Venice after RS Family Tour

Due to an big difference in cost for our tour this year, my husband and I will be staying in Venice 3 nights after our tour but then taking train back to Rome to fly back. I don’t have much else booked/planned yet but taking train back to Rome or Florence to get to a bigger airport seemed more efficient for us.

"I'd check with the RS Tour peeps; I'm thinking that they might be able to line it up for you; maybe small fee?"

The office does not assist with pre or post-tour stays.

"How do I make pre- or post-tour hotel reservations?

We can't make additional hotel reservations for tour members. We recommend booking additional hotel reservations through email or the hotel site's secure booking portal;

The office used to have travel consultations in person but the website now says this: "To meet staffing demands, we've suspended all Consulting Services until further notice."

Nancy, I was on the Best of Italy tour in 2022 and stayed at Hotel Serenissima near San Marco square. I liked the location, the hotel breakfast was phenomenal but my small single room smelled a little musty. Not sure I'd stay there again.

What a fun time you will have!

I’ve flown out of Venice twice. If you do, book a mid morning to early afternoon flight. First time we took a water taxi; second time I was solo and took the Alilaguna water bus. First is the fastest option. The water bus was faster than the land bus because I was staying in Castello so would have had vaporetto time to the land bus. Plus I allowed time.

If you get the more common 6 am flight, stay the night before near VCE. Also, because cruise ships had dropped passengers off at VCE, security on my last trip was backed up with a line half way though the airport.

Have your son and grandson been to Venice before? As hectic as it can be, maybe consider staying in San Marcos, close to all the tourist spots. The first trip in 2019 we stayed at Rosa Salva Hotel. It was a nice moderate priced hotel then, ratings look good for now.

I know other posters have favorite hotels. As a solo traveler I now stay at a small B&B in Castello, B&B Corte Campana, cheaper than a hotel and owned by a wonderful couple.

I’m sorry for the loss of your husband. But am happy you are traveling again. 25 Rick Steves tours must be a record!

The folks at Venice for Visitors have been maintaining a blog since 1997. I have always found their website informative. You will see a link prominently on their page to different types of hotels - near airport, etc.

I have been on 10 RS tours, three in Venice. I found the hotels interesting and acceptable on those tours, but more info and other perspectives may be helpful. I love arriving in Venice by train. Enjoy!

When I took the RS Venice, Florence & Rome tour many years ago, we stayed at Pensione Guerrato, very close to the Rialto Market. I believe they have no elevator, if that is important to you. Last year in October, I stayed at Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo with my family. It is a short walk (no bridges or steps) from San Stae vaporetto stop. The orange line of the Alilaguna boat to/from the airport stops there. It is also a short walk (or vaporetto ride) to the train/bus station, if you choose to take the land bus to the airport.

My condolences and welcome back to travel.

Is this your first time to Venice as well? I have also stayed at Pensione Guerrato, and closer to St Marks at Hotel Becher.

A couple considerations for you come to mind. The first is, what is your luggage situation and how comfortable is the group walking with said luggage? If the answer is not that comfortable, I would look for a hotel close to a water taxi or vaporetto stop.

The second consideration is your limited time and which locations you plan to visit. I suspect St Mark will be a primary area, especially for first time visitors. We really enjoyed being so close to the heart of Venice during our recent stay at Becher. Guerrato is charming, but quite far from the big highlights other than the Rialto. My recommendation is to try to stay near St Marks to limit your steps. The good news is that the city is incredibly walkable. Getting a bit lost is part of the fun.

Just throwing this idea out there, since you’re on the West Coast like we are. Most of our tour group had to leave our Venice hotel in the very early hours to get to the airport (think 4am). We didn’t want to do that, so we booked a short, late afternoon flight to Munich, spent the night and then took a non stop flight to SFO. Highly recommended. Gave us an extra morning in Venice. Other airports which would have worked were London Heathrow, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt.

There are flight options that depart VCE after 10AM that reach SEA with just one stop and do not require an overnight along the way.

The 6AM flights tend to be the cheapest and a lot of folks are price sensitive so opt for that (ugly) early departure.

Be sure to scroll through ALL the choices. Some are a lot more for a later flight, some just a bit more.

Thanks for all of your responses! You’ve given me some good food for thought and helped me get back to my travel planning comfort zone. I think that Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo would be a good choice for us due to its convenience to a vaporetto stop. We all travel light, but a shorter distance dragging suitcases is appealing. We’re good walkers, so I don’t think the distance to attractions will be a problem.

I’m absolutely not booking a 6 a.m. flight! Thanks for the heads-up on that. Fortunately, I do have better options to Seattle.

Thanks again for lending an ear and offering some good suggestions.

I am happy to help hold your hand, Nancy. 🍀

We have spent a lot of time in Venice, most recently this past September with our son and his family (my twin grandsons, age 11). They chose Venice to fly home from after our time in the Dolomites, and only had 2 nights. I helped plan their one full day there, and chose a hotel close to Piazzale Roma to make it easy for them to get to the airport for an early flight (6:30 am). Their hotel booked a taxi for them for 4 am and that all worked out well.

