Accomdations in Venice - near train station or no?

Venice is fairly small and we've never perceived it to be hard to get to anywhere from anywhere. Everyone will have their favorite area in which to stay and they all have pros and cons. And many prefer to stay on the back streets and canals just to be away from "where the action is". Personally we like to stay between the Rialto Bridge and P. Roma -- but that's just preference. Yes, you can take a vaparetto to train station. We've done it many times with carry on luggage and you should not have any problems at all.

I prefer to stay near the sites I want to see. Taking the vaparetto to the train station is easy. We didn't use the vaparetto much during our time in Venice, so we kind of enjoyed taking it to the train station when we were departing.

I agree with Patricia. Each time we go to Venice, we enjoy being near San Marco. But, this is our normal type of selecting a hotel or apartment. We look for the quaint hotel in the middle of the old section of a city or village in Europe.

The only time we take the vaporetto is to go to/from the train station, except for the visit when we went to Murano. I love having the vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal being the last parting view of Venice our last morning. If you're considering expenses, the vaporetto is expensive; I wouldn't want to need to decide whether I should take it each day to see the sites.

I have been to Venice a few times. On my last visit (last month) I spent only a night, so I found it convenient to stay near the train station. On previous stays, I liked to stay further from the train station, closer to Rialto but not directly there (too crowded for me - same with San Marco).

I had some reservations ahead of time about staying near the train station (having been to Venice before), but it turned out quite well: no noise issues, no problems at all. It is a bit touristy around there and not particularly quaint but not dangerous or anything, in my view.

I stayed a no-frills little hotel called La Locanda Di Orsaria, which turned out to be quite OK, nothing fancy and with a small room but comfortable enough.

Another benefit of staying near the train station is the ability to do easy day trips by train, which I had done on past trips (e.g. to Verona or Padua). But unless you plan to do a couple of those in three days (not likely), there's probably no great benefit to staying near the train station, other than not needing to drag you bags far on arrival/departure.

I believe hotels near the train station or in Mestre, are more affordable than accommodations on the island. Generally speaking. But one would have to figure vaporetto cost or toe-heel express time from there to S. Marco, Rialto, S. Polo and Dorsoduro, where the sites are. Having done a ton of toe-heel express time staying on the train side of the Rialto bridge, I dunno that I would recommend it. I find the idea of vaporetto at once appealing, and on a longer trip, probably a bit dull, like riding the city bus on the same route every day for several days. As a regular train commuter, it took a few days before I got book heavy on the new train.

You really have to weigh your options and your expenses. We're spending 4 nights in the Dorsoduro, near the Accademia. I have high hopes, and will be using the Vap to get to some things, and the toe-heel for others.

The typical visitor with a 3 night Venice stay uses the train station exactly twice - once upon arrival, and once at departure. In your case, you'll use the station just once, since you're arriving by plane. I've never understood the logic of wanting to be near a train station in that situation.

Obviously there could be different circumstances where staying near the station made sense, like a shorter stay, or like for one prior poster (can't find the thread now), where due to Meniere's Disease his wife absolutely could not take a boat under any circumstances.

There's nothing "wrong" with the station area, it's just that all else being equal, other areas are better. And yes, for your departure, it's usually easy to take a vaporetto to the station - particularly since you've packed light.

Thank you all for the feedback - it is very helpful.

What is your budget? We stayed at the Hotel Papadopoli which was an easy walk from the train station. It's on a lovely small canal, but it can get pricey at times

Just there last month. Stayed in Canareggio (if I wasn't lazy I would check the spelling) area in an apt. on a small canal across from the Jewish Ghetto. If you want to be with locals instead of tourists that is the way to go. The vaparetto station was a ten minute walk and so was the train station. It was a nice ride on the Grand Canal to get to the main sites. I will say that the locals were not friendly and I was happy that I had learned some Italian basics like directions since they either couldn't or wouldn't speak English. That said, I would make the same choice again. We took the vaparetto (the only tourists on it) to St. Mark's Square at 7:30 AM and when we arrived we got tickets to Doge's Palace with no wait and there were 10 people in the Square at 8:15 in the morning. We had to Palace to ourselves until 10 AM. Also took Rick Steve's Grand Canal audio tour in the early evening and again no crowds.

Hi v.king
Last year we stayed at hotel carlton capri, across ponte degli scalzi bridge from train station down an alley from grand canal. They served a free breakfast downstairs, there is an elevator, (yeah) it's very quiet. when you walk out of alley, restaurant/bar on left side with outside sitting on grand canal has the best tiramisu! Venice is not that big and you can walk everywhere, be sure to stop and have a glass of wine, people watch, lots of small cafes to check out for lunch and dinner. This september we will stay in apartment in the canneriggio area. We are also doing a very reasonable private taxi tour for 4-5 hours to prosecco road, taking train to treviso and meeting driver to start tour. Staying 4 nights then fly to paris to continue our fun adventure.Did no want to haul luggage far, up and over steps on bridges with all the other tourists reaching dead ends to different canals, climbing floors of steep stairs, been there done that in rome, up four flights of stairs with heavy luggage! Enjoy your time there, you'll love it. You can try booking.com or cross-pollinate.com.
Aloha Princess Pupule