Struggling with hotel decision in Venice

[LisaLisa87]

DH and I just booked a Celebrity Eastern Med cruise that departs from Ravenna in September 2023. We're planning to fly to Venice a couple of days early as we've never been there. I don't think we can swing more than two days there. I'm a planner, but I must admit that I'm a little overwhelmed when thinking about travel to Venice (from Florida), getting around Venice, and then getting from Venice to Ravenna. While I like the idea of staying on a canal close to St. Mark's Square, I worry that getting there will be exhausting after a long day and night of travel. I've seen recommendations for a couple of hotels that are near Piazzale Roma (i.e., Hotel Olimpia and Hotel Arlecchino), and I like that getting there from the airport would be relatively easy (no water taxi or Vaporetto needed). The downside of that plan is that we're not in the middle of the action and would need to "commute" to see the sites.

 

I'd love any input on the pros/cons of staying in the Piazzale Roma area vs. somewhere more centrally located, from which we could easily walk to several major tourist attractions. I don't want to stay on the outskirts of Venice and regret it, but I don't want the travel at the front end to be awful either.

 

Thanks for any insight. Specific hotel recommendations welcome!

[d9704011]

6 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

I'd love any input on the pros/cons of staying in the Piazzale Roma area vs. somewhere more centrally located, from which we could easily walk to several major tourist attractions.

Venice is a small city and getting around on foot is not difficult, provided you don't have any walking issues.  Staying in the Piazzale Roma area provides you with a good choice of hotels at a reasonable rate with minimal fooling around for travel on arrival and departure from Venice.  Also, a bit of walking will allow you to see some of the town a bit 'off the beaten track' without actually having to make a special trip to do so.

[JHLH821]

52 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

DH and I just booked a Celebrity Eastern Med cruise that departs from Ravenna in September 2023. We're planning to fly to Venice a couple of days early as we've never been there. I don't think we can swing more than two days there. I'm a planner, but I must admit that I'm a little overwhelmed when thinking about travel to Venice (from Florida), getting around Venice, and then getting from Venice to Ravenna. While I like the idea of staying on a canal close to St. Mark's Square, I worry that getting there will be exhausting after a long day and night of travel. I've seen recommendations for a couple of hotels that are near Piazzale Roma (i.e., Hotel Olimpia and Hotel Arlecchino), and I like that getting there from the airport would be relatively easy (no water taxi or Vaporetto needed). The downside of that plan is that we're not in the middle of the action and would need to "commute" to see the sites.

 

I'd love any input on the pros/cons of staying in the Piazzale Roma area vs. somewhere more centrally located, from which we could easily walk to several major tourist attractions. I don't want to stay on the outskirts of Venice and regret it, but I don't want the travel at the front end to be awful either.

Thanks for any insight. Specific hotel recommendations welcome!

 

We stayed at the AC Marriott in Piazzale Roma, and are staying there again next October, my sister has also stayed there. Depending when your travel dates are, the rate can be "reasonable" or "off the charts". We use our Marriott points to limit the sticker shock. The advantage is that you can walk to the hotel, with minimal effort from the drop off point in Piazzale Rome.  Also, there is an express airport bus across the street from the hotel- details are below:

ATVO, the airport bus service has its’ ticket office across the street from Piazzale Roma and the AC Marriott. They offer an express service to Marco Polo airport that runs every 30 minutes, it is line 35. The bus will store your luggage in the underneath compartment. This is a reliable and less costly option than reserving a private transfer.  https://www.atvo.it/en-timetable.html#

 

[mapleleaves]

Piazzale Roma is basically the entrance to Venice.  Walk a block and you're at the Grand Canal !  And the hotels you mentioned are all near smaller canals or within 2 blocks of the Grand Canal, so it's not like you have to 'commute" to see anything! 

 

Go to googlemaps and enter Piazzale Roma, Venice to see how close it is to the sites.  ie about a 30 minute walk to St Marks. And the walk will take you past interesting architecture, by and over small canals, so a very enjoyable walk Personally I prefer to take a waterbus down the Grand Canal, then wander around.  The views along the Grand Canal are spectacular. Be sure to get a 24hr pass, as the individual rides add up fast.

 

The ATVO express bus from the airport to PRoma is 10E pp for the 20 minute ride.  You can buy the ticket at ATVO machines by the airport exit and the buses leave just outside the doors.  

Linea n. 35 (atvo.it)

 

This link has a list of hotels near P Roma to expand on the 2 you mentioned.  If you can't easily manage your luggage, look at the hotels with 0 or 1 bridge to cross.

