myra73

Help!
We will be in Venice in June and need suggestions for inexpensive lodging (we are students).
Given the expense of the city hotels and the ease of the trains, why wouldn't one stay on the mainland?

Maire

Have never been to Venice, but everyone (and the guidebooks) suggest it's better to stay in Venice. There are a lot of (relatively) inexpensive hotels there:

One place to start getting ideas is venere.com
1 - in the "where do you want to go" box, type Venice
2 - then, scroll down to see the listings (279 approx.), but
3 - click "Price" which will put them in order from least to most expensive
4) When I do that, for example, the 3rd hotel that comes up is the Caneva in San Marco for 70 Euro per night.
5) There's a handy little map beside each listing which shows you which area the hotel is in.

artlover

Check out hostelbookers.com and also goggle "international student travel" and you should get lots of possibilities. My daughter (also a student) was there last year and found lots of inexpensive places this way. Good luck and have a great trip!

ira

Hi M,

>Given the expense of the city hotels and the ease of the trains, why wouldn't one stay on the mainland?<

Because you have to go up to the San Lucia train station and take the train to Mestre and then get to your hotel.

What's your budget?

grsing

I stayed at a "hostel" (really just an older hotel with random roommates, but not bad, Hotel Primavera is the name) in Mestre, right by a bus stop, 10 minute ride into town, no problem (and they never checked tickets on the bus). It'd be better to stay on the islands, but cost can be a barrier, and I decided that I'd deal with a 10 minute commute. You just get more of the atmosphere actually in Venice. And I guess if you really want to stay out late (doing what, I'm not sure, though I suppose there are late night bars somewhere in Venice), it could be a pain getting back to the mainland.

lynclarke

myra73 We talked with some people on the train from Venice to florence. They had camped in Venice for 5 nights. They had planned on a cabin but ultimately got a tent but they said the campgrounds was nice. They paid 14E per person per night. I can't remember the name of the campgrounds but I am sure you can google it. lynclarke

Barbara_in_CT

Try eurocheapo.com for reviews of budget accomodations.

I have stayed at the Hotel Bernardi-Semenzato and found it very nice. One night there was a group of teens who monopolized the showers in the morning for three hours. Fortunately, we were not in a rush to get out.

Margaretlb

myra73, watch out for grsing's comment about the bus ticket not being checked. Sometimes you're not that lucky. If you don't have the validated ticket when asked by the inspector, you pay the fare plus a hefty fine - payable on the spot.

suze

Some budget travelers do train in each day. I had friends who based in Padua.

Why people prefer to stay in Venice proper, is because that's where they want to see/do. Staying on the mainlanad involves time and certain expense traveling back and forth every day.

somisseagle13

i would say book whatever you can get NOW--i was trying to book our rooms in venice for june back in january and was having a hard time because so many of them were already booked...