Rick doesn't spend much time mentioning it in his Venice 2008 book. But after reading this article (also about the Mose):
http://tinyurl.com/2wvyda
Both my wife and I are really interested in spending some time lost in the area. We did see that they'll be hosting the Biennale while we're there (which Rick does mention), so this will give us a bit of purpose to explore this region of the island.
Does anyone have any tips for visiting the Cannaregio?
So, you'll be there in 2009? You have lots of time to plan.
The Cannaregio gets overlooked by many travelers. It has its own quiet campos and neighborhod shopping districts. Its the home of Venice's Ghetto - the orginal. It's also where you can take the vaporetto to Murano.
We'll be there in 2 weeks.
Steve,
I have stayed in the Cannaregio section a couple of times and I loved it. I am going back in less than 2 weeks. We stayed at the Hotel Arcadia. Cannaregio is the working man's Venice. It is away ferom the crowds. The area is very quaint. We took the train from Rome to St Luciaa train station and the hotel is right around the corner. I would highly recommend this area.
Sorry, Steve. I assumed this year's Biennale was over. I see that it runs through November 21st.
http://www.labiennale.org/en/biennale/
The venues are mostly in the Castello neighborhood, farther along the island from the Cannareggio. Easily reached by vaporetto.
Another tip about the Cannareggio is to bar hop as Rick describes in his book. There are lots of neighborhood ciccheti places.
Thanks for the link Doug! We'll be arriving in Venice the 20th, so we'll have to make it there right away or on the 21st.
I stayed in that area of Venice in March of this year. We stayed at a small b&b called Domus Orsoni. My sister had seen it on Samantha Brown's show on the Travel Channel. It was 60 euro per person a night and I highly recommend it. They only have five rooms. Our room was very comfortable with a very nice bathroom. Breakfast was pretty standard. It was slightly off the canal and was very quiet.
It was near two vaporetto stops, I think the 51/52 and the 82/1. It was very close to the 51/52 stop, or it might have been the 41/42, at any rate it was the vaporetto that goes around the outside of the main part of Venice and by the train station. You had to walk around the corner and down an alleyway to get to the 82/1 but it was not far. By 82/1 I am referring to the vaporetto that goes up and down the Grand Canal. I may have the numbers wrong.