Venice...hotel near Marco Polo

Old Feb 24th, 2015, 04:42 AM
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Venice...hotel near Marco Polo

First time to Venice...senior couple with multiple items in our itinerary...and we'll be back to Venice the next week...but one question at a time...

Arriving Wednesday 6/17 from Miami around 1:00pm

We have a flight the next day, Thursday, 6/18 @ 7:30 pm to Dubrovnik...VCE to DBV

So, I'm looking for advice for a reasonably priced hotel to crash with our jet lag...that maybe provides airport transport?

And suggestions on what we can do Thursday after the hotel check out and before our Croatia flight....maybe 6 hours.

Should we do a "getting acquainted" type tour keeping in mind that we'll be back the following week for a few days? We'll have our bags...carry on types.

Thoughts...ideas?
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 05:23 AM
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I don't think more than 24 hours in an airport hotel would be a good start to your trip, so I would take the Alilaguna boat into Venice and stay at somewhere conveniently next to an Alilaguna stop, either the orange line or the blue line. People will give you suggestions if you want to do this. A hotel will happily keep your bags the next day until you need to return to the airport at 4:30 to 5:00pm.

A quick orientation tour sounds like a good idea and will keep you awake and outside to help you get over jetlag. I believe Context Tours do some nice cichetti crawls too.
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 05:51 AM
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I wouldn't stay in Venice if I were you, especially since you're coming back. Instead, I'd stay at a hotel near the airport where you can get easy public transportation into Venice. I'd suggest the Titian. The bus to and from Venice stops very near the hotel -- I think it's 1 or 2 euros -- and the hotel provides a shuttle (5 minutes) to the airport.

The rooms there are decent, the free breakfast is good, and there are a couple of good restaurants nearby.
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 06:13 AM
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Conflicting opinions here
But that's good...I want to consider all possibilities.
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 06:21 AM
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I have to agree with the not staying in Venice rec above especially since you are coming back anyway. I would stay near the airport and take public transport into Venice if you really feel the need to do SOMETHING and see some part of the city.
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 07:27 AM
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Concur with staying near the airport on this leg of your trip. Never stayed there myself, but I'd check out the one Vincenzo recommends, or look at Tripadvisor and find something else.

See if you can't leave your bags at the hotel or even at the airport and then take alilaguna into Venice.
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 07:30 AM
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You have a day and a half to kill... I would stay in Venice. You can take the bus from directly outside the terminal to Piazzale Roma in 25 minutes, and there are a few hotels right around Piazzale Roma. Drop your luggage off and get out to explore.

This place is very close to Piazzale Roma -
http://www.locandamarinella.com/

Taking the Alilaguna in as recommended above is another option if you want to stay close to an Alilaguna stop, but it takes longer. For a short stay like that I would go with the 25 minute bus option
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 07:45 AM
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With a flight arriving at 1pm on day 1 and another departing at 7.30 pm on day 2, if you stay at a hotel near the airport you will be going back and forth to Venice twice, whereas if you stay in Venice, you'll only do it once, plus you will get the fun of being able to see Venice at night and in the early morning, before and after the crowds arrive.

Were you departing early on day 2 my answer might be different but in this case, the answer seems to me to be pretty obvious - stay in Venice. you will have most of the afternoon and evening of day one, and virtually a whole day on Day 2, and you won't be wasting time going back to the airport to sleep - which will take about an hour from your valuable time, each way.

Whether you choose to use the ATVO bus [€6 each way or €11 return] or the Alilaguna [€15 each way but there may be an offer on of €12] to get into Venice I would suggest staying close to a vaporetto stop. I was able to do this on my recent visit to Venice and it made a lot of difference; I was there for a week so it's even more important to be somewhere convenient if you're there for less than 48 hours.

hope you have a great trip.
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 08:09 AM
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Thanks all...any other recommendations on hotels for the "in Venice" scenario?
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 08:12 AM
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When are you going? How much do you want to spend?
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 08:45 AM
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Hi Deborah,

this place was just across the courtyard from the apartment where I was staying, and though it is NOT on the Grand Canal itself [the front of the hotel that you can see on its website is a much bigger swisher hotel] it was "a due passi" from the Sant'Angelo vaporetto stop. [Line 1]. The rack rate is about €150 for a double but in March, booking.com has it for about ½ that according to TA.

I didn't stay there but I did see quite a few people coming in and out and they all looked reasonably happy.

To get there you don't have to carry your luggage across any bridges which is a pain at any time but even worse if you are arriving one day and leaving the next. I'm sure that they would let you leave your luggage there during the day on Day 2 before you have to leave to get the plane to Dubrovnik. The location was extremely quiet but very close to all the things you want to see on a first visit to Venice like the Basilica, the Doge's palace, the grand canal, as well as being just round the corner from some interesting shops, bars and restaurants , plus the proximity of the vaporetto stop made it super easy to get across to the other side of the Grand Canal to the campo san Bartolomeo, Campo Santa margherita, in one direction, and the Rialto in the other.
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 09:18 AM
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I'm not going to debate this endlessly, but let's analyze the time frame a bit.

Your transatlantic flight lands a 1:00 pm. You have to collect your bags and then get to the bus stop or Alilaguna port. Now, it's not as if you can walk out of the airport and hop on the bus or the boat. You're probably going to have to wait until, maybe, 3:00 to catch a bus. It takes about a half hour to get to Piazzale Roma by bus, and then you most likely will have to catch a vaporetto to a stop near your hotel. From there, you'll have to walk to your hotel. I'm saying there's no way you're getting to your hotel before 4:00.

