Thinking about renting an appartment @ Molino Stucky on Island of Giudecci. Please let me know if this is a good idea. Is it too hard to get to the attractions? How much will I miss not staying in the heart of Venice. Thanks!

I've never stayed on Giudecca, so I can't speak from experience. It might be a bit of a nuisance having to take a vaporetto every time you wanted to see something "downtown." And, although Venice does not have a great night life, you might want to check how late they run to and from Giudecca at

www.actv.it

On the other hand, there are people who stay at the terribly expensive Cipriani on Giudecca. But I think they have a private launch to take them wherever and whenever they want to go.

For me personally, I would prefer to stay in Venice proper and not have to deal with the vaporetto every time I wanted to go back and forth.

Unless, of course, I were staying at Cipriani (as Eloise stated) with their beautiful, sleek private launch at my beck and call.

It looks like the apartments are located on the 1st floor of newly (being) built Molino Stucky Palace Hotel. Is this correct? That would be a very new and modern apartment. When I was in Venice last month, the construction did not look completely over yet with still a bit of scaffolding and a crane. It took many years for the conscturction to terminate partly due to the fire a few years ago. I remember, standing on the Zattere promenade on Venice side of Canal Giudecca, watching smoke coming out of the building under consturction. When are you staying there? I hope the constrcution will be completely over by then. The area on the cananl including the hotel itself (actually it's Stucky-Hilton I believe) does not look particularly nice yet watching from vaporetto on the Giudecca Canal but I have never been really close to the area. It's an exceptionally tall/modern building for Venice of 10 or more floors. Some people stay in Lido and commute to Venice by vaporetto so why not Giudecca Island but that's not for me as I like wandering late night of Venice without worring about taking a boat back to my hotel room.

> the apartments are located on the 1st floor ...

Correction. The floor could be 1st - 4th (or even higher) depending on the category of the apartment you will choose, it seems, in the rather huge looking hotel complex.

I wouldn't stay on Guidecca. Apart from the Cipriani and the Redentore there's nothing there. Lots of modern apartment blocks where local people live (who are possibly priced out of Venice proper).
We popped across from Zattere one afternoon and couldn't wait to get the next vaporetto back. Stay in Venice itself.

Harry S,
We rented an apartment last June on the Giudecci. It was certainly away from Venice, but I enjoyed. We have 2 kids so it worked out fine. We enjoyed the slower pace and few people. Venice was so so crowded and touristy it was a nice escape to go back to the apartment away from it all. We visited Italy 10 yrs. ago and were surprised how much more crowded Venice has become. And Americans are around every corner. We were hoping to get away a bit. There are resturants on the Guidecca, we ate there and in Venice. We took the vaproetto and St. Marks Sq. was the next stop. I have stayed in Venice and now on the Guidecca and it is just different. The Guidecca is quiet and away from hectic Venice. Many people take the vaproetto up and down the grand Canal to where it may be they are going even when staying in Venice. The Vaporetto was really not a big deal, short ride and seldom crowded.
It was nice seeing a different part of the city.
We enjoyed staying at both locations, they are just different.
Hope this helps.
Travelatte

You don't have to go to Giudecca to get away from the crowds. There are many parts of Dorsoduro and Castello where you will hardly encounter a tourist. (I understand it's the same in many parts of Cannaregio, but I've never stayed there.) From Dorsoduro, you can take the traghetto across the Grand Canal and get to San Marco without going along the "main drag" with all the day trippers. Castello is, of course, on the San Marco side.

thanks everyone for your thoughts. We are going to Venice in early May.There are four adults traveling together and most of the prices being quoted are very high. We will be in venice for eight nights.

I don't know whether you've checked out the ACTV page yet, and I don't know all the route info off the top of my head, but I just want to say that the Giudecca isn't the ends of the earth. It's much closer to the center than the Lido is.

Obviously you'd have to take the vaporetto all the time, but as I recall the 82 runs from the Giudecca Palanca stop about every ten minutes until late, at which point the less frequent night vaporettos take over (everywhere, not just to Giudecca). It takes less about 5 minutes on the 82 to get to the Zattere stop, which is a few minutes walk from the Accademia bridge and vaporetto stop. During business hours you can also take other frequent vaporetti (I forget the route numbers) to Piazza San Marco (San Zaccaria stop) in about 10 minutes without changing boats.

I'm not recommending the Giudecca, just saying that if you do stay there you shouldn't be stranded. But be sure to buy a vaporetto pass or you'll pay a fortune for transportation.

When I visited Venice with my daughter, a pleasant moment came while we were sitting on the raised sidewalks along the zattere eating gelato and looking at a map of Venice trying to decide where to go next. We had been wondering if there were any schools in Venice, as we had seen neither schools nor many children. Just as we were talking about it, a large number of children suddenly appeared, coming home from school with their backpacks and walking with their parents. My daughter attracts children wherever she goes. A little boy came by with his grandmother. He saw the map we were looking at and walked right up to us and pointed to his house on Giudecca. He and his grandmother then got on the vaporetto to go home.

I haven't been to Giudecca, but it seemed pretty convenient from that perspective.