Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Hotel Gambero in Venice/ Night train Venice to Rome

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Hotel Gambero in Venice/ Night train Venice to Rome

Has anyone stayed at the Hotel Gambero in Venice.It is only rated one star so am concerned about comfort. Would like a better hotel but am having trouble finding availabity. Can anyone help? Also has anyone taken the night train from Venice to Rome? Any feed back appreciated. Grazie

Good morning, Tina Normally in hotels in IT , with some exceptions, you get for what you pay for...A large number of one and two star hotels have more rooms than baths. If this if ok with you, then you won't have much of a problem. We have used the hotels DO POZZI and ALA for a number of years and have found them very good over the time. Both are three star. Go into www.veniceinfo.it for listings of hotels and also with maps showing their locations. As far a night train, have not looked into fs-on-line-it, but on a normal rr train would be about 4 to 5 hours on an ETR the fast trains do it in about 3 1/2 hrs. The night train would leave late and arrive early in Rome, and you would sit up most of the night trying to sleep. If you bought a sleeper berth, the expense might be prohibitive. Take the early ETR and be in Rome for lunch..... Richard of La Grange Park, IL....

Good morning Tina Sorry, left the information on the AL Gambero out of the last message. its address is Calle dei Fabbri, 4687. It is on this calle which runs from the north end of the Pza S. Marco, almost all the way to the Ponte Rialto, about three blocks. according to dbase1.ipzs.it/ has 6 single rooms and 24 doubles with both singles and doubles sharing baths, but also has some doubles with bath...Very good location less than five mins walk to either area... Richard of La Grange Park, IL>..

Hi Tina--you have great advice from Richard; just wanted to let you know that when I was in Venice about two weeks ago, we saw that the ALA was under major renovation (it was hard to tell if it was even open); we did stay there a few years ago and it was fine--I assume it will be even nicer now. So if you do make contact with the ALA be sure and ask them the status of their construction! It has a great location, by the way. Re: the train; we did the opposite direction (Rome to Venice); it only took 4 hours and was a pleasant ride (the ride especially from Florence to Rome is beautiful through the Tuscan countryside). Not sure what you gain by going at night (except lost sleep!). I am not sure when you are going, but do make train reservations because our trains were overbooked and those without reservations sat in the aisles. . .as one thread noted, everyone is going to Italy!! Hope you have a great trip--the dollar is really strong so there is lots of fun to be had in Italy. Mary

Hi Tina, I just stayed at the Al Gambero a week and a half ago and loved it!! They just completed a renovation of the hotel. I will copy the part of a trip report I did for another board regarding the Al Gambero: Hotel We stayed at the Hotel Al Gambero located at Calle dei Fabbri- Tel# 041/5224384 or 5201420, fax# 041/5200431, e-mail- [email protected] . The hotel couldn’t have been in a better location as it was halfway between the Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, but closer to San Marco. The price couldn’t have been better at 230,000 lire a night for a 2 bed, with bath. I have to say that for the price, I wasn’t expecting much although Frommer gave it a very high rating. It turns out that this is a little gem of a hotel. Especially for the price. All of the rooms have been remodeled, but note that there isn’t a lift. Luckily, we were given a room on the 2nd floor. I thought our room was quite lovely. I also saw the room next door, which had a balcony that looked out onto the canal…very pretty, and romantic too. We had a canal room with windows in the bedroom, and the bathroom. The room was not huge, but comfortable. The walls were redone in gold colored velvet brocade and the furniture was mahogany, giving it a very expensive look. The bathroom was completely redone, mostly in marble, had a bidet, and was my favorite bathroom of all of the ones we stayed in for both it’s look and features. Most had one or the other, but not both. It also had a great showerhead, a heated towel rack, a blow dryer, and the bathtub was brand new and quite roomy. It also came with the usual toiletries. The room also had a room safe. I’m not saying it’s the Danielli, but it’s pretty good for $115. LOL Breakfast was included, although it was my least favorite in Europe. It consisted of the usual coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, and breadbasket of croissant and rolls with jelly and butter. No extras like juice or cereal, or fruit. The rolls were way too hard, and by then I was used to my morning cereal in Paris. Oh well…can’t have everything. There is also a restaurant on the premises, which always got very crowded, and had a very traditional Venetian menu- also recommended by Frommer, but the menu didn’t appeal to us. I hope this helps. Dani

AL GAMBERO: Calle Fabbri 4687, 30124. Tel: 041-5224384/5201420. Fax: 041-5200431. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] (27 rms., 15 w/toilet & bath or shower.) 100,000-180,000L (51-92E) single; 155,000-225,000L (79-115E) double; 209,000-303,000L (107-155E) triple; 258,000-377,000L (132-193E) quad. Children under 2 free. Buffet breakfast (7:45-9:30am) is included in the rates & cannot be deducted. Visa, MC. English spoken, direct-dial phone, recently renovated hotel w/rms. that vary in comfort from basic to fully equipped, #204 is nicely furnished rm. w/bathroom, TV, a/c, minibar & view of canal, there are 14 rms. that are identical to #204, #43 is a wonderful simply furnished bright rm. w/minibar, bathroom & 2 windows, #43, 45, 46, 47 & 48 all have a view of the canal but not all have bathrooms, #203 has a balcony, #401 has a terrace, if you get a room facing the street be aware that it is over a restaurant and you may smell fish, 1 rm. has handicapped access, double-paned windows, central heating, air-conditioned, bar, restaurant (discount if you eat there), no elevator, 4 flrs. Owned/managed by Sandro Rossi. Vaporetto: Rialto. Walk right along the canal, cross over the small footbridge, turn left turn onto Calle Fabbri. Hotel is on the right about 5 blocks up.