We have a last-minute opportunity to go to Venice arriving on Monday 4/7 and leaving on Friday 4/11. We are beyond excited as we've never been to Venice. Right now, I am looking at booking this hotel which is in our price range and gets good reviews. http://www.booking.com/hotel/it/resi...46899b9b7fccX3 I would love to have input regarding location etc. of this hotel. I don't mind being in a quieter, less frenetic area if anyone has a hotel suggestion within this price range. Of course, I realize it can be tricky to find availability at this late date, but I at least have options on booking.com. On this trip it will be me, my husband and our 15 y.o. son. I would love restaurant suggestions. We prefer casual, homey restaurants to fine dining. I'm thinking a tour on Tuesday would be nice to get a good overview so we can go back and revisit/explore areas of special interest. Does anyone have any recs on a good/reasonably priced tour company? Any other suggestions that a 15 year old might enjoy? He's a sporty kid who likes music (he plays In a wind ensemble so maybe a concert.) He LOVES traveling, eating local foods, observing other kids. He was fascinated with the French kids on the metro in Paris and playing soccer in the Tuilleries. Will we run into any issues of places closing early in April? Thank you in advance for any guidance!

Location of the hotel is fine.

Everything in Venice should be open in your time frame.

Great your son is interested in music and Venice has a lot of opportunities for that

http://www.musicinvenice.com/

He should be able to join local soccer games. Maybe your hotel will have suggestions about where the boys his age meet for before-dinner soccer.

If you want specific restaurant recommendations you need to state your budget. Most restaurants in Venice serve mainly seafood, so if somebody in your family wants something different, you need to say so.

Concert idea: On a rotating basis, several of the churches in Venice host string-quartet concerts. I don't know if that's the sort of thing that would appeal to your 15-year-old. Also, go into San Marco to hear the orchestras. Have a glass of wine or a soft drink, but avoid dinner there -- too expensive.

As a nice little out-of-the-way restaurent, we like Trattoria da Fiore (not to be confused with the Michelin-rated Osteria da Fiore).

I happen to love San Polo. The buildings are tightly cramped, so don't expect much light. Most of their bedroom photos on the website are lit with artificial light.

A lot of tourists find San Polo difficult to figure out. It tends to be a maze of narrow streets until you hit a campo. Some people love that, others get lost easily.

Residenza Laguna is just around the corner from Campo San Silvestro. The #1 Vaporetto is a short walk away. The #1 is the non-express boat, but an easy ride to San Marco. You can always cross the Rialto and walk to San Marco, which is total fun, once you figure out how to do it.

Residenza Laguna is located on Calle dei Galizzi at Rughetta del Ravano. Rughetta del Ravano is a very busy street, packed all day with tourists walking to and from the Rialto. Lots of fun shopping in this area, if you can deal with all the foot traffic.

This is all great info. Thank you. I'm glad to hear the location of the hotel is good. Maybe for our first time, it's better to be in the middle of all the activity. I've never been this unprepared for a trip before. We didn't even know Venice was a possibility until 24 hours ago! I had detailed itineraries for both Rome and Paris, but we fly standby, and those flights began to fill.

From what I read, many people will either just day trip into Venice, or spend a couple of days there. For a very compact city is 2.5 days enough, or should we keep it at 3.5? I want the 15 y.o. to be enthralled and leave wanting more.

vincenzo, I think that he would be less interested in a string concert. He plays the trombone, so I think the orchestras in San Marco sound fabulous. Will they have started playing this early in the year, or is that just a summer event?

NYC, I'm glad to hear you love that area. I look forward to exploring the maze of streets, and taking the Vaporettos! I have downloaded some self-guided tours, but am open to a tour company. Some art is fine but won't be our focus. I watched a fascinating documentary years ago about Venice and the millions (?) of wood pilings upon which it is built. History, engineering, and architecture would pique the teen's interest I'm sure.

Most kids are fascinated by Venice, the total lack of cars, trucks, and buses. Instead all business and transport by water -- water buses (vaporetti), garbage boats, water taxis, delivery boats, etc. -- or on foot. Number one reco for kids is the gondola workshop at Squero di San Trovaso in Dorsodoro. And a gondola ride too of course if you're willing to splurge for it. Otherwise you can take one of the traghetti, gondola-ferries, which cross the Grand Canal at certain points. Here's a map of those points and a story about using the traghetti in a walking tour of Venice: http://www.mediabistro.com/portfolio...cbsZPrYXm7.pdf.

If you have an extra day, take the vaporetto to one or more of the islands in the lagoon. Murano is interesting for the glass-blowing, Burano for its small scale and colorful houses. There are also day trips by train, but I would think wandering around Venice more interesting for your son than any of those possible destinations.

Mirmar, That's a great article. I definitely want to use the traghetti for the walking tour.

As far as dining I would like to keep our budget at 25€ per person for dinner. I'm excited to try cicchetti. Does anyone have a favorite place for that, or gelato, or coffee or wine or tiramisu? Ha ha! Yes, we are excited.

Now I need to figure out how to get to Our hotel from the airport. There seem to be many options and I don't know which I should choose.

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/20...s-cicheti-wine

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/20...ice-food-italy

Wonderful , thanks sandra. At JFK right now waiting for our flight!