I was trying for two weeks to reserve
a room at la calcina that had been highly recommended on this sight. Never after lots of e-mails heard back
to confirm. Called this morning to find out all rooms were booked. So disappointed. Any other suggestions?
This place was on the canal in dorsoduro.

locanda orseolo

Thanks for the great suggestion.
Unfortunately the locanda orseolo has only 2 of the 4 nights available.

Could not have been more pleased with our stay at Hotel Abadessa in Cannaregio. http://www.abadessa.com/en/
It was so elegant with a gorgeous garden (pretty rare in Venice), friendly staff, one of the most sumptuous breakfasts we've experienced in our travel, and the location was pretty central once you get the lay of the land. We walked north/south, east/west. The only vaporetta we felt we needed was down to the Arsenale but found we ended up walking back from that. I'd go back to the Abadessa tomorrow if I could.

How about the Hotel Ala although not sure how much it costs.

what's your budget?

toni b g

The Abadessa look great--how much was it?

Other hotel ideas . . . . Hotel Flora or Accademia, per
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35123066

TPAYT,

Last August (2007) we paid 185 euro per night at the Abadessa and it was worth every penny - if only to have breakfast in the garden and finish the day back in the garden with a complimentary aperitivo. There was just something so magical about the setting. You were almost transported back in time.

As an aside, during that same trip we also stayed at Locando Orseolo. When our trip was extended by two days, we needed another place to stay and chose to go outside the area of San Marco - in part because we planned to explore areas different from our first visit in 2003. As it turned out we were thrilled we did. Not that there was anything wrong with LO - far be it - but the Abadessa had that certain something that it's hard to put my finger on. My husband and I aren't top of the line travelers - we like clean, comfortable, with certain amenities, typically 3 or 4 stars. The Abadessa was all that and then some. Besides the garden, I think the location was the real draw. Leaving and returning to the hotel gave you so many options to explore different routes, and the Ca' d'oro vaporetto stop is just a "block" away which makes it very easy to explore the other side of the Grand Canal.

I guess I could go on and on about our stay but I think it may be apparent that this would be our favorite place to stay in Italy after three trips there.

The family that owns Locanda Orseolo also owns a small hotel near the Rialto bridge. I would email them and ask about their other property.

LO's affiliated property is Al Ponte Antico -- on the Grand Canal near the Rialto -- I think more pricey than LO and also booking up early.

toni: I'd be most appreciative if you'd detail a bit of the differences between Locanda Orseolo & Abadessa. I'm trying to decide between the two. Most impt thing for us is that our room be very quiet (we're terrible sleepers, esp when we travel) Also like good bathrooms (prefer shower to tub, hate those tub shower curtains) Hope to find king bed (queen won't do, so would need to do separate if no large bed)
I imagine much of one's impression/satisfaction depends on exactly which room one has.
Apologies for hi-jacking thread.

Poss,

Neither of the rooms in each hotel was especially large but both were tastefully decorated in the Venetian style, both had the equivalent of king-size beds but the bathroom at Abadessa was considerably larger. Without being too graphic, I'm not a huge woman but using the commode at LO brought me in direct contact with the wall. The shower stall was tiny. I can't remember the configuration of the one at Abadessa but we are shower people, too, so I think a bath would have made an impression. The three story walk up to our room, #32, at LO was somewhat off putting. And we did pay extra for canal view. You could see the canal if you leaned out the window and looked down. Not quite what I envisioned. Our room at Abadessa (don't have the number but it was up from the lobby half a flight to your right) also had a canal view but last August that canal was under repair - almost completed. As for noise we had no problem with that at either property. It might have been an issue if we wanted to sleep past 8:00 am at Abadessa when work on the canal started but we were up and going early each morning - after the breakfasts, of course.

Just received an e-mail from the Locanda Orseolo's partner hotel.
They are asking 390 euros for 2 Adults and 1 child ouch!!
Also, another recommended hotel, Foscari Palace is 390 euros!! Really having trouble finding accommodations for the end of May. Any other suggestions?

We loved the Ca dei Conti--small, lovely, on a small canal.

www.cadeiconti.com

Byrd

If you want super-popular places like you are trying to book, they will be either really expensive or impossible to book, particularly at this late date, and particularly for a triple.

I liked this hotel, which I found charming, although I'm sure it's way down the list from the above establishments:
www.laforcolahotel.com

Try these sites and look for your triple room requirements:
www.hotelscombined.com
www.venere.com

There is a pensione/hotel right next to La Calcina that looks nice but is not often mentioned... anyone know the name of it?

The location on the Dorsoduro and the Guidecca canal is a great neighborhood imo.

Agree with Willtravel about both polular hotels hard to book and expensive and try those booking sites that do give availability and instant confirmation for your very close dates.

> right next to La Calcina that looks nice but is not often mentioned...

Ca'Seguso or Pensione Seguso or somnething like that. More bad reviews than good when I checked sometime ago, hence less and less users and then less reviews. One of the negative point about the place I remember was they required a compulsory halfboard that seemes uncommon in Venice. Agree though about Zattere Location (in Dorsoduro area facing Giudecca Canal) lovely. Unfortunately these two seemed the only hotels at that location.

We stayed at the Pensione Accademia a couple of years ago and enjoyed it very much. The URL is http://tinyurl.com/2comvb

Very pretty, away from the maddening crowds of San Marco but close enough, reasonable price (for Venice).

Sam

> Pensione Accademia

About 10/20% more expensive than la Calcina (understandably due to its better quality on breakfast food, on room decor - from my experience of 4-5 years ago) but definitely worth checking out especially as it's site gives online availability now.