  'How Many Bridges?' hotel listings for Piazzale Roma | Venice for Visitors (europeforvisitors.com)

 

The CON to P Roma is that it's basically a big parking lot, where buses, taxis and cars drop off passengers for Venice. So not an attractive area in itself.

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisemom42]

To minimize fuss, you have a couple of choices:  Piazzale Roma (reached by bus from the airport), or locate a hotel near an Alilaguna stop. Alilaguna is like a vaporetto that operates from the airport to a few select stops within Venice. If you can find a hotel you like near an Alilaguna stop, it's really no more hassle than taking the airport bus to Piazzale Roma and staying there. 

 

That said, as others have mentioned Piazzale Roma is not that far as the crow flies from St. Marks. But the twisting pedestrian streets do take a while to navigate. Taking the vaporetto from P. Roma is also an option to get from "here" to "there" fairly promptly. Not inexpensive so if you plan multiple uses, get a pass.

 

Also -- just so you are aware, it IS a bit of a longer walk from the airport luggage pickup area to the Alilaguna loading dock versus the bus.  But then again, depends how much you prefer to stay elsewhere.

 

I was just in Venice and did pretty much the same route as you -- e.g., headed to Ravenna for a Celebrity cruise. Since I've been to Venice many times, I chose to only spend one night and stayed at P. Roma as it's also very convenient for getting to the People Mover and thence to Tronchetto where the Celebrity shuttles load up.  Two nights would be a toss up. Three or more and I'd definitely NOT stay in Piazzale Roma.

 

[LisaLisa87]

Thank you all for your responses! @mapleleaves, that link is very helpful! We have full mobility, but I still don't think we'd be up for dragging our luggage over multiple bridges at the end of our journey. I did look at Piazzale Roma on Google Maps, but it's hard to get a sense of scale/distance since we're not familiar with Venice at all. I'll check out some of the other hotels in that area.

 

I've been checking out some other areas as well. If we get a decent rate on the hotel, I may be able to talk myself into justifying taking a private water taxi from the airport.

[LisaLisa87]

3 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

Two nights would be a toss up. Three or more and I'd definitely NOT stay in Piazzale Roma.

 

Thank you, @cruisemom42! I'll look into hotels near Alilaguna stops as well. Regarding the quote above, would you lean toward not staying in P. Roma for two nights for people visiting Venice for the first time, or would that not factor in?

[cruisemom42]

6 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

Thank you, @cruisemom42! I'll look into hotels near Alilaguna stops as well. Regarding the quote above, would you lean toward not staying in P. Roma for two nights for people visiting Venice for the first time, or would that not factor in?

 

I would lean toward not staying in Piazzale Roma, but I am very influenced by location, and the location at P. Roma is just not very picturesque.... 

 

My 0.02 cents, and understandably you have to weigh all of this with your own budget, expectations and abilities.

Edited November 29, 2022 by cruisemom42

[mapleleaves]

If you have ONE wheeled case and a shoulder bag/backpack, you'll be fine.  More than that can be a struggle, not just because of bridges and uneven surfaces, but getting on and off water buses, dealing with the crowds, and finding your way. ( i took advantage of the ships laundry service so I only needed one carryon case for 2 weeks)

This link provides info on hotels near transportation hubs, popular sites, , alilaguna, etc.  Look over the page before opening.  Locations Index - 'How Many Bridges' Hotel Listings | Venice for Visitors (europeforvisitors.com)

 

If it's going to be a source of worry, just stay in PRoma!  It'll be fine!

 

I was in Venice pre/post cruise last month. Took this photo from the Calatrava Bridge that crosses the Grand Canal at P Roma. As you can see, you're right there, even staying at PRoma !

 

 

 

[princeton123211]

17 hours ago, LisaLisa87 said:

I've been checking out some other areas as well. If we get a decent rate on the hotel, I may be able to talk myself into justifying taking a private water taxi from the airport.

There is nothing more spectacular than arriving into central Venice via water taxi from the airport after a transatlantic flight. There are plenty of hotels in the St Marks area that you can arrive directly by water taxi and not have to shuffle with your bags at all-- they do tend to be on the more expensive side and you do need to factor in the water taxi costs. But don't assume you'll have to schlep your bags yourselves all over just because you're not staying in P Roma-- a good number of hotels have private docks the water taxis can pull right up to. 

 

Also if you have Marriott Bonvoy points there are some great opportunities for redemption at some of Venice's priciest hotels for either totally free or the combination of points and a much lower nightly rate. 

