Agree with musica. Venice was only place during our three weeks in Italy where we felt we were rushed to turn the table. One restaurant along the GC would not let us order wine and peruse the menu–we had to order our whole meal at once. Needless to say, we ordered wine and two appetizers and left. Same thing almost happened the next night at a fancy, concierge recommended, big $$ restaurant, until my H protested to the maitre d. Any other restaurant in Italy, we could have had the table all night if we wanted. Other than a little hole in the wall sandwich spot, we found food in Venice to be average and over priced.
Thanks…will make reservations for restaurants. I’ve already been trying to figure out where to go.
Being on the Canal has good and bad points-- it can be very noisy on the Grand Canal (esp in the morning), and on the smaller ones you get gondola singers, which is charming until it’s not, lol. The second time we went we rented an apartment on a smaller canal. Getting luggage there WAS difficult. Being on a larger canal will not be an issue wrt luggage.
Enjoy!!! Venice is my favorite place in the world (I know some people don’t love it like I do). I had bad jet lag and got into the habit of walking the city at 5-6am before the onslaught of tourists. Venice belonged to me. It was magic. Get lost at least twice every day!!
I know I will go back and forth for a few months between these 2 hotels. I googled earthed them, and they are practically next door to each other. One with fantastic views, but it’s like just being in someone’s house when they are not there (except they bring you breakfast rolls/coffee in the morning), and the other is also quite quaint with a side canal view…but all the hotel advantages of staff, etc. This is going to be a tough one.
@Bromfield2 We were at the Cipriani last year. It’s very lovely…especially the grounds and the pool area. The lobby area is quite small and a little funky old-fashioned as you often see in Italy. Everything is immaculate and the service everywhere is perfection. The food is also excellent…as is much of the dining in Venice.
It is located on Guidecca, which is always extremely quiet even in the middle of the summer. If you like the idea of touring Venice, then returning to a quiet place, you will love the Cipriani. The hotel boat drops off on a private dock in front of Harry’s Bar on the Venice side…the wait for the boat can be a bit long because it’s about 15 minutes each way. There is a direct phone on the Venice side, so you can call and they’ll tell you exactly when they will be back. I didn’t think it was a big deal - the boat ride back and forth is fun and special in itself…the captain let my youngest son pilot the boat a few times (not sure if the other passengers appreciated that). It’s a larger boat with a good-sized interior, so it’s comfortable - the other passengers are very interesting and you’ll probably see a few famous faces.
You can walk the length of Guidecca in about 45 minutes. There is a wide promenade along the water on the Venice side. Another Cipriani owned restaurant in the middle called Harry’s Dolce is nice - we celebrated my D’s 21st birthday there.
If anyone enjoys the quirky and unique while still on a budget, think about a stay on the Lido. A five minute boat ride away and very near the dock is the Grande Albergo Ausonia e Hungaria. I love the Lido and during a three week stay many years ago, I used to pass by this extraordinary place and just drool over the original Art Nouveau tile work on the facade. (at that time it was shut up and abandoned) I since returned and I was really impressed with the restored hotel. Looking at an April stay, it’s just $140/night. www.hungaria.it
There is a nice Excelsior Hotel on the Lido - we rented a cabana for the day there (arranged by the Cipriani)…full beach service and a lovely outdoor restaurant. We liked it so much that we did it twice. Also, anyone can take the Excelsior boat to the hotel for free. We got very good at using free hotel boats…
We will be three night in Venice in April. After booking a hotel on the Canal we cancelled as the Rialto Bridge is right there and there is a lot of noise early in the morning.
We decided on Ca’ Pisani Hotel. It is somewhat Art Deco and is a 2 minutes walk across the bridge. Has a restaurant and great reviews. Contact has been seamless. We asked for room 29 as it has windows on two sides and a little bit of a Canal view. Paid under $300 ($245 but do not remember if that is everything)
Good tip about the restaurant–thanks and will be sure to book ahead of time
I think the Rialto Bridge area is noisy all the time.
Our challenge has been finding a room for 4 people. Many web searches resulted in "exceeds adult capacity. Today I submitted a reservation request to Hotel Compiello. It is the Rick Steves recommendation, not far from St Mark’s. This link as a link to pdf map, but you need to look closely to see the the hotel close to the water (not on it, which may be quieter) ;;near the lower right pf the map - http://www.hcampiello.it/location.htm
Our rate is 284 euro, with 10% discount if we pay in euro cash. It includes breakfast. We can cancel until 5 days prior.
I’m thinking we should book the sleeper car to Munich early (per websites, we may need to wait til 91 days prior), but maybe we can wing it on the Rome to Venice train. Thoughts?
We had four in our group,also. This is where we booked. Our apartment was the one with the balcony and red flowers. We had a full kitchen, which saved us money. Someone was in the office until 3pm each day to answer questions.
BUT, we had to cross at least 3 bridges like the one pictured. We each had a rolling carry-on bag.
@colorado_mom —Hotel rooms in Europe(even the American chains) are very, very rarely like the large, two queen size bed affairs that we have here. I know that you mentioned earlier that you like sharing rooms, but you will more than likely have to either go with an apartment rental or get two rooms. One chain that you might keep your eye out for are the Citadines “apart-hotels” or something similar. This sort of hotel is listed in Tripadvisor under “specialty lodging”. You can usually find a room in one that includes a queen size bed and a fold out couch, as well as a small kitchen. In fact there is a very well situated one(Citadines) in Munich:
It is very risky to assume 4 people can stay in a room anywhere in Italy without checking with the hotel first. We spent about 8 nights in Italy in December in 4 different hotels and 3 cities.
Every hotel requires you to provide copies of passports for all members of the party. So one can’t assume they can have an extra person or two like US hotels where no one usually asks you who will be staying in the room. Out of the 4 hotels, the only place we got a room comparable to what we would get in US as double beds (2 people per bed type size) was one out of the 4 hotels. All others had mostly joined twin beds with a specific 2 per room instruction. We ended up having to book 2 rooms everywhere for 4 people as a precaution not knowing what to expect but it turned out to be the right one. We did stay in one room in Munich back in 2005 when kids were much younger.
At Hotel al Ponte Antico (the expensive one mentioned above), there is a larger room that fit all four of my family members-- I don’t remember the configuration, but no one had to sleep on a couch. It was tight! But charming-- and that saved us money over getting two rooms. The next trip, with an apartment, cost much less. There were upsides and downsides to both. Getting breakfast made by the very handsome and charming owner Matteo in the hotel and eating it on a balcony overlooking the Grand Canal was a definite upside, lol. In the apartment we just threw cereal at five teenagers and called it good. 
We are only looking at places that are set up for 4 people, and as expected it quickly narrows the choices.
For Venice, the room we booked is called “apartment - junior suite”, all one big room with big bed and a pull out couch. For Rome and Munich I’ve been looking at VRBO but have not yet booked. We’ve also discussed a hotel room plus nearby youth hostel for the kids.