dhoffman

Question for those who travel to Italy - I haven't made any reservations yet - would I be better getting a room in Verona and using Verona as a base for spending July 1 and 2 in Venice. Or do you think I can find a room in Venice at this late date for July 1 and 2.

myvenezia

I would try to stay in Venice.
There is no substitute.

Have a good trip.

mikeyb

Go to www.venere.com and find out!!!

SusanP

Keep looking until you find something IN Venice!

WallyKringen

I stayed in Padua once and commuted to Venice daily - it was a piece of cake and saved us a bundle. Trains take a half hour from Padua. So if it can't be Venice for some reason, it doesn't have to be as far as Verona - you'll save an hour each way!

Padua is very nice, too, and it has the Giotto frescoes, of course.

Wk

tuscanlifeedit

Ah, but to wake up and go to sleep in Venice... there is just nothing like it. I do think you can find a room. And I do think you should try.

By the way, I liked Verona a lot and hope to return, but Venice is worth the time, the money and the trouble. If you haven't yet been to Venice, you deserve to go and to stay there.

MaureenB

Definitely Venice. You will want to be in Venice, walking at all hours of the morning and night, to experience its charms.

Spygirl

It depends on how much money you're looking to save, DH-the room rates in Venice on those dates will doubtless be sky high (as stated, check venere.com) but I would not at all suggest staying as far away as Verona (it is a lot farther than you think, and not all that interesting, IMO-I didn't care for it myself)- that's pretty unworkable-it will take you well over an hour by train each way-Venice-Verona-and the train may be packed around the times you'd want to leave, or there could be train schedule changes at the time you'd want to take it, thus necessitating changes in your sightseeing schedule to accomodate the long ride to or from (with a lot of stops). During the high summer season in Venice-I'd say not.

Wally's point is well taken-Padova is much closer, trains much more frequent, it is a very nice university town in itself with sites worth seeing-that could be an option to consider, but again, you'd have to be setting up your Venice schedule to jive with the train trip.

Two other options even closer than Padova would be to stay in Mestre-where you could really save some money, and be very close to Venice, or to stay on the Lido, which would be a nice half hour vaporetto boat ride to the historical center of Venice (although I think the rates on the Lido would be almost as high in July as the historical center of Venice (Lido is considered to be part of the city of Venice).

The Lido is worth checking out-I had friends who stayed there last July with the kids and really liked being there rather than in the center of the day-tripping crowds in Venice at that time-the kids could go out on the beach and play after they'd had enough of the sight-seeing.

As for Mestre, I know nearly everyone here puts it down, but I've had friends who stayed there with their family to save some money (they were lawyers who were not hurting for money by any means) and enjoyed it. With Mestre, you have the option of bus service on ACTV (trasporti Veneziani) from Venice's Piazzale Roma to Mestre, or a 10 minute train ride from Venice-Mestre.

As you can see, there are a number of options available to you outside of staying in the historical center of Venice that would be far more workable for your purposes than Verona-Verona is a trip best saved for another time.

Tess_Durberville

Absolutely -- if ever there was an ideal time to make use of those last minute or late room booking sites, this would be it. Others can suggest which would be your best bet, but here's one that has a few hotels with rooms for your dates -- http://www.ratestogo.com