Which Sestieri is best to stay in for first time to Venice?

We will only be there 3 days, so want something fairly central and convenient to markets, local (not designer) shops, good casual restaurants (I've heard the food is not that great in Venice - is that true?)

We have looked at staying at Londra Palace - like the "look" of the rooms (not too done) and the location on the canal, but have read that it is on "hotel row", so are looking for a little guidance. We can spend no more than 300-350 night US.

Venice is fairly small and easy to get around, so just about any neighborhood will do. We stayed at the Hotel Galleria, in Dosoduro. Very centrally located, and inexpensive (about 100E/night). If you are planning to spend 300+/night, you will have lots of high end choices.

The restaurant guide "Chow! Venice" is organized by neighborhood, and gives some nice insights into the various areas.

Anne

I visited Venice last autumn and plan to again this year. We also stayed at the Hotel Galleria in Dorsoduro, and liked both the hotel and the sestieri very much. Your hotel budget gives you a completely different accommodation world and I'll leave that to you.
However even if I had your budget, I wouldn't stay in the St. Mark's area: too busy, too noisy, too touristy. I loved Dorsoduro: more offbeat, apparently (according to Frommer's Italy guide) more genuinely Venetian, wonderful galleries, papermaking shops, clothing designers, etc. Frommer's compares Dorsoduro to NYC's SoHo...
As AnneO mentioned, Venice is quite small, so with your 3-day vaporetto pass in hand, and good walking shoes, anywhere is quickly reached.
I also found Venice has a reputation for poor food, but we didn't have a bad meal. Search out the "Slow Food" website - when I looked last fall, there were several articles about good Venice restaurants and presumably with your food budget much more than ours, you'll have many more choices.
Venice was the jewel of our Italian visit - have a wonderful time.
Cheers, Linda

I'm not sure there re any bad choices other than the Lido, and maybe too close to the train station, particularly (perhaps?) on the "outside of the Grand Canal, over in that "first bend". And I have never even set foot over there, so I am just thinking of the distance to the principal museums and other major attractions. It may be wonderful over there.

Best wishes,

Rex

Oh, and I think that the myth about "not that great" food has some basis in truth - - it's a little bit like Vegas - - there is so much tourist demand, that a few places can get away with moderately poor food at prices that are just barely reasonable -- and some that get away with fairly mediocre food at prices that really would not be reasonable anywhere else.

But those bad apples are only a bit more common in Venice; I think you can find decent casual places. I recommend places that you can find here on this forum by searching "peoceto" or "falciami".

Yes, have read Dorsoduro is interesting. How does that compare to Castello where Londra Palace is located?

The reviews we've seen of the Londra have all been good - has anyone stayed here?

300-350 US/night does not seem like alot to us in Venice - some of the places we looked at are 800+US/night. Does anyone have other hotel recommendations for our budget? We like smallish (under 100, preferably under 50 rooms), charming, in good central location, and nicely done (like Londra and Metropole) but not "too done" or too spare which is what we found looking at alot of hotels.

We also would like a hotel with some outdoor area - restaurant, etc. since we will not be able to afford a room with a balcony/view.

I'm pretty sure Londra Palace was the hotel someone complained about on the AOL Italy travel board. The poster stayed there during a bad acqua alta and claimed there was a foot of water in the lobby. She was particularly incensed because the hotel just skipped breakfast those days- no alternative arrangements were made to bring even coffee up to the rooms. Someone I know who subscribes to the Hideaway Report and has traveled frequently to Venice really likes the Europa e Regina -unfortunately too expensive for us- but within your price range. She said it has a much more "Venetian feel" than the Bauer, where we'll be staying. I agree that the Dorsoduro section sounds very desirable but apparently no sestieri is immune to acqua alta. Does anyone know if the Bauer's lobby floods?

We looked at Europa and Regina - cheapest non-canal view room started at 465 US/nt. Way out of our range... We are going high season, so maybe rates are lower other times of the year.

Isn't there just a certain time of year acqua alta is a problem?

Hi

On your budget you can afford a canal view room at the Hotel Marconi (http://www.hotelmarconi.it/).

