Someone mentioned a good spot to stay would be Lido for touring Venice. We want to rent an aprtment either way. Books say 20 minutes from Lido to Venice? What mode of transportation would this be? Any suggestions?

If you want a beach resort vacation, stay on the Lido. If you want to see historical Venice, stay in historical Venice.

The 20 minutes is by boat--the vaporetto (water bus). Of course, you have to add in time to get to the vaporetto landing from your hotel and time waiting for a vaporetto to arrive to pick up passengers. This will make it more than 20 minutes.

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34453596

Best wishes,

Rex

Another thing you have to consider is that the Venice Convention Center is on the Lido. If there is a major meeting while you are there the lines for the boat across the lagoon to Venice can be huge. We had complaints from some attendees of waiting 30/40 minutes at the boat stop before they could even get on one. I would definitely check the convention scheudle before staying on the Lido -otherwise it could take up to an hour back and forth.

We're doing it in a few weeks...will report back about it. I should add, we've been to Venice several times and have always stayed in Venice, but decided to stay on Lido this time with the dollar so weak. If this is your first time, I would suggest you stay in Venice though.