We have recently returned from another fabulous trip to Europe, this time spending 6 days in the Berner Oberland and then traveling to Venice, where we spent another 4 days. This trip report will cover the Venice portion; I have done a separate report for Switzerland. Warning: I write very detailed trip reports, for my own record-keeping as well as for sharing, so if you're not interested in all of it, then skim away.
Background
We traveled as a family of five: myself, my husband, daughter (14), son (13), and husband's mom. We are a fit, active group except for my son, who is mildly disabled. He walks, but slowly, and tires easily, so when we need to move fast or far we push him in a stroller – or, for this trip, a jogger because we needed the big wheels for hiking in Switzerland. The jogger was easy to maneuver in Venice except of course for the bridges, but we scoped out our walking routes to minimize bridge crossings, and my son did a few steps here and there with only a slight amount of grumpiness (he'd rather just sit in the stroller and be pushed around, which is a pretty awesome deal when you think about it).
We traveled the last week of June and into early July, right smack in the middle of a heat wave for the first week (thank goodness we were in Switzerland for the really hot part). By the time we arrived in Venice, temperatures were a more tolerable mid-80-degree range with some humidity, but not too bad. We had just one brief afternoon downpour on one day; aside from that, the weather was consistently sunny and warm, but not super hot.
Air travel
We flew open jaw out of Montreal, direct to Zurich, and then directly back to Montreal from Venice. The outbound flight was on Swiss and the return was on Air Canada Rouge (codeshare). All flights were on time with no hiccups. I am still in awe over the wonderfulness of direct flights – a whole level of air travel stress that was gone, poof.
Accommodation
We stayed in a wonderfully luxurious apartment right on the Zattere, within a few steps of the Spirito Santo vaporetto stop. https://www.vrbo.com/6424548ha I will note that we splurge on our accommodations when we travel. We do spend a good bit of chill-out time in the apartment, so I always look for one with a good view and/or a balcony so that we know we are "away" even when we're "at home." We also need an elevator for my son, and I found that in Venice, this requirement pretty much means spending more. Not an issue, it becomes part of our vacation budget, but it does mean that we spend more on lodging than we might otherwise, and we cut costs in other ways to balance out the overall expense of the trip.
Our apartment in Venice was a lovely treat. Super comfortable, with big, old, beautiful furniture, huge sofas good for sprawling, and a view out the windows and terrace that is to die for. The host was extremely helpful and responded immediately to a couple of questions we had during our stay, and check in and check out were flawlessly smooth. Transportation was so convenient, with the Spirito Santo vaporetto stop right outside the door, and the bigger Zattere and Accademia stops a 5-minute walk away. The Dorsoduro neighborhood was nice and quiet for walking, plenty of restaurants and gelato stops, and we loved watching the traffic along the Giudecca canal (although the cruise ships are just freakishly out of proportion when seen up so close; no way should these things be traveling within a few feet of Venice itself). We did make the mistake of spending one evening sitting out on the terrace without bug spray and lost a lot of blood to the Venetian vampire mosquitoes.
We would totally stay at this apartment again and highly recommend it.