It is right at the Rialto Bridge.

Hello wanderer.

At today's exchange rate of roughly .80€ to the US dollar, your average price point is €260. I went 'shopping' with this price on venere.com, choosing a high season date (when I assume you're going) and found several four star hotels listed. Please know I have stayed at a four star hotel exactly once, and that not in Venice, so I have no personal recommendation. But venere.com supplies user reviews of the hotels that they list, and they list a lot.

Regarding the sestieri, make sure that the hotel IS, in fact, in one of the sestieri - i.e. Lido is NOT a sestieri, as you probably know.

The reviews for 'Sant Elena' in Castello (15 min walk from St. Mark's) sounded very favourable; it was listed as €210 per night. I seem to recall someone here stayed at the Dei Dogi in Cannaregio Est, which is a little removed from St. Mark's but many people like it - it's also in your range.

Off-season, you will find more hotels falling into your price range. Good luck.

I have been doing a lot of looking for my own trip in April. For late April, the Londra is quoting 380 Euros on a weeknight for a double room with no view. That is more than your budget, plus the room is 18 square meters, which is not very big. If you want a larger room and a view, those rooms start at 500 Euros on weeknights.

Take a look at these other possibilities whihc would offer either lagoon or side canal views and are in the San Marco/Castello area):

Monaco and Grand Canal (www.summithotels.com)

Hotel Colombina (hotelcolombina.com)

Ca' Dei Conti (www.cadeiconti.com)

Locanda Orseolo (www.locandaorseolo.com/uk/location.htm, a B&B mabye 3 stars but it gets tremendous reviews on tripadvisor)


With only 3 days and if this is your first trip to Venice, my feeling is that you should stay in San Marco or Castello, as a lot of what you want to see is in this area. You will spend a lot of time going back and forth if you stay in other areas, and if you aren't familiar with the city, this may take you longer than you want. Maybe stay in Dorsodoro on a second trip. Of course if seeing the art in the Accademia is your sole reason for going to Venice, then the Dosodoro makes more sense. Just my opinion.

Calville, I think the comment on AOL was about the Monaco and Grand flooding and no one doing anything about it, not the Londra.

I found the post on the AOL Venice board dated 12/18/03. Thread is titled "Did you ask me to check out Londra Palace rooms?"
"We stayed at the Londra on our second trip to Venice in a two-week period. We have always stayed at the Europa & Regina or the Gritti in the past. While the Londra is a member of Small Luxury Hotels, it did not meet their usual standards. We were there during acqua alta and they had zero provisions for food in the mornings; the lobby floods about 1 foot deep from Canal Grande during EVERY high tide, which means they never have food during those times, only coffee and bread. The rooms are much smaller than the other hotels that we frequent and walking up and down four flights of stairs (no elevator service during high tide, either) was a bit of a pain as well. 360E is $432 USD and in my opinion not worth it. They have a very small bar in the lobby, which is the only place that you can sit there and the service in general was poor to non-existent. I would definitely not recommend this place to anyone."

PS Wanderer- I've been checking rates for mid March- didn't realize Europa was so expensive during high season. I'm sure you've been checking hotels' own websites- in the case of Europa, Westin/Starwood. I really like Orbitz but we booked our Bauer room through AAA because I couldn't get a clear read on Orbitz's cancelation policy for our particular hotel.
I like to do in depth research but became totally confused and alarmed reading accounts of Venice hotel experiences on various travel boards. There seems to be something wrong at so many properties- weird deposit policies at the smaller charming hotels, rooms sometimes dark and tiny etc. But if I were traveling in high season I would try to "go with the flow" -overlook minor problems and book something more affordable. Re: the Locanda Orseolo suggestion- I urge caution- might be great but I thought it was fishy that such a small, brand new hotel had so many reviews, all glowing and all written in the same "voice" on tripadvisor.com.
Except for one negative report on Londra I just posted above, everything else I've read has been positive. I've been concerned about acqua alta since we're traveling in March but in the summer you probably don't need to worry. Good luck. I can sympathize with anyone researching Venice hotels!