[LisaLisa87]

Thank you for the additional replies! @mapleleaves, that link is very helpful. I recognized it from when we considered a cruise from Venice 5 years ago, but I had forgotten about it and would never have found it again! I think I have my hotel options narrowed down to 3 now, none of which are in P. Roma. I can see why that location is popular, but I'd rather be closer to the action and in a more picturesque area.🙂

 

ETA: We decided against the Celebrity cruise and have booked a 7-night on RCI's Explorer of the Seas that departs from Ravenna. This will allow us to stay in Venice for 3 full days before the cruise.

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by LisaLisa87

[dani negreanu]

On 11/29/2022 at 10:24 PM, LisaLisa87 said:

Thank you, @cruisemom42! I'll look into hotels near Alilaguna stops as well. 

 

19 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

There is nothing more spectacular than arriving into central Venice via water taxi from the airport after a transatlantic flight.

 

I can highly recommend taking the Alilaguna from Marco Polo airport.

 

We're going to stay for the 2nd time at Hotel Fontana (https://www.hotelfontana.it/en/), a mere 3 mins walk from the San Zaccaria stop, no bridges, no steps involved.

 

It's not a luxury hotel, but the location and convenience cannot be beaten. Venice is the "star" for us.

[ollienbertsmum]

When we went in 2019 we stayed two nights prior to the cruise.   I wanted to be near to the people mover and the train station.  I got a bit of sticker shock when looking for hotels, but i found a three star which was perfectly acceptable.  It was not modern.  It was small which you expect for a hotel in Venice.  The room door and safe even had real keys 🔑.    It also had no lift.  I loved it for the location.
 

Hotel was called Locanda Di Orsaria.   I thought that the location was perfect, it was right beside the train station, right opposite. The water taxi stop and a really short walk to restaurants, main tourist sites etc.  i would definitely get a hotel in that area if i go to venice again.

[Nanciekitten]

On 11/29/2022 at 12:39 PM, LisaLisa87 said:

DH and I just booked a Celebrity Eastern Med cruise that departs from Ravenna in September 2023. We're planning to fly to Venice a couple of days early as we've never been there. I don't think we can swing more than two days there. I'm a planner, but I must admit that I'm a little overwhelmed when thinking about travel to Venice (from Florida), getting around Venice, and then getting from Venice to Ravenna. While I like the idea of staying on a canal close to St. Mark's Square, I worry that getting there will be exhausting after a long day and night of travel. I've seen recommendations for a couple of hotels that are near Piazzale Roma (i.e., Hotel Olimpia and Hotel Arlecchino), and I like that getting there from the airport would be relatively easy (no water taxi or Vaporetto needed). The downside of that plan is that we're not in the middle of the action and would need to "commute" to see the sites.

 

I'd love any input on the pros/cons of staying in the Piazzale Roma area vs. somewhere more centrally located, from which we could easily walk to several major tourist attractions. I don't want to stay on the outskirts of Venice and regret it, but I don't want the travel at the front end to be awful either.

 

Thanks for any insight. Specific hotel recommendations welcome!

We just got back from a two-week cruise that left from the port of Trieste, but before our cruise we spent three nights in Venice.  I highly recommend staying in the Piazzale Roma area in a hotel or airbnb.  It is the transportation hub.  We easily arrived there by cab from the airport and then got a porter located in the square to take our luggage to our apartment as we had so much luggage.  From the Piazzale Roma, not only can you catch the ferries everywhere, but you can sign up online to take the inexpensive hop on hop off boat which departs from there.  There are nice walks to take from the Piazzale Roma and great restaurants and grocery stores.  The large hop on hop off boat took us to the major tourist points of Venice and also to the Island of Murano and other islands.  On our day of departure, we easily got a porter to take our luggage to the People Mover in the Piazzale Roma.  We took that train to the second stop and got off at Tronchetto.  When we went down the elevator, the buses were waiting for us to take us to our cruise ship in Trieste.  You do have to make a reservation with your cruise line and our Holland America bus left at 11:00 AM.  When we reached the Port of Trieste we were able to hire a porter to take our luggage to the ship.  If you stay at a hotel in Venice sponsored by the cruise line, they will transfer your luggage ahead to the bus for you and then you can take a water taxi from your hotel.  Plan to stay at least three nights in Venice.  On your first day of arrival you will need to just sleep to recover from jet lag.  Walking around Venice is very difficult due to having to climb up and down stairs over the many canals, so it is best to go places by boat.

[Rosesgt]

We have visited Venice 3 times and we always stay at the Unahotel Ala located by the S Maria Del Giglio Alilaguna water taxi stop. Easy to get to/from the airport and travel as a local. There's plenty of restaurants close and lots to see. San Marco plaza is also very close. I would also suggest to sign up for the Venice free walking tour. It's an awesome way to see Venice from the eyes of a local. Check it out and happy cruising.