And now you're jet-lagged. What's your plan? Struggle to stay up till 8:00 and then go to bed? Or hit the rack as soon as you get to the hotel? Either way, your "most of the afternoon and evening" on the first day turns into precious little time and a lot of getting from Point A to Point B.

And then if you have a 7:30 pm flight the next day, what time will you leave Venice to make the flight, assuming you have to be at the airport at around 5:30? Unless you're going to spring for the 100 euros for a water taxi, you better plan on departing the hotel area by NLT 3:30, figuring you'll have to take a vaporetto to Piazzale Roma and then a bus to the airport (or the slow Alilaguna). Does that give you "virtually" a whole day on your second day?

If this were your only chance to see Venice, I would encourage you to live with the inconvenience and squeeze out every moment. But since you're going back at the end of the trip, it just doesn't add up for me.
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 09:59 AM
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Vincenzo, they are not checking bags. Buses run to Piazzale Roma every 20 minutes and they stop right outside the terminal. If the OP stays near Piazzale Roma, they would not even have to get on a vaporetto to go the rest of the way. They could be checking in to their hotel in an hour after landing. Going back, same thing.

Yeah, you are going to add on a lot of time if you go on the Alilaguna or stay at a place where you have to take the vaporetto to get there. But if you stay close to Piazzale Roma, it is fast and easy to arrive there and sure is a lot better hanging out in Venice than hanging out in a hotel bar in Tessera. The OP could even leave luggage at the luggage storage at the airport and go into Venice with an overnight bag.

Even taking the Alilaguna, it is usually only two hours from the airport to checking in, I have done it a gazillion times and it always takes two hours... I do agree that with a short stay two hours each way is not the best use of time.
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 10:09 AM
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vincenzo, having done just this journey a week ago, i think that I can help with the timings a bit.

Day 1 [Staying in Venice]

1pm -land at Marco Polo. Clear passport and customs by 2pm. [it took us 40 mins, but I'm being conservative]. The ATVO buses would be better than the Alilaguna as the latter only runs once an hour whereas the buses are every 20 mins.

2.30 pm -get on bus.

3pm [latest] arrive Piazzale Roma. Catch Vaporetto, arrive hotel 3.30 pm. Go out and explore, perhaps have early supper [well early for Italy] and get early, but not too early night. [remembering the advice that the best way to overcome jet lag is to adopt the time-zone that you're in, not the one you've come from].

Day 2 - get up early - see venice walk up. spend day in Venice. to get to the airport for, say, 5.30 pm, [pretty early for a european flight] you need to catch the ATVO bus leaving P. Roma at 5pm. so you need to get on your vaporetto [assuming you've stayed near one of the stops down the Grand Canal] at about 4.30pm.

Now let's look at the same itinerary, staying at/near the airport:

Day 1 - arrive Venice, walk/ taxi to hotel, arrive by 3pm latest. Now what do we do? if we stay at the hotel, we'll just go to sleep and probably wake up far to early. anyway, it's Venice isn't it? let's go and have a look. Get bus [yes the same bus you'd have caught anyway.] Walk around Venice, but have to get bus back to the hotel, thus losing about an hour of time in venice, rather than just being able to go back to the hotel when we feel like it.

Day 2 - get up. Get taxi/walk back to airport and get the bus, again. That's another hour out of my sightseeing time, plus I miss out on seeing Venice early in the morning. day in Venice. Have to catch the same bus back to the airport [or even earlier as we've got to go back to the hotel to pick up the luggage].

I know which I'd do!
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 10:20 AM
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We will be back in Venice on 6/25 for 2 nights pre- NCL cruise and then again for 3 more nights post cruise. I thought we'd stay in different parts of Venice those times to have a real experience.
So the night of 6/17 and the next afternoon I thought we'd go for minimal stress and use that time to get our bearings.
What should I consider a reasonable hotel rate? NYC standards...$300-400? Or can we get something decent for $150 ish?
Love reading everyone's opinions!
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 11:03 AM
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Not very long ago I noticed that the boat transport from and to Marco Polo airport makes a stop at the island of Murano. It's about 20 minutes from the airport. I thought at the time and recentlly pointed out to some other poster) I thought that was an interesting compromise.

Here's the thread of the past conversation:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ort-hotel-.cfm
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 11:38 AM
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Hmmm, Sandralist...that's a different idea
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 11:52 AM
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What should I consider a reasonable hotel rate? NYC standards...$300-400? Or can we get something decent for $150 ish?>>

see my earlier post.

I don't know if there's much going on on Murano after about 9pm, and it's just not the same as waking up in Venice proper. if you had to get to the airport early, it might be an idea but that isn't your problem.

Nice idea to stay in different areas; this is the time to stay as close to a vaporetto stop as possible, IMO.
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 12:46 PM
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Thanks, annhig...I had missed your post with the timing...appreciate you putting it that way.

If we lean toward the staying in Venice scenario...Piazzale Roma, what suggestions are out there for a hotel? I emailed this one as no rate was available on their website.
"This place is very close to Piazzale Roma -
http://www.locandamarinella.com/"
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Old Feb 24th, 2015, 12:55 PM
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This hotel is literally adjacent to Piazzale Roma, but I have never stayed there.. http://www.hotelsantachiara.it/en/
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