Hotels in Venice

These are only notes for a trip that I'm planning in April of 2006. Many of the hotels listed here I learned about from the excellent Charming Small Hotel Guide: Venice and North-East Italy, 1999. I've only listed hotels that have their own web pages and that have "en suite" bathrooms (at least a toilett and a shower). I've mainly concentrated on two to three star hotels (leaving out, for example, the Gritti Palace which is beyond the budget of a humble computer scientist).

The bearcave.com site is non-commercial and I have no financial connection to any of these hotels. You are encouraged to do you own "due diligence".

As it turns out, April is "high season" in Venice. The prices below are from 2006, for a single room (sadly, I travel alone).

Areas of the Island of Rialto (the main Island of Venice)

Assuming that you would like to talk to central Venice (again, where "central" Venice is the Piazza San Marco area), Cannaregio is probably too far out of the way. The San Marco, Castello, San Polo and Dorsoduro areas are probably the best choices.

Venice Hotel Booking Sites on the Web

There are some hotels that do not have their own web sites (for example, La Residenza in Venice's Castello district). These and other hotels can be booked through hotel booking sites. It makes me a little nervous that you are one step removed from the hotel. The hotels probably pay a fee for a booking. I don't know if this translates to a higher room rate (or perhaps a less desirable room) or not.

San Marco

Some people love crowds and "action". If you're one of these people then you might want to stay in San Marco. For everyone else, my advice is "don't". I would rather stay almost anywhere else in Venice than the San Marco area. The San Marco area is more expensive and far more noisy and crowded than the rest of Venice. By the middle of the day in April the Piazza San Marco is packed with people. I cannot begin to imagine what it is like in the summer.

The area near the Piazza San Marco is easily reached in a few minutes by water bus from the rest of Venice. I was able to walk from where I was staying in Dorsoduro (La Calcina) to the Piazza San Marco in fifteen minutes. So the "central" location of the Piazza San Marco hotels is not a big advantage.