Easy Lodging in Venice

I am always in favor of staying several nights in one place vs. changing lodging every couple of days. Every time you change towns or lodging, you spend most of the day making the change. For Venice even more than other places, stay as long as you can. It's the most magical place. You can visit the small islands for easy day trips, but I didn't even do that until my fourth trip..

It doesn't really matter what area you stay in as long as you are fairly close to a vaporetto stop.. You can acces the airport relatively easily.
There are likely lots of hotels in your price range, but I always stay in apartments so can't make a hotel receommendation. You might check booking.com or the RS book if you don't get recommendations from others on this site.

Thanks so much for the feedback, being a first time visitor there. Would love to know about the apartment option you typically choose - might be good for us to consider as well. Thanks again!

If you spend 4 nights in Venice and want to get out of town for one of those days, it would be easy to take a daytrip to Padova, Vicenza, or Verona by train, without luggage in tow.

Travel from the airport usually requires a boat ride and once you're onboard, it doesn't matter how far you go. Hotels close to the Grand Canal vaporetto docks need less walking on shore. For instance, recommended hotel Casa Rezzonico is a short, flat (no bridge) walk from the vaporetto stop of the same name.

My parents just spent 3 enjoyable nights at this great value 3 star a few steps from St Marks Square.
http://www.violinodoro.com/

Thanks so much for the input; very helpful!

There are tons of hotels for all budgets an easy walk from/to Piazzale Roma where you get the airport bus.

There are huge numbers of vacation rentals in Venice. I usually start with VRBO and Home Away and go from there. The two apartments I've rented most recently are Home Away 494027 and VRBO 207331. The first is in Dorsoduro and the second in Cannaregio. Both of these areas are lovely and less crowded that the San Marco area. Neither are fancy but are well below your stated budget.
If you are interested in checking out a number of reviews, you might try the Slow Travel Italy site. You can find a wide range of prices and amenities. Once I started renting apartments, it's hard for me to stay in a hotel because I so much enjoy being able to spread out and have the opportunity to buy groceries and cook (a little).

Thank you Sam :) And Kathryn, what a terrific idea I will take a look into this it sounds great. I appreciate the information :)

Dorsoduro was awesome. Not crowded at all, loved every second of it!!

We stayed here, originally found on vrbo.
http://www.caleonessa.com/

Kim, we have reserved Ca'Leonessa for our Venice stay. What did you think? Pros and cons?

I loved La Calcina in the Dorsaduro but since I stayed there they raised their prices from my budget to yours. It's about a 5-7 minute walk to the vaporetto (water bus) stop on the Grand Canal and there's another vaporetto line that gets much closer, on the Giudecca Canal, Zattere stop. Their website has directions for several ways to get there from the airport. The Alilaguna (water shuttle) from Marco Polo ends at Zattere. It takes the longest time (1.5 hours) but doesn't involve transferring. Unless you have a lot of luggage, it's easy to travel on the vaporetto. The only difficulty is if you have to go over any bridges from the vaporetto stop to your hotel.

We stayed at Pensione Guerrato near the Rialto Bridge, not expensive and Rick Steves tour groups stay here also. We really enjoyed our stay, good location and friendly staff. They also serve breakfast. They have an apartment (Piccolo Guerrato) near St. Marks that we will be staying at in September. Hope this is helpful, enjoy your trip!