Hi - I will be spending 4 nights in Venice in mid September and am wondering if anyone could give me some feedback about 3 hotel choices: Palazzo Sant Angelo, Hotel Monaco and Londra Palace. It is the last leg of my honeymoon and we want a hotel that is nice, close to sites and a little romantic if possible. We are open to other suggestions (hopefully under $500/night). Thank you!!

have you done a search on this site for comments and looked in Tripadvisor.com?

By all means, check out TripAdvisor-and since you're going for the expensive properties, you might want to have a look at the San Clemente Palace hotel-it gets excellent reviews.

I haven't stayed at the Monaco, but I would choose it based on location, all other factors being equal.

I believe the Monaco has just undergone refurbishment. The location is wonderful and it is a sister hotel of the Metropole...a hotel we like very much.

We loved our garden-view room at the Pensione Accademia in the dorsoduro area of Venice. Price was somewhere between 180 Euros and 230 Euros, sorry but I can't remember exactly right now but it wasn't more than that. This was in June 2004. Hotel is on a smaller canal just off the Grand canal so the garden view rooms are best, in my opinion.

One problem with having a canal view room is that if it's not very high up, while you are looking at the canal, everyone is looking in at you, you have no privacy, you are on display for everyone riding in the gondolas or walking beside the canals!

Personally I don't think a canal view is necessary in Venice because you will get an eye-full of canal views everywhere you look as soon as you step out of your room! Our garden view was something more unique in Venice. A small but attractive garden, and nice and quiet too.

If you want a canal view try to be on a higher floor for privacy.

I'd opt for the Monaco. As noted, it's just been redone, and it's really quite beautiful. They did a nice job of maintaining the old (frescos, etc) while updating the facilities to 21st century standards. Great location and very friendly staff, with far less attitude than many of the nicer properties in Venice. An ideal honeymoon choice.

Thank you very much. I did look on tripadvisor, just thought I'd get some feedback here too. I am leaning towards Palazzo Sant Angelo, it seems more romantic and less modern that the Monaco, although that hotel seems to have great views. I will check out the San Clemente too. Has anyone stayed at the Hotel Sacher in Salzburg by the way?

We stayed at the Hotel Sacher in Salzburg last April. The hotel is right on the river, on the opposite side from the fortress.

The food was great, and the concierge and other services were excellent. I would definitely recommend it. Surprisingly, the only thing I was disappinted in was the little sacher torte they left in the hotel room. But everything else was great.

P.S. I have a picture taken in our hotel room and one taken from the window of the room looking over to the fortress. If you'd like to see the "real life" shots of the hotel room, I can e-mail it (unfortunately, I don't have any posted to internet photo albums).

Jolie

Jolie, sacher torte is one of the biggest jokes played on mankind. It took two cups of coffee to wash mine down at the Sacher in Vienna. My partner doesn't drink coffee and had to struggle to get water. That was the driest stuff I ever put in my mouth!

Not to laugh at another's discomfort, but I'm glad someone else had trouble choking down a sacher torte - I thought it was just me!

Sacher Torte doesn't do anything for me either, especially not when the world has so many other calorie-laden delights to choose from.