Central Lodging in Venice

Check the various sites for hotel and b&b search (venere.com, booking.com, etc.) but don't get too hung up on the location. Wherever you are in Venice, you are just minutes away from everything. Venice is not that big. Venice is divided into 6 districts called sestieri (see map below). Only Giudecca is a little out of the way being an island (and probably not as great an area) and maybe the easternmost tip of Castello. From any other location you can walk to everything in 15-20 min. http://0.tqn.com/d/goitaly/1/0/b/B/-/-/venice-sestieri-map.png

Wonderful, thank you! I suppose I am used to things being much more spread out :)

I am afraid 97 euros is a bit unrealistic for Venice, which is on th ehigh end of prices for Italian cities. The logistics of getting things in and out by boat make everything expensive. You might try looking for a self-catering apartment; I have noticed some which are available for short stays like 2 nights.

In your price range, look at the Hotel Santa Lucia. It's near the train station and so not in the center but as has been pointed out, Venice is not very big.

Try VRBO.com, although apartments may not be willing to rent for such a short period, it is worth a try. We paid €100 for this apartment (http://www.vrbo.com/155941#page-top-most) , although it might be slightly more in September as that is high season. We also like B&B Ai Tagliapietra which is economical, convenient, well-hosted, clean. Any area in the city will do. It is all quite compact. Do not stay in Mestre or Lido or some place you have to "Commute" from. You might save a few €€ but you will waste time and not experience the charms of Venice.

We were in Venice in March and, of course, the prices were a lot more reasonable. We stayed at Hotel San Giorgio, about a 5 min walk to San Marco, Rialto, and many other sites as well as the vaporetto stop. I checked on booking.com and for your dates the price is about 130Euro. You might have to raise your limit.

Three trips to Venice, all 3 spent at Al Campaniel B&B. Just a 30 sec walk from San Toma vaporetto stop, 10min walk to Rialto, we had the room with separate (across the hall) but private (locked) washroom, stayed mid-late Sept all 3 times, I think we paid about 65 euro for that time of year. We had a lovely breakfast of rolls/toast/croissants/cheese/cereal/juice/coffee/tea (included). And if we ever get back to Venice for a 4th time, we'll stay again. Marco even let us keep our luggage in a locked closet after we checked out until we were leaving, thereby saving us storage fees at the train stn. Now, the prices may be a little more for dates before Sept 15, but it's worth a check...(not to mention the chocolate shop just across the alley! No canal views tho, but quiet)

Both visits we have stayed at Alloggi alla Scala. It is very central and fits your price. We were happy both times, but we have realistic expectations about to expect when booking a more inexpensive place. It was clean, nicely decorated, and one of the rooms overlooks a canal. (We had it in 2003, I let my sister and her husband have that room in 2008.) It http://www.alloggiallascala.com/eng/home.htm It gets decent reviews on Trip Advisor. We loved it. It would always be my first choice because of the location and price.

It's true that 97E is awfully low for Venice in September. If you can bump it up, you will not regret it. I'm glad to see that you are planning to stay in Venice proper. Too often people make the "penny wise, pound foolish" decision to stay in Mestre or the Lido to save money. All that does is turn you into a member of the daytripping hordes that descend on this beautiful city and then disappear around 5 pm. After they're gone is when Venice is at its most magical. How set in stone is your itinerary? I see that you're going to be in Venice twice and am assuming that's because you're doing a round trip from Edmonton to Venice. Perhaps you could move Venice to the end of your itinerary? That would give you a longer stretch of time there. Just a thought.

Hotel Doni is in your price range. I stayed there last fall and really liked it. It's a 2-3 minute walk from San Marco on the quiet side canal. It's only one star, so it's very simple. But it was clean, quiet, the staff was helpful, English was spoken, and it included a minimal breakfast. I paid €80 for single, ensuite room in Sept/Oct.

And can I recommend...if you are a morning person (even if you aren't) try and get up and go out at like 6:30am and wander...we did this last trip...the Grande Canal was practically empty, there were maybe a dozen people at Rialto, maybe that many at San Marco Sq (!)...the bridge to view the Bridge of sighs was empty...compared to a few hrs later when it's packed to the brim. We did this on the 2nd day of our trip after flying into London 2 nights before (spending 1 night) then flying to Venice the night before. And hubby is lucky to get up by 10am on his days off. Yes, we were tired, but he thanked me for making him get out. Give it a shot :)

I am looking for B&Bs in Venice for Oct 2013 for 1 night precruise. Just discovered that now most hotels/B&B will not rent for 1 night on the weekends including Friday night. We were in Venice in 2003 and that was not the case. We stayed at Hotel Al Piave and really enjoyed it in 2003. Very clean and family run. Has reviews on this web site too.

Cathy, use booking.com or venere.com and you can filter by date so it only shows you the places that are available for your night. As noted, Venice is very compact, so you can stay pretty much anywhere. Look at a map to familiarize yourself with the island.