Can anyone recommend a specific apartment in Venice for 5 or 6 nights in October? The difficulty is that we would like to spend less than $200 a night. We have looked at rental websites but have heard so many comments that the apartment was nothing like the pictures that we would really appreciate knowing about places where people have actually stayed. Thanks for the help.

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Emiller-less than $200 a night for an apartment in Venice is eminently doable, but October is high season in Venice, so you'll be paying top dollar for apartment rentals at that time. I would suggest going to vrbo.com, and contacting some of the owners-there are some great apartments listed there, and I've had excellent results each time I've used them. Also, you might want to contact Denise at venicerentals.com-Denise is an American who is married to a Venetian and she has a good selection of apartments, and can be of great help-her prices are all-inclusive, and she will give you a cell phone for use, and even stock your kitchen with Venetian food and prosecco if you wish.

Here's another one you might want to look at, but I don't know whether it will be within your price range in October-it's called the "Lady San Marco" (not because of its location in San Marco, but named after the owner's favorite racehorse!) excellently located (on the lively Calle dei Fabbri in San Marco, a few minutes walk to Piazza San Marco AND Rialto, (Calle dei Fabbri being one of the main calles linking these two areas). The owner, a native Venetian who grew up in this apartment, is very nice and the apartment is lovely-I particularly like the kitchen- with its palladian windows-if you like to cook. The apartment is about 90 sq. meters I believe, so it is quite spacious. You can view it here:

www.ladysanmarco.com/mainentrance.htm

Have you looked at www.slowtrav.com? It is a fount of information about renting in Italy, including reviews of specific rentals.

I prefer to rent through an agency and use a credit card. There's been some scams where a would-be renter sends a deposit by Western Union, only to discover the apartment doesn't exist or is not for rent.

I can also recommend www.venicerentals.com. I've used them twice and have been very happy with them. Denise and Maurizio are wonderful to work with.

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peg gave you the the best Venice apartment value going but the WRONG address. I've stayed there and can't recommend it highly enough.:

Web address is:

http://www.rosadivenezia.com/en/index.htm

Another vote for the Rosa! If you want to read more on it, alternative rentals included: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34791672

Unfortunately the Rosa di Venezia is booked. However, I am interested in Lady San Marco. I would really appreciate it if girlyspytravel would email me since this is the only place I have seen it mentioned. Thanks so much.

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Emiller-one thing you have to be careful of, are the additional "fees" like "cleaning fees" that are tacked on to Venice rentals-I note that the other apt. mentioned has one such fee, so you must tack that on to the total cost of the rental, and sometimes, the cleaning fee can be as high as 80 euro.

I will be happy to email you-I think this is a great apartment, VERY spacious-and ideally located. I would contact her and see what type of rate she can offer you.

I agree that it's important to think of additional fees, but in this case, to make that clear, the cleaning fee is just 39 euros, and it's the one and only, while other rentals would make you pay separately for electricity, heating, a/c...
Well, peg715, bardo1, I guess we shouldn't recommend the Rosa so wholeheartedly - it's already booked for October, you see?, and in the end, we'll be having issues booking it ourselves...
emiller444, good luck with Lady S. Marco!

The Lady San Marco is available and I think I will rent it. Thank you so much - I'd really appreciate hearing more about it.

Emiller-I think you will LOVE this apartment-do note the street it's on-it's lively, and this is what you want-to observe and be a part of Venetian street life, and the Calle dei Fabbri, with its shops and restaurants, near Campo San Luca, is quite Venetian-it is not true that San Marco is all touristy, there are parts that are not, and this part is not as much. The Venetians who live in this area tend to be wealthier-it is the wealthiest part of town-but you are so close to Rialto as well, you'll be there in a few minutes, and can walk over the bridge to the fish and vegetable market. You see, you won't have to use the vaporettos as much, given your location, so that should save you some money.

I do urge you however, to think about buying the blue Venice card, so that all your public transportation will be taken care of for the period of time you are there-you will want to go out to the islands, and to the Isola San Giorgio Maggiore, so it is well worth it, particularly when you see how much a 24 hour vaporetto pass costs -25Euro now. Check it out here:

www.venicecard.com/index_eng.jsp

You don't have to book online though, you can get one at the vaporetto ticket booths at Piazzale Roma, San Marco and also at the train station.

Thanks for all the help - I really appreciate the advice. I will also check out Franco's list of restaurants. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we miss the acqua alta this time - the last time we were in Venice(also October) it flooded all the time. Our hotel lobby had 6 inches of water. I'm interested in whatever other suggestions you have.

We (a group of 6) just came back from Venice. We really liked our apartment because it was slightly away from the crowds yet walkable from San Marco square. Just around the corner was a main street area where you can get fresh fruit and find good restaurants. Good luck!

http://www.veniceapartments.org/html/celsi1.html