Warning to all those travelling to Venice. Be careful where you stay - do not fall as we did for slightly cheaper rates and stay in Venice LIDO. It is a little island away from Venice and you need to take a boat, approximately 15 to 20 minutes into Venice. We stayed at a place called VIlla Albertina (www.villalbertina.com) - DO NOT STAY THERE! The 'hotel" advertised that they were 15 minutes from St Mark's square - the most popular tourist hangout. It was actually more like a 20 minute walk, or 10 minute inconvenient bus ride and then another 20 minute boat ride into town, a total 40 minute journey! Also, they are very inconsiderate about any changes you make in the reservation. We needed up having to pay an extra night - 190,000 lire (nearly $100 dollars!)

I don't mean to argue here, but I just looked at the Villa Albertina Web site and they couldn't be clearer about the fact that they are on Lido, not on the main island of Venice. It says this on the main page, and again on the location page. The photograph with the red location markers also *shows* very clearly that the hotel is on the Lido and that the two are not connected. <BR> <BR>All the guidebooks dealing with Venice talk about the islands--Lido, Murano, Burano, etc.--and make clear that they *are* islands, so I would think that you'd have been aware of this anyway, but even if you weren't, the Web site doesn't misrepresent the hotel's location *at all*. <BR> <BR>As far as the traveling distance goes, yes, 15 minutes to St. Mark's may be an underestimation, but I tend to think 40 minutes is a big overestimation. When we visited Lido, it took less than 15 minutes by vaporetto from St. Mark's--and looking at the photo, I can't imagine that it would take 15 minutes to walk from that part of Lido to the vaporetto stop. <BR> <BR>Frankly, I think the hotel looks quite lovely and 190,000 per night is a bargain for rooms like those depicted in Venice. I probably would try not to stay on the Lido as I personally like to be on mainland Venice, but I think it's unfair to accuse this hotel of any sort of misrepresentation. They're on Lido, they *say* they're on Lido, and they show you where Lido is in case you don't know. What else, exactly, did you expect them to do?

A 20-40 minute walk/boat ride would be lovely! That's the best and only way to see Venice. When my husband and I first arrived (via airplane from Naples) I couldn't hold my excitement as we took our first boat ride into Venice! I must have used almost a whole roll of film that first hour while leaning out the boat window. I too prefer to stay in the heart of Venice (stayed at Hotel Galleria next to the Accademia bridge and a 10-15 minute walk to San Marco). Villa Albertina looks lovely from the photograph. Some people stay in Mestre, which I believe can take an hour to get into Venice, so your 20-40 minutes isn't that bad.

I'm with you all the way, Monica! My two favorite things to do in Venice are a) wander on foot, and b) wander by boat. When my feet gave out, I'd hop a vaporetto (we got a 3-day pass, which was a great decision) and work my way to the front (sometimes it took awhile but I got there!) and just sit back and *gaze*. Magic. Absolute magic. <BR>

My husband and I stayed on Lido at a lovely hotel called the Belvedere. WE LOVED IT!! The ride over to Venice each day was beautiful. The island was peaceful and sunny. We chose to stay on this island because we were driving around Northern Italy and did not want to pay the very high parking fees on the mainland. We took a ferry to Lido and parked our car right in front of our hotel for FREE!!

I have to agree with Audrey on this one. Staying on the Lido was great. With a car, it was easy to leave it in front of the hotel, and not in a huge garage at the other end of Venice. Plus, the short boat ride across to Piazza San Marco was delightful and posed no problem whatsoever.

We just returned from France/Italy and stayed two nights on Lido at the Les Bains. It was great but they closed for the season 11/14. They had their own boat and it only took 15 minutes to get to Venice. We too had a car and didn't want to park it so Lido was dumb luck on our part. Much more serene and easy going...small town atmosphere... than the tourist traps (shops) in Venice. One tip, if you don't want to buy Venitian glass, don't waste your time going to Murano. It's purely a sales job when you get there. We knew it and we went there to buy. Enjoy.

I returned from 3 weeks in Italy,and the South of France. I too stayed on Lido and I must agree with E - I would not stay there again. I did stay at the 5 star Excelsior Hotel (which by the way was a disapointment, but that's another story) and we had private boat service to and from Venice. Lido was charming and we had great food at local places. When we were there in the middle of October it was very foggy. The boats could not leave Lido until 11 A.M. or 12 noon. The taxi service to the ariport was unavailable in the A.M. due to fog, so we cancelled our 7:00 A.M. plane resrevations and took a train to Milano to get a flight home. I am NOT knocking Lido, it is great, but next time I will stay in Venice. I have no idea about the hotel Villa Albertina. But if it said Lido, E should not have been too surprised.