My husband,adult daughter and I will be driving from Graz Austria to Venice in a day and then plan to spend 2 days in Venice before moving on to Florence and then Rome. Where is it best to stay as we can't take our car onto the island. Where do you leave the car if you do stay on the island and what is the best way then to get to all the attractions. How long will it take to drive to Florence from there. Any help is appreciated

I stayed at the Hotel Bernardi back in May of 2006, and it was great. Friendly staff, good location, and it was 90 EUR a night.

Check out their web site for more info. http://www.hotelbernardi.com/

Oh, and one BIG tip, ask for a room in the "Annex". It's a seperate building just down a tiny street from the main hotel. It's *very* nice and has a much better feel than the main building.

Use a web site like www.mappy.com or www.via-michelin.com to time your route as well as plot it.

There's a large parking garage, the Tronchetto, at the end of the causeway into Venice. And a vaporetto that takes you into Venice from there. Or you can park on the mainland and take a train (from Mestre) or a boat (from lots on the water) into the city.

Within Venice, which consists of several islands, you walk, take a taxi (boat) or the vaporetto (water bus). It's helpful to get detailed instructions to your hotel.

Actually you may want to drop your car in Venice (at the Piazzale Roma at the end of the causeway). If you're going to Florence and then Rome, just take the train.

You can park on the far western end of historic Venice in the parking garage--you drive across a bridge to get there. From there you can walk, or take the vaporetto (water bus) and walk, or take a water taxi to your hotel and to the attractions. Historic Venice is fairly compact.

Or you can park at or near the train station in Mestre (the city on the mainland across from historic Venice) and take a bus, land taxi, or train to the old city.

Oops, a minute late.

We also stayed at the Bernardi last year. Pretty good location, close to the Rialto bridge and walking distance to San Marco.

Hi

As mentioned already there is a car park as you arrive in Venice. Where to stay in Venice does not matter much in my opinion...the city is quite small and you can cover a lot on foot...or take boats along the main canals. Here is my trip report with pictures from venice: http://gardkarlsen.com/italy_venice.htm

I have also made a more extensive trip report from Rome and you can find it here http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm

Hope this helps

Regards
Gard

I agree with dumping the car in Venice and taking trains from there on. You DO NOT want to drive in Florence or Rome unless you have done it before, and even then I would think twice. Taxis, buses and metro are so convenient you really can get to anywhere without the hassle of a car.
LisaS

Venice is small. You can walk to most attraction. The only exceptions I could think of would be the Islands of Murano and Burano, where you'd need to take the vaporetto, but for a 2 day visit to Venicem, you'll probably not have time for that.

We stayed at Hotel FLora. It was absoultely charming and very quiet.

We have stayed at Hotel Flora 2 times b/c of it's great proximity and also enjoyed the Accademia (sp?)even though it's a short walk to St. Mark's.

Hi Thanks for all the advice but can't dump the car as its a lease hire and we have to return it to Paris. Didn't plan to drive into Rome, want to stay on the outskirts and train it in. Is Florence bad too

Florence is worse--stay in Fiesole.

We stayed at the Hotel Carlton Capri in June 2004. Breakfast was excellent. The location is just across the Grand Canal from the train station, and also a short walk from Piazzale Roma. We used the Venice Card for waterbus travel and access to museums.

Enjoy Venice neighborhoods at night when the cruise ship hordes are gone. It's impossible to get lost, plenty of signs pointing the way to various landmarks.

What time of year are you going and what are your interests? we stayed on the Lido in august and found it to be great....free shuttle ferries to the city from 8am-2am, quieter, etc.

We will be in Venice in early May. Travelling for 8 weeks but trying to fit a lot in as trying to show our daughter as much as possibe. She is gradually losing her sight and may never have the opportunity again. She can't see much at night so we won't be going out much at night

As to the last note, consider getting out early then, at daylight, and doing late afternoon (less desirable) looking around because you then miss at least some of the cruise ship daytrippers who can jam the place and yet also avail yourselves of the fantastic light in Venice.

> Lido ..free shuttle ferries to the city from 8am-2am.

cmeyer, did you stay at the 5*Westin hotel? Because otherwise, there is no FREE shuttle for anybody staying on Lido to get to Venice. Typically you have to pay a vaporetto No1.

We stayed at the Hotel Flora this past October. The hotel and location were wonderful. We plan on returning to Venice in 2008 and again staying at the Hotel Flora.

we stayed at hotel des bains on lido.