets: Ca Formosa, double 80 to 200 Euro; Ca del Duca, double 70 to 200 Euro (small pets, which you said Heather is).

Good luck! If you stay in Venice, you'll be very glad you did.

mclaurie

I'm perplexed why you thought taking a vaporetto back and forth from Lido would be more expensive than back and forth from Mestre. Lido may be pricier than staying in the boonies (and not as good as staying IN Venice) but it's closer to "downtown" Venice than where you were planning to stay and you could drive your car there. Most people don't want to stay in Lido during the winter (it's really a summer resort) so while I still think in Venice is better, you should also check Lido as prices there are often cheaper. Taking the car there may work out better for you too, I don't know though.

La_Tour_de_Cause

Thanks, every one of you, for all your help. I'm still a little intimidated by Venice, especially with a car and a dog to deal with (not to mention my husband), but we'll figure it out. Maybe we'll stay at Lido, or maybe in town, if I can find a comfortable, inexpensive place that accepts dogs. I'll look further, using the recommended website, and i'm sure I'll find something more convenient. Then I'll figure out what to do with our car, and our stuff. I'm sure it will all work out.

thanks again to all.

mclaurie

Hotel Tre Archi is inexpensively priced (I got a quote of 300e total for 4 nights in November including taxes). The reviews here sound good.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...ce_Veneto.html

On this expedia page it says they accept pets
http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll...ty=&from=f

The vaparetto stops right in front of the hotel. What more could you want?

La_Tour_de_Cause

McLaurie -- You are a jewel among jewels. I will check it out, for sure. Sounds like a sure thing. But first, to bed...late night here. Domani..