I have some fairly strong opinions about transport modes around Venice—-for example, I would be leery of planning to catch the Alilaguna to the airport at certain stops on the Grand Canal (San Stae and Giglio). When we last took the Alilaguna, we boarded at Rialto and the boat filled up right there. They had to leave people standing on the dock with their luggage at the stops after that. I have no idea how long those poor folks had to wait for another boat, but I certainly felt sorry for them. Maybe that was an unusual situation, as we were in one of their smaller boats, but it just made me wary of the Alilaguna in general. For that and other reasons I do not recommend the Alilaguna any more.

I won’t go into more detail on hotel location, sightseeing, and getting to the airport until we know what time your flight departs. Have you booked that yet? If not, do heed Joe’s advice and avoid the early morning departures. The Venice airport can be very crowded in the mornings, especially during cruise ship season, and the lines to check bags in particular can be very long. Three hours in advance is the recommended time if you are boarding a flight heading to the US, or even a flight to LHR or other airport to connect with a US-bound flight.

I took a quick look at British Airways (they show American Airlines too) and noticed there is an AA flight departing at 12:15 to Philadelphia, where you have 3 hours before the connecting flight to Seattle, arriving here at 21:33. That is pretty ideal in terms of departure time and connection time. The arrival in Seattle is a bit late, but at least you can just go straight to bed. There is a British Airways departure from VCE at 12:45 that gets you to Seattle earlier, at 17:45, but the connection time at Heathrow is only 2 hours, and after our experiences over the last 3 trips to Europe in 2022 and 2023 I would not be comfortable with only 2 hours before the long-haul flight back to Seattle.

I am sure there are other airlines with comparable departure times as well, so look around and do not be lured into a bad flight by a low price.

Lola,
My flight back to Seattle would probably be around 11 a.m., which would mean being at the airport by 8 a.m. I’m completely unfamiliar with the Piazzale Roma area and I don’t see any mention of it in my guidebook. Do you have a hotel you recommend?

Piazzale Rome is on the mainland, across from the Santa Lucia train station. I would rate the area somewhat lower on charm.
We love the Cannaregio area in Venice, and stay at the Hotel Ai Mori d'Oriente. It's on the quiet back canals, you can take sunset pix without people in them. It's only a ten minute walk to a vaporetto stop on the Grand Canal.
Have a great trip!

Piazzale Roma is in Venice proper, southwest of and not far from the train station (Venezia Santa Lucia). I believe that's the starting point for the buses to the airport, so it would be a convenient place to stay with only 1-1/2 days in the city and (I assume) a flight to catch. But it's across the long Constitution Bridge from the RR station, and that's not ideal. Then again, if you arrive by train (I'm guessing) and depart for the airport by bus, you'll either have to walk across that bridge or deal with a vaporetto on your arrival day or your departure day.

There are a lot more hotels northeast of the train station than over near Piazzale Roma.

My flight back to Seattle would probably be around 11 a.m., which would mean being at the airport by 8 a.m

How early you have to be at VCE will be dictated by where that 1st flight goes. If it goes to (e.g.) AMS, FRA, MUC , 2 hrs would be adequate. It it goes to LHR or USA, then the 3hrs ahead would be advisable.

hey hey Nancy
welcome back
how old is your grandson and what does he or your son want to see/do in venice?
even if a short time enjoy it. remember when taking train from florence, book ahead for cheaper fare, plus check-in to hotels are usually 3-4pm, no early train out of florence (firenze santa maria novella to venezia santa lucia).
we like to stay near train station (to the left side is canareggio area), early check in if possible or drop off bags and roam around. get lost, you will, the fun adventure of it. lots of shops and restaurants along the rio tera lista di spagna
hotelagliartisti.com (triple: 1 twin 1 queen free breakfast or quadruple 2 twins 1 queen)
hotel II mercante di venezia (offers 3 twin beds)
albergo al gobbo (3 twins or 1 twin 1 queen)
albergo marin (3 twins or 1 twin 1 queen) across hotel carlton capri down alley way from grand canal
hotel carlton capri (3 twins or i twin 1 queen) we stayed her few years ago. across train station over bridge and down alley way to end, from grand canal.
always look at cancellation policies/non refundable. just a few places to check out, budget friendly and the beds in room, some have breakfast included. just check prices
Lola always has great info, she travels a lot and has been through up & downs. i totally agree with her about the alilaguna. we avoided it, gets so crowded/pushing and shoving/holding tight to luggage and your family, getting off is another "bear" all in a hurry, if full they pass your stop.
since we had a a group of 4 we took the private water taxi and split it (120E) was worth every euro and no stress/hassel. pick you up at stop, put luggage in and away you go straight to airport (many are right in front of train station, so easy)
motocafivenezia.it or venicelink.com (under shuttle) if you decide to reserve or just pick one in front of train station.
save some money in a "piggy bank" to save it until your trip
agree with joe32F about time for airport, very early "dark time" is so so busy, because of the early morning flights to USA. been there done that, not again.
always come back with more questions, posters are here to help you out and give good bad and ugly
aloha