Places to Stay in Venice

Try booking.com for hotel options. Use the map feature to see where the hotels are located and get prices for your dates. We have stayed in the San Polo area and Dorsoduro. Both were great. We stayed in apartments that we found on vrbo. Com. The advantage here is a you have a kitchen so you can prepare meals if you like. For food options, go off the beaten path for the best food and pricing. You might consider taking the train from Venice to Florence and renting the car there instead. This might make the trek easier for you. Super economy train tickets are available 120 days in advance if you want the best price.

awesome. thank you!

My family and I stayed at Hotel Tivoli. Expect a basic clean room, no elevator, friendly staff and a decent breakfast. A/C comes on at 9 pm and shuts off at 6 am or so. Decent for comfort. It is located near some neat sites like Frari Church and San Rocco complex. Easy to get to San Marco square and other biggies. The food is expensive in Venice. But, in this neighborhood - you get better value for your food dollars. I really liked Impronta cafe. Billa is a small grocery store - if you need to stretch your dollars or want something simple. Hotel Tivoli is at the border of Dorsoduro and San Polo. If money is a factor - try not eating on San Marco square itself. Very expensive and not best quality unless you have big bucks to spend. If you have to eat on the square - consider eating a sandwich or salad type meal at the Correr Museum cafe. You do not have to pay to see the museum to eat there. Clean bathrooms, A/C, nice window view of San Marco square.

Another cheap food tip yr daughter may like, a lot of bakeries besides the beautiful sweets, stock simple sandwiches and bottled beverages

In Venice we stayed at Hotel Locanda la Corte. Not sure in your budget range, but I can tell you it was in a great location, on a canal and we loved it.
As for driving - we have driven in Tuscany and will do so again. But you do NOT want to drive in Florence. I truly tried to park outside like RS suggested but missed it and ended up in Florence. Do NOT do this! But this will be a great trip!

I like Cannaregio, stayed at Locanda San Marcuolo a couple of years ago. Close to a vaporetto stop, quirky elevator, nice breakfast, comfortable rooms.

Locando is all booked:(

Please don't take this the wrong way, but how do you decide to go to Venice (or for that matter anywhere) and then ask total strangers for advice about what you should do ? Where you should stay or where you should eat ?

Why don't you start by doing some research on your own.

travelguymiami, sometimes this forum is the first stop. I've chosen cities to visit based on a photograph, so I know there's one thing I want to see. I like to do my own research, but doing research is a skill, which this forum and website can help people to acquire.

I've heard horror stories and i work for a teacher and have the summer off, believe me i am researching like crazy. theres too much out there. I've sealed lots of plans i was just asking questions you don't have to communicate to me if you don't want to.

Naomi, I believe there's still a small room available at Locanda Casa Querini for €150 per night. I realize you're looking for a budget-friendly room but you don't say what your budget is. Around the corner is a favorite restaurant of ours, "Ai Tre Leoni" where we ate 2 times last visit! Hope it works for you!

Venice is small so the actual location is not important with regard to getting around. An exception to that general statement is that staying on Giudecca is not really convenient. For food, the farther off the beaten paths and the farther away from the main tourist sights the better. Cheaper prices and better quality. Once you have a hotel locked up let us know and we'll be able to offer specifics.

We have stayed around the train station, which meant we could walk to and from hotel with luggage.

We stayed at Al Campaniel B&B in the San Toma area 3 of our 4 visits to Venice. Just a minute wakl from the San Toma vaporetto stop.

Pizza by the slice places are easy to come by. Usually €2-3 a slice.

We also fell in love with a place (I think it's a Venice chain) called Farini. I think it's mostly a bakery but they have awesome pizza by the slice and focaccia sandwiches. A little more--around €4-6?--but a hearty meal!

We have a little Smash book if you haven't heard of them they are for travelling, there's lined pages in them for organizing but also cool photo backgrounds and neat theme pages that you can document bucket lists, top ten fave lists etc. I know we'll be re-visitting Europe and especially Italy for years to come. So having input from other travellers is actually meaningful to us. I'm putting all of these suggestions in our Venice section right now so we have it for our Venice part of our trip. I'm kinda of looking forward to it in a special way, my aunt went a couple years ago on her Europe travels and said it was also planned and squished in as a recommendation and she was over the top happy she did go. My daughter doesn't even know we're going. It's going to be a surprise.

