Advice on Venice
 

Any suggestions on the best place to stay in Venice...good location, clean, cute, affordable?
How about best places to dine (best food and charming atmosphere)?
Lastly, what's the best way to get from the airport to town?

Locanda Orseolo-check the recent comments here. Also check comments on tripadvisor.com

Hotel Galleria is excellent value and great location

Hi

I suggest that you do a text search for "Venice and Hotel" and "Venice and restaurant". You will get many, many, many recommedations.

Thank you...anything near St. Marks Square that can be recommended with same requirements as above?
Thanks!
PS. Can someone tell me the difference between the areas of Venice:
Lido de Venice, Mestre, & Venice?

JES,

In answer to your last question, what is considered Venice proper consists of six districts that are accessible to one another on foot. These are the areas that most people prefer to stay when visiting:

San Marco
San Polo
Cannaregio
Castello
Santa Croce
Dorsoduro

The outer islands are only accessible by boat and consist mainly of:

San Girogio Maggiore
Guidecca
Lido

Mestre is an industrial area on the mainland before you arrive Venice by train.

Hope this helps.

Hi
Lots of hotel recommendations can be found in any of three ways
do a search on this message board, as ira suggested
go to the top of this screen, click on Hotels, and read the rants and raves comments, ditto Restaurants
finally, tripadvisor.com has lots of hotel listings with comments

for transportation info, look at
www actv.it

I have a file on Venice; if you'd like to see it, email me at
[email protected]

JES.. I just posted a reply to someone else wanting to know about hotels and locations, etc. I stayed at the Concordia which is right off of San Marco Square, was reasonable at the time which was 1 1/2 years ago, and the location really couldn't have been better. The rooms tend to be on the smaller side, but I've heard the ones that overlook San Marco are larger. I would go back. You might want to try the site called ItalyBy.com. They really offer a lot of very interesting hotels and that's actually where I came across the Concordia. Good Luck. I wish I could help about restaurants, but can't remember names anymore.

Another addendum to my reply, JES. We recently stayed in a San Aponal apartment in Venice for 120 euro per night. The location, amenities and agency help was perfect, and we felt we saved so much money in comparison to a hotel. If you're interested, go to venicerentals.com and check out their options.

Good luck in your plans!

Jes- here are some hotels I have checked out for Venice( getting married there next fall) I have dona alot of research: www.hotelalpiave.com read review on www.eurocheap.com( great site for inexpensive lodging) double was quoated at 140 euro.
www.locanda-sanbarnaba.com this is where my bridal party will stay-quoted 180-200 euro.
also check out www.laforcolahotel.com

Restautants I have on my list don't think I will make it to all of them: Sempione( canal side) ph# 0415226022, la Colonna ph# 0415229641, Vivi da Gigo ph# 0415285140, da Raffle canal side (mentioned on this board numerous times)
You will find many of these restaurants reviewed on Fodors & Frommers web sites.I will be posting an Italy trip report including Venice in early Oct.
la dolce Italy
Fluffy

JES

We stayed at the Galleria - for one night - about two weeks ago. We got room #1 which faces the Accademia Bridge and the Vaporetto Stop - INCREDIBLY NOISY!!!!! If you get a canal room, it may be better.

For a few Euro more (10-20), however, you can stay about a block up the street at the Agli Alboretti, a charming establishment with mostly remodeled rooms, where we headed after the Galleria.

Much better choice!!!

Enjoy.

r

Jes
Try Hotel Al Vagon...they also have a nice restaurant. Located on a small canal, near the Rialto Bridge.
www.hotelalvagon.com

Or Pensione Wildner....sweeping views!!

.

I've been to Venice on two occasions.
The first time I stayed at the Hotel Giorgione in Cannaregio and the second time at the Locanda Art Deco Hotel in San Marco. Although the Giorgione was a little bit farther away from San Marco and the main tourist areas. I enjoyed my stay there much more because the area around it is where the locals live and it is dotted with many local (i.e. non-touristy) shops and restaurants. So my recommendation would be to stay away from the very busy and loud San Marco area and stay in an area where the locals live.

That's a good point gatorbill--is that the general consensus out there (anyone else?).
Thank you fluffy and everyone else who gave hotel options. I will check them all out and let you know what I come up with.

We too stayed a bit away from the maddening crowd for our honeymoon last year. We spent our week at La Calcina, which is on the Guidecca (sp!?) Canal. It was within walking distance to everything (although just about everything in Venice is walkable), plus we were very close to a vaporetto stop. We had a canal view, and for summertime it was fairly reasonable.

It was so nice to have control over the crowds -- when we wanted to be a part of the hubub we could walk into the touristy areas. Otherwise (with one morning exception) around the hotel there were very few people. There was a "local" pizza place down the road which was fabulous, plus a little wine shop around the corner.

I, too, agree with Gatorbill. After spending some days in the crowds of San Marco, we enjoyed going back to our quiet campo near our apartment in San Polo.

Some people love staying near San Marco, but I think most people prefer any of the other districts for their peace and quiet away from the crowds.

Thank you for all of your advice. I tried to book at most of the hotels recommended but they were sold out for one or more of the days I need to book. I ended up booking at Hotel Lisbona. Has anyone heard of it?

Best way to get from the airport to San Marco area is by Alilaguna. There is a yellow boat that leaves about every hour. It takes about one hour and costs only 10 Euros/person.

Water taxi is faster, but costs a lot more.

Hi

My wife and I went to Venice in June and I discovered that Venice is actually so small that it doesn't really matter that much where you stay because it easy to get around. We stayed at hotel Continental near the train station and we had a room with a great view of Canal Grande :-) The best eating experience was at Trattoria Antica Bessettain in San Polo. I have posted a long trip report with pictures and reviews of the hotel and the restaurant on my homepage www.gardkarlsen.com. Maybe you can find some useful information there :-)

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

Gard, I just finished your Venice segment of the website. It is one of the best "personal" websites I've ever seen -- CHEERS to you. I've bookmarked it to return for your many other trips listed. Thanks for this wonderful new offering.

Gard -- Very nice website and insight into Venice. Thank you.

Diane

Gard,thank you for sharing your website. You and your wife get to do a lot of travelling--that's wonderful.
Your room looks nice in Venice with the large windows opening to the canal. The room we secured also has a canal view, so I'm sure we will enjoy it. The next time you book last minute, you may want to check out some last minute booking websites where nice hotels give out beautiful rooms at half their normal rate. Many times they are different sites for different countries so you can do a search for the country you are interested in.

During previous visits to various parts of Italy I have had the most amazing food so I am a bit discouraged to read in so many places that the food in Venice is sub-par. Especially since that is part of the reason I enjoy travelling--trying all of the authentic foods and recipes. This will be my husbands first time in Italy so thank you for the restaurant recommendation. I want to make sure he experiences some good meals!

Hi

Thanks for the feedback when it comes to my homepage...I do hope that the trip reports that I have posted can be of use to others when travelling to the same destinations :-)

I was also a bit dissapointed about the selection of food in Venice but maybe we didn't look in the right places. But I guess it is hard to keep it authentic when there are so many tourists coming to Venice every year.

Regards
Gard
www.gardkarlsen.com