am i an optimist-part 2

Hi Ralph,
I understand your dilemma. I sometimes travel with my mom and she requires an elevator or ground floor lodgings. You will most likely not find the floor the apartment is located on booking.com. You will probably have to google the name of the hotel/apartment and either see if it is mentioned on their website or email the hotel/owner directly. FYI, if you aren't aware, in Europe, the ground floor is our first floor and their first floor is our 2nd floor and so on. You may want to check airbnb.com as well. They have a search option where you can limit your search to places with elevators and washing machines only. Sometimes in the airbnb owner description, the owner will mention which floor the unit is on.

If you find an apartment or hotel you're interested in you can always email them with specific questions. Just remember that the ground floor is the first floor in Italy.

donna

Last June we stayed at this apartment and loved it! The apartment is in a great neighborhood. It overlooks (from your large balcony) the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo. It is 55 sq. meters which is quite large by European standards. May be a bit over your budget but not much and worth every penny. The owners are a very kind and attentive couple. http://www.vacationrentals.com/listing/p7004452

I have looked at that apartment Jeanine mentioned and will consider it for our next trip. The location is great, and being right on a small canal a big plus. There are shops and restaurants in the square and in the street across the bridge.

Venice has several hotels that are easy access and have rooms on the first floor or an elevator. My father will be traveling in a wheelchair so I discovered these three during my research because I was searching with "handicap accessible" criteria for our trip.

http://www.abbaziahotel.com/ - Old Abbey made into hotel just around a corner and down a lane from the train station (you won't have to board a vaparetto or even cross a bridge to get to your hotel!) They have ground floor rooms. Also recommended in Rick's guidebook.

http://www.hotelantichefigure.it/ - Hotel with excelent reviews on all the review sites. Cross 1 bridge from the train station and its right on the canal. Has an elevator (it faces the train station from the opposite side of the canal).

http://www.venicehotelcadoro.com/rooms/ - Might be a bit harder to find than the others location wise but fits within your budget nicely. They have an elevator.

Beware about hotels with elevators. Many older hotels, even though they have an elevator, there are a number of stairs you will still need to climb to get to your room.

You need to contact hotel and ask for specific details.

In one of the hotels, my mom (elderly) & I stayed in, I was told that there was an elevator, but when we arrived, there were 10-12 stairs leading to the hotel entrance!

Edit: At this same hotel, once we got off the elevator, there was another set of 6-8 stairs to our room!
Fortunately, the hotel had another room available right across from the elevator (at the same level).

If you see Piano Primo that's the 2nd floor. The First floor, Main, or Ground Floor is Piano Terra or Zero. The basement is Seminterrato. A raised floor is Piano Rialzato.