Visiting Venice in late September and have heard it's best to stay in either Dorsodoro or Castello as these are close to everything and yet removed enough to be quiet at night.

My wife and I love to walk and explore so we don't need to stay right in the middle of the tourist areas. Also, there were a few places I have been looking at so any advice would be great if anyone has stayed at the following places:

http://www.dorsoduro461.com/
http://www.casantospirito.it/
http://www.centopietre.net/en/
http://www.palazzoschiavoni.com/en/index.htm

Thanks for any help!

Here's a reference point to determine the hotel you wish to stay at.

http://www.venere.com/italy/venice/

You can compare hotels and determine what's right for you.

Rick Steeves once said to get lost in Venice. I tried it and had some great 'adventures' as I didn't have a clue as to where I was going. Ended up in a totally non-tourist area. Loved it.

I did not follow your links but, generally speaking, Venice is small enough where it matters little where one stays. All things considered though, I would pick Dorsoduro over Castello.

I rented and apartment in Dorsoduro, I liked it better than Castello.

There are some wonderful parts of Castello (and also wonderful parts of every sestiere) but I think all three of your Dorsoduro links look a little better, location wise, than the Castello one. All of those places look really nice though!

I think the only well located hotel among your choices is the Centopietre, where I've never stayed, but looks quite nice with its inner courtyard. You should of course look at reviews.

The remaining two Dorsoduro choices are certainly away from the greatest tourist action, but that particular last lick of the Dorsoduro means a lot of extra steps getting to many sights and restaurants, esepcially when you factor in that you will either need to walk to the Accademia Bridge or wait on line for vaporetti and traghetti to get to the other side of the Grand Canal.

The location of the Palazzo Schiavoni is so close the tourist hot spots that you won't get the quiet and relief you are looking for, and you will face a bigtime bottleneck that you need to work around to get other places, and long lines at the closest vaporetti stops.

I think Centopietre looks like the easiest to find as well. The Campo Santa Margherita was a big fave of mine when we were there. And being near a bridge is very convenient.

Certainly not experts in Venice, but DH and I found a wonderful restaurant in the Castello area when we were walking around. It may of been a function of time of day, week, or just luck but there weren't any folks there that day. I'll see if I kept that in my notes.

<i>Generally</i> speaking, the day trippers tend to stay in that San Marco area. How long will you be there?

I'd almost say pick the hotel that calls out to you the loudest! But finding the place can certainly be a factor if this is your first visit.

We will be there three nights. Seems like Santo Spirito is a 3-5 minute walk farther from the bridge, so not a big discrepancy. I've emailed both places and both have been responsive but the language barrier makes it a little difficult to figure out exactly which room/what view I would be getting.

Based on the reviews on TripAdvisor and Venere, I think either place is an excellent choice.

Good luck and have a great time. There are Italian speakers on this forum so feel free to ask for translation help if you need it.

Notes say we were leaving Calle Zen on the way to Scuola Dalmata delli Santo Griorgio e Triffon. We passed Caffe Astoria. Just a little hole in the wall. Good food but this was a few years ago.