We stayed at Hotel Serenissima, Venice, on an RS trip.
Perfect location, and several great Gelato shops very near by.

Last fall I stayed at Casa per ferie La Pieta.
It is a hostel in an old hospital. It has a great view of the Grand Cana from the roof-top terrace (as RS points out in his recommendation). Rooms vary in size. I had a room designed for 2 but reserved for just me. Cost averaged 70 Euro per night for one guest(higher on the weekend) There are plenty of bathrooms. They are big enough so you and your little girl could use the bathroom at the same time, which I assume you'd want to do for security reasons. It is close to San Marco Square and two major docks. Breakfast is simple, but filling. I was quite comfortable at this location. I noticed families with children stayed here.

As others have said, many shops sell sandwiches. I just walked around and looked for whatever looked good.

A link to the location on google maps. You will have to copy and paste this one:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Holiday+home+La+Piet%C3%A0/@45.4345214,12.3449354,20.9z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x477eaa16cb134829:0x307098715907f10!2sMetropolitan+City+of+Venice,+Italy!3b1!8m2!3d45.4930475!4d12.4177003!3m4!1s0x0:0xb786ff6d26402a4b!8m2!3d45.4345907!4d12.3451325

i'm thinking of staying in Lido, it seems less crazy and has a beautiful beach. Is it far to get to Venice for a day by boat
? Has anyones stayed here? I'm seeing great reviews.

it's a toss up between hotel serenissima and a room in Lido that has a swing in the backyard and includes breakfast and seems cozy and quieter, i don't even have hotel serenissima prices i just sent the email to the hotel and they will get back to me. it was booked on every other site so that was my option.

all these restaurants looks grand, can i compact it all into 3 days? we'll see:D

If you decide to stay in Venice proper, check out Locanda Fiorita. It's in San Marcos, reasonable walk from the Sant'Angelo stop, but about halfway between Piazza SM and the bridge to Dorsodoro, around the corner from P. Santo Stefano. Close enough to stuff but away from the main crowds. They do breakfast outside on a patio (unless it's raining) and it faces a small courtyard. Not sure how they'd feel about a kid kicking around a small ball or something, but it's not a crowded area so playing out there should be fine. There are plenty of places for sandwiches, pizza, and cichetti (maybe you don't want to share the wine with your child, but the food could be good) that are pretty cheap nearby, and a gelato place in P. Santo Stefano.

The only issue, which I assume you'd have from the Lido too, is distance to the train station. I took the vaporetto in the middle of the day, and with all the people even in early October, it was over a half hour from Sant'Angelo to the train station. Allow plenty of time since a kid may object to having to run for the train.

Can also recommend taking the vaporetto over to San Giorgio Maggiore if you want to go up a bell tower to check out the view. It was less crowded and might be fun to be there when the bell goes off.

Haven't stayed there (Lido). When we go to Venice, we stay in Venice. The best part of that is being able to experience the city in the early mornings and late at night. If we wanted a beach day, we might day trip over there, but that's it.

Depending on how far your hotel is from the vap. dock, you might need a bus to get there and back. Then there are vaporetto to get you to and from Venice. (€7.50/ one way ticket) Figure 35-45 minutes each way. By comparison, you could pretty much walk from one end of Venice to the other in the same time. You'll want to add the extra transportation costs to the price of the Lido hotels to see if they're still a bargain.

Okay no to Lido. I love all of these places and suggestions, especially the food. I DO want to be in Venice amongst the culture you are so right.

Thanks for all of these.
Amazing.

Then renting a car to go to Florence and Tuscany

I suggest you take the train from Venezia to Firenze and then rent a car to explore Tuscany when you leave Firenze.

Two reasons:

1. The train is much faster and more relaxing
2. ZTL

Note: I didn't change the city names to scold you, but to remind you what to look for on http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en and/or http://www.italotreno.it/en

less crazy

Yes - Venice can be crazy, but if you leave the "death route" between the station and San Marco it is much more manageable.

On http://www.momondo.com/hotels I find 965 rooms. I don't know your budget, but I find 231 below 500 USD for three nights. As far as I remember Cannaregio is very quiet.