We are looking for hotels in the heartish of Venice...for less than $50 USD.

Does anyone know any good websites?
Any firsthand experience?

thanks for any help!!

Is that 50 per person? You would have to stay in a hostel if you want to pay 50 a night for two people.

Even with two hostel dorm beds, $50 USD will be hard to meet in Venice.

You don't say when you are going. The prices change a LOT from high season to low season. However, the lowest I paid :Minerva e Nettuno for Euro58.00 last month. Near the train station (covenient since I was arriving/leaving by train). Very basic but I got what I expected, incl. tiny bathroom. I will probably not consider staying there in summer since it has no air-condition. It was ok in May. Last February, I stayed at Mercurio, near Fenice theater, pretty centrally located in San Marco area. Bit nicer than Minerva, incl.air-condition (which I didn't need when I sayed there.). The same room costs about E120 now.

All above are single room rates and I reserved on their own sites.

Oops, forgot to put what I paid for Mercurio. Euro50.00 per night last February AFTER the canival.

I have no experience in them, but I have read that a number of convents and monasteries in Venice have clean reasonable lodgings. But I suspect one would be expected to behave (don't we always), and perhaps even observe a curfew.

I did a search for Venice Convent Room Rental, and one that came up was a review of Casa Caburlotto, a convent where the rate was, I believe 47euro for a single room. Another possibility, depending on the size of your party, might be to rent an apartment, if you will be there a week; they are often available for shorter periods, but at higher daily rates.

Venice is small, so anyplace you find will be near the heart. Many people like to avoid the area around St. Marks because of crowds, but its not like there is noise all night.

For one person, or two? Is shared bathroom OK? Have you tried the hostels?

Thanks for the responses.
Suze...
there are two of us, same sex, no prob sharing, not too picky.
Our hostel search has turned up quite a few likely places....but we are hoping to find something quaint, hotel-ish(one can hope).... and cheap from advice on this forum.

We wil be there for 3-4 days july 11th-15th.

Thank you all again for your help.
This forum has been THE best help for planning this trip. It is so nice to have real people who know 1st hand...not just guide books and the internet!!!

still planning,
rachel

you might also check rick steves (grafitti wall BB) and the lonely planet website (thorn tree BB), if you haven't already. i wish you luck but that's a pretty low budget for 'quaint' in the heart of Venice. i've heard there are some basic hotels around the train station area.

This is one of the cheapest places I found for a low-season stay, although I didn't stay here. However, it is much more expensive in high season.

http://www.albergosansamuele.it

This will have among the cheapest places - but I doubt any meet your budget.
http://www.eurocheapo.com/venice/

Have a look at this site, about a hostel in the Palazzo Zenobio:

http://www.hostelsclub.com/hostel-en-1515.html

Thank you all!!!
I cannot thank you all enough!!!
I have read probably 100's of posts...and you all are helping me soooo much!!

I may still have some more questions later...about Paris in addition to Venice.

Thank you all

!!!!

I stayed at a hostel, Ostello Santa Fosca, in 2002 and I LOVED it. It was one of the nicest hostels I stayed in on a several-city backpacking trip. The room I slept in was part of the old convent dating to the 14th century - the ceilings were very high and still had the beams running across them. I think it was 18€ per person (probably has gone up by 1 or 2 € since 2002), so about $50 in US dollars. The room I stayed in had room for 6 girls.

Here is the weblink (scroll down for English) for the hostel
http://www.santafosca.com/statiche/ostello/servizi.asp
Current rates:
Normal rates (listed first) Lower rates (listed second - the lower price) with Rolling Venice, ISIC, ISE, UNDER 26 cards

Dormitory 19 € or 17 €

Single/double 22 € or 20 €

Prices are per person, per night.