My mom and I are considering 2 hotels in Venice, one located in Castello District not too far from St.Maria Formosa and the other located in San Marco between St. Mark's and Accademia.What is the flavor of these areas? the guidebooks suggest that the one hotel is in a "working class section of Castello" which is fine with me at face value but wondering if it's window dressing for "not so desirable".Don't mean to sound cynical but I've been burnt on descriptions before. Would like area with neighborhood shops e.g.bakery,wine,grocery and a few open at night (for walking at night).Thanks for your opinion.

Since you may cover the distance between the two hotels in less than 15 minutes, it's not that big an issue. You'll get the bakery, wine and grocery in Castello all right. At night, though, I'm afraid everything will be closed. On the other hand, the area between San Marco and the Accademia is quite more touristy, with action at night. <BR><BR>I'd go for the less touristy area. If you want some action at night, you'll find it in less than 10 minutes from your hotel.

We stay at a small hotel, Locanda Silva, in Castello near St.Maria Formosa every year, and it is much pleasanter than closer to San Marco. You get to see a slice of Venetian life there- children playing soccer on the square, old ladies sitting on benches with their little dogs, a vegetable and fruit open air market. San Marco is an eight minute walk away- right past the Bridge of Sighs- a lovely walk at night in the moonlight.<BR>

Thanks for replying.If you've stayed or wandered in Cannaregio, would you say it's a similar feel? My sister stayed in Cannaregio and liked it alot.I believe our hotel (Casa Verardo) is very close to St.Maria Formosa or at least it looks like it is on the maps we have.

We think Santa Maria Formosa Square in Castello has a very pleasant relaxed feel to it although we would not want to stay in a hotel right on the square because it might be a little noisy, although not nearly as noisy as the San Marco area. We have wandered through the Cannaregio area, but have not stayed there. It does not seem as pretty to us, but I am sure it would depend on the particular hotel.<BR><BR>As far as Casa Verado is concerned, we once had a confirmed reservation to stay there, but when we arrived they said they had accidently marked it down for October instead of September, so they found us another hotel!We weren't too thrilled about that! The actual location of Casa Verado did not seem especially attractive to us, but it is probably quiet and perfectly safe , just not lots of flowers or canal views that we noticed. Other people have told us they enjoyed staying there, but we prefer Hotel Silva, a pretty location on a quiet canal, two bridges away from Maria Formosa, and it is also cheaper. It is very clean, no tv, pretty basic but quite comfortable.It is a one star hotel.