Venice: Cannaregio or San Marco to stay

I was in Venice for a week in May, and I stayed in a place that was only about a hundred meters from the Rialto Bridge. If I didn’t have earplugs I would not have gotten much sleep. Your hotel at St. Mark’s is going to be the same. It’s a constant River of tourists, plus the noise from all the restaurants and cafes. The other hotel is not on the grand canal, but is still on a canal, and a convenient location to a vaporetto stop, and some sights. So it will really depend on how important a good sleep is to you. Next time I go I will stay further away from the mobs. You aren’t going to spend all of your time in the area near your hotel.

We always stay in the Cannaregio area, and are heading back next spring. It's a beautiful, quiet area, and very peaceful all day. And- all the sites are very walkable, along with close vaporetto stops.
Have a great trip!

How are you getting to the city? If you arrive by train, the