britab3

Traveling to venice in late November and am wondering where to stay. We are looking for an area that is lively, with good shopping and restaurants. should we be near san marco square? or is rialto bridge area better?
really appreciate the help!

mclaurie

Venice is relatively small. Both the San Marco and Rialto areas are popular. Many people like a hotel that's on a quiet "street" but in a lively area. There are shops and restaurants spread all over Venice. Many of the high end shops are near San Marco. Rialto has a market most mornings at the bridge so some of the hotels near there can be quite noisy. Dorsdoduro is another popular area (near the Accademia bridge and museum and the Guggenheim museum).

Since November tends to be a time with higher chances of aqua alta (flooding) and San Marco is the area that tends to flood, you might want to consider that.

Venere.com is a good website for "shopping" hotels. It allows you to select based on sestiere (area) and star level.

If you mention your budget, people will be able to make suggestions.

socialworker

We loved the Hotel Marconi, just one or two bldgs up the street from the Rialto Bridge. The am market was not a noise factor for that hotel b/c there is a bldg or two between the hotel and the market, but it *was* fun to go out in the morning and have all the market activity so close by. It made it all feel more authentic and not just touristy.

mclaurie

I have a friend who also loved the Marconi. Were you lucky enough to get one of the canal view rooms? I keep hearing the rooms without a view are not very nice. True?

almesq

We were in Venice 2 weeks ago, and stayed at the Palazzo Sant'Angelo, and absolutely loved it. It is a small hotel (14-16 rooms), right on the grand canal but in a very quiet area. The entrance is right on the canal, but can only be reached through some quiet side streets, and it is itself on a dead end, so there is no foot traffic. It is between the Rialto and Accademia bridges, and a very short walk to everywhere. Also, the Sant'Angelo vaporetto stop is right outside the hotel entrance. There are some very nice restaurants and cafes within less than five minutes from the hotel, and Piazza San Marco was no more than a 10 minute walk, same with Rialto. We loved both the hotel and the neighborhood.

socialworker

Hi mclaurie--no we did not get a canal view room altho we sneaked a peek while the maid was cleaning. It was glorious!! But altho the room we had was smaller, it was very nice and we had no complaints.

mclaurie

I'm very jealous almesq, both that you just returned from Venice and where you stayed. Before my trip, someone here had raved about the Sant Angelo and had gotten an intro price b/c it had just opened. It looked glorious but was quite pricey. May I ask what you paid?

socialworker, glad to hear even the non view rooms are nice. My friend was lucky enough to get a room with a big balcony to go with the view. He says he spent hours just sitting and watching the world go by.

Bailey

www.pbase.com/baileyzim/image/21709699
View from Marconi......check out the other images.....view of room at Marconi & other galleries views at the Wildner.
Marconi is very nice.....noisy in the AM....the rooms without views are OK....but a little stuffy.
But I love to stay at the Hotel Wildner near San Marco....same price range...but incredible views!!!

Bailey

www.veneziahotels.com

Web-site for the Wildner.

tropicaldan

A balconied room overlooking the Grand Canal is a hotel experience hard to beat.
But you will pay for it!

marty

There are rooms on the Grand Canal that come pretty cheap in November. Try the Leon Bianco. They have 3 very large rooms with big windows that look out on the canal for 100 Euros per night in low season which may include November. They deliver breakfast to your room, and there is nothing like sitting at the little table and watching Venice wake up.

frankc

Just stayed at the Locando Vivaldi just a few minutes walk from St Marks and right in the middle of everything. Depends on much you want to spend. You might try the hotel columbina which is right next to the bridge of sighs

chanad

I stayed in Ca' Amadi with a friend in June, and we loved it! We had a gorgeous canal room for relatively (for venice) cheap. We could sit on the wide window sill and wave to the gondolas! canal rooms do not cost extra (as far as I know), you just have to request one. (I didn't get one at first, so I asked to be put in one if someone canceled, and luckily, somone did!) The hotel is near the Rialto bridge, about 10 minutes from San marco and 4 minutes to the Rialto. The room was very quiet.

almesq

Further to my earlier post, our room at the Palazzo Sant'Angelo was facing the grand canal and had a balcony (2 small balconies, actually), very large room, walk in closet. We paid 300E per night (including the extra charge for the canal view room) and thought it was worth every penny. And that was in mid-September, more in season than November. That price also included a very nice buffet breakfast. We booked directly on Sina Hotels web site, www.sinahotels.com. In booking, they have an option for best available web rate, and it was much cheaper than their regular rate, and better than anything else we saw for this hotel.
I have some pictures if you are interested, let me know and I'll email them to you.