petitavill

My husband and I first time travellers. We are planning to go to Italy for 10 days starting with Rome, then Florence and ending in Venice. We plan to take the train Florence and Venice. Will the trip from Florence to Venice bring us to Maestre? If yes, can you recommend a reasonably priced hotel or even a bed and breakfast in the same area?

GeoffHamer

You probably mean Mestre which is the industrial part of Venezia on the mainland. Most trains call at Venezia Mestre then go on the Venezia Santa Lucia which is the station in the old city next to the Grand Canal. If your train terminates at Mestre, you can catch another train on to Santa Lucia - they are quite frequent. It may be easier and cheaper to find a hotel in Mestre, and travel by train or bus into the old city.

petitavill

Thank you for your quick reply and the correction. You have given the same suggestion as my sister in law to make our vacation more economical. I just need to find a hotel in Mestre then we can just commute daily to the old city as you say. Do you have any recommendation for a hotel?

timsmom

Instead of staying in Mestre, you should stay right in Venice - there are fantastic B&B's and hotels that are reasonably priced, depending on when you will be there. Just take the water taxi (vaporetto) to your hotel. Venice in the evening is amazing - it's one of my favorite European cities!

I can recommend Locando Orseolo, a small B&B in the St. Mark's area, but hidden away from the touristy busyness. You can also check TripAdvisor.com for other recommendations, and you can research this forum by typing in "Venice hotels" in the Search section.

Pvoyageuse

I stayed in Hotel Plaza, it is just in front of Mestre station. Excellent service and breakfast.

Mimar

If you can at all afford a hotel/B&B in Venice, it's really is better to stay there than on the mainland at Mestre. You miss part of the Venice experience (and get dumped back among cars) if you have to leave every night. Same problem with the Lido.

dutyfree

Look at previous threads on this by putting in the keywords at the top of the page-its had quite a few through the years and you will find alot of info there. Personally, the Best Western Bologna across the street from the train station(8 minutes across the lagoon) is great! Its wonderful for a place to stay with a huge buffet breakfast every morning but also being able to get to the VCE airport quick!

suze

I would find a less expensive hotel, but in the heart of Venice. Traveling back and forth does not necessarily make it more economical.

Giovanna

I agree with the advice to stay in Venice if at all possible. Mestre is really pretty dismal and, as the others have said, Venice is magical at night. An expensive but wonderful experience is having coffee/dessert in Piazza San Marco some evening and listening to the music!

pat

I`d stay right in Venice too. Also, when you get your train reservation, be sure and get a seat assignment too. We ended up sitting in those pull down seats in the aisle, between Florence and Venice. Not very comportable and we had to get up everytime anyone wanted to walk by.

Graziella5b

Unless you preferrer to park your car in the Maestre's hotel parking lot I also would advise you to stay in Venice , the magic when there are less people in the city is really worth it.

tuscanlifeedit

Putting in a random date, the BW Hotel Bologna in Meste is 190 euro! You can do better than that in Venice proper. Easily.

My cousin came back today and said the vaporetto fare was 6 euro; I remembered 5, but that was over a year ago.

So 3 to 6 euro pp, every time you want a bus to Piazzale Roma and then the vaporetto fare, let's say to San Marco and back. Now you are talking at least 35 euro for a trip from Mestre to Piazza San Marco and back for two. I'm sure someone here can give you away to do that slightly less expensively, but I for one don't see the bargain in staying in Mestre.

You can find an affordable place to stay in Venice. What is your budget?

WillTravel

To be fair, I think that you would buy a ACTV transit pass, which includes both vaporettos and land buses, were you to stay in Mestre. Whether staying in Venice or Mestre, I'd get this pass, because it's exceedingly convenient. This pass is available in 24-hour, 72-hour, and possibly other increments.

That said, I'd also recommend staying in Venice.

petitavill

I wish to thank all of you for the suggestions. Now, I am convinced that it would be better to stay in the heart of Venice and experience the different culture. I shall be carefully reading and studying each and everyones suggestion here and when I have more questions, I shall be posting them. Really appreciate your contributions.

Giovanna

Glad you've decided to stay in Venice. Should you decide to take my above suggestion, here's a website to give you a bit of a preview:

http://www.caffeflorian.com/media/valzer.html