Staying in Mestre vs central Venice

There are reasonably-priced accommodations in Venice, and it does make a big positive difference if you stay there rather than in Mestre. One suggestion I have is to look at monasterystays.com, where you can book rooms in monasteries and convents. In Italy, they have to be self-supporting, and this is one way they do it. There are also such places that have gone over to being more like regular hotels, so you can readily book directly - a couple of examples are the Casa Sant’ Andrea and the Casa Caburlotto.

The cost of commuting and your time has value.

Be sure to look at the whole picture

Mestre covers a large area, so the ease, cost and time taken to travel into Venice will vary depending on where you are staying. It’s generally not expensive to travel in and you will get better value. Public transport runs from early morning until turned midnight.

I stayed in Cannaregio when I visited, which was considerably more than $50! Eating in Venice was generally poor and expensive compared to most other places in Europe, so you could save money by eating in Mestre.

There is Venice and there is Mestre. They are two towns with a very different vibe.
Venice is about 1500 years old, give or take a century or two. Mestre is an industrial city, depending on the oil refinery and other chemical refineries for its existence.
Yes, travel between the two is not hard and not expensive.
But do you want to be just a day tripper?
Just spend the money.
You will not regret it.

We have done both, stayed in Venice proper and also Mestre. After doing Mestre once, we realized that we missed out.
We didn't save that much staying in Mestre and we had to pay to take the train every day.

Look for a B&B close to the main train station in Venice, there are reasonably priced nice places in that area.

If you're going to Venice, be in Venice, not day tripping from the suburbs. You're coming from too far away to waste your time commuting.

My first trip to Venice was spent in Mestre because I didn’t know any better and the price of the Mestre hotel was fantastic. There’s nothing like walking out your front door and being right in the middle of wheat you came to see.

Want to pop back to your room to use the potty or grab a drink or rest in your air conditioned room for a few minutes or grab the jacket you accidentally left in the room??? You’ll not be doing that if you have to trek all the way back to Mestre. Basically it’s just a pain in the butt staying in Mestre.

I learned my lesson.

We stayed in Mestre on our recent trip because we were worried about getting caught in an acqua alta if we stayed in Venice proper. It was fine - although because it was the low season, we didn't have to contend with either huge cruise-ship crowds or sweltering summer heat on our day-trips into the city. The high-season experience might be different. We stayed in the Plaza Hotel, directly across the street from the train station, which made getting into Venice easy and convenient. (The hotel itself was great. The restaurant in the lobby was just OK.)

Trains run continuously throughout the day, except for between about midnight at 5:00 AM. That was not a problem for us.

We loved this airbnb apartment in Castello in Venice: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1325679?source_impression_id=p3_1581610985_JLFVQhNV8Dhw1RuU

They've remodeled it a bit since we stayed there and it's now $71, but you could look for cheaper apartments in that same neighborhood, perhaps even smaller and more basic ones. The street it's on is very interesting along its whole length: Via Giuseppe Garibaldi. It's away from where tourists go but only a 15 minute walk along the water to San Marco. The vaporetto will cost you money to get there from the train station, but you should ride the length of the Grand Canal at least once anyway.

It's about a 45 minute walk from the train station, but, again, you want to walk through Venice anyway.

Stay in Venice. The early mornings and late evenings are worth everything.

Should you want to be outside Venice, try the lido or the islands (very authentic and Venitian). However if it is your first time in Venice, try to stay in the centre
Look in booking.com for hotels or Vrbo for apartment.

The Airbnb in Castello is a really good option. You'll be away from the tourist hordes, but still in a lively part of Venice. There's also a really great park just to the east of there.

A couple years ago my husband and I stayed in both. We used hilton hotel points to stay in Mestre and to stay in Giudecca (hilton Stucky). Both were free with points and I still do not think it is worth staying in Mestre. We did not want to deal with a taxi, free shuttle bus going back into the city of Venice and did not walk around as much after dark. That is where most of the charm is, all the day trippers and cruisers are out of the city. Even the Hilton on the Island of Giudecca with a 20 min boat ride to St Mark Square was long. Next time I stay in Venice it will be in the city itself.

Thanks everyone. I did find a hostel in the city itself. It still cost me much more than a homestay in the center of Florence, but I bit the bullet.