We will be in Venice mid-December for 4 days. I work for a hotel company so I can get great rates in the off season. I have a choice between the Hilton Molino or the Westin Europa. The Hilton is $50 more per night, but that includes breakfast. Both hotels look lovely, but we are leaning towards the Westin because of its location on the Grand canal.
Can anyone tell me if there are some nice cafes near the Westin? My preference is not to eat in the hotel (anywhere, not just in Venice) because we love to walk around and find good coffee and yummy breakfasts whenever we are in a foreign city. Not a vitally important trip question - but I just thought I would put it out there in the Fodors universe. Thanks!

If you stay at the Molino Stucky you are on Guidecca and are not connected to the rest of Venice.

The hotel does have a shuttle, though, but waiting can be a pain in the ronson.

I wouldn't stay there.

There are coffee bars and cafes every 20 feet in Venice.

Thin

Thanks Pepper!

For those who actually like breakfast or need something other than a roll and coffee -- diabetics, for example -- we had a memorable breakfast at the Concordia Hotel just off St Marks Square near the clock tower.

I'd stay at the Westin, just because of location.

Depends on what you mean by "yummy"? The local coffee bars are unlikely to serve eggs, waffles, etc. What's the breakfast like at the Westin? Can't be $50.

We hit some coffee bars around the Westin recently, and I can't recall anything being yummy. However, we were on the fly and grabbed the first coffee and pastry that we came to on a few occasions.

The Westin website mentions a la carte and buffet breakfast. I would send them an email and ask for prices.

As mentioned above, it depends on what you like for breakfast. I stayed at a medium-sized hotel in Venice, the Giorgione, and the breakfast buffet was great. They cater to a number of visitors' breakfast tastes, of course, so the choice was extensive. Lots of things to try that I wouldn't ordinarily and I liked that. If you like a simple 1 item breakfast and coffee then probably any place that's open will do. But I do love buffets when they're well done, for the protein in a number of forms, if nothing else.

You'll find most anything for your breakfast (and lunch and dinner) at

BREK Ristorante Venezia Cannaregio
124 Lista di Spagna
Venezia
Tel: +39 041-2440158
Fax: +39 041-2440158
[email protected]
Orario: 11:30 - 22:00
Focacceria, pizzeria e bar: 07.00 - 22:00
http://www.brek.com/it_IT/ristoranti...naregio-1.html

Thank you all for your replies! Yummy can be defined as good hot coffee and a fresh selection of whatever (eggs, cold cuts, pastries)is available. We are easy to please that way. Michel, we will definitely try BREK.
Thanks again.

I only have a roll with some butter and coffee for breakfast.

I am not an eater.

The thought of a breakfast buffet turns my stomach. Also, the size of some of the people in the queue turns my stomach.

Sorry, if a coffee bar does not suffice for some of you.

Thin

Another suggestion: If you can bring yourselves to get out of bed at an ungodly hour, certainly long before sunup, you'll have Venice to yourselves. That's quite a feeling - like being transported back by a few hundred years if you can choose to ignore the few street lamps overhead.

Walk to the Rialto Bridge, just past it there is the early morning wholesale market in full swing - all by boat of course, no trucks. Great photo ops! And to feed the hungry workers, a few cafés are open, and you can have a breakfast you won't soon forget.

But be early enough to leave your breakfast table in time to get to San Marco before the sun comes up, because that will be the ultimate pay-off - seeing the sun rise across the bay while the pretty glass lamps are still lit, and nobody around for miles! Your camera will thank you!

Michel - your idea sounds great. We can definitely drag ourselves out of bed for that. MmeP - The Giorgione might be just the thing for our farewell to Venice breakfast. Thanks!

If you book the Westin Europa & Regina through a Virtuoso travel consultant, you get free breakfast included plus a $100 F&B credit (all at the regular best available flexible rate). http://tinyurl.com/ovn3649

Thanks travelhorizons.

Feel free to criticize other people's fashion choices, Thin, but not their breakfast choices!

Some can't eat gluten, some are carb sensitive, some are fat-restricted. I'm fortunate to have low cholesterol and come from a family where almost no one has had a heart attack or stroke. So, I'll eat your share of the world's charcuterie, and you can have my croissant!

Personal choice, but I like to either book small hotels that include breakfast ( coffee, breads, cereals, etc.), or an apartment where we can make same. When we leave for the day, I like that we are ready to go and not have finding breakfast as the first thing on the list. DH is not a breakfast person, so sometimes he will sleep in while I have coffee and a roll.

"...we are ready to go and not have finding breakfast as the first thing on the list."

I have to say that even when I have an apartment I love to go out to a nearby cafe first thing and consider it every bit as much fun as the first "real" thing on my list. There's nothing as wonderful to me as walking into a warm room with a morning crowd of regulars and the unbelievable smell of espresso brewing. Heaven. I'm much more likely to bring something back and eat tucked in at home at dinnertime.

There's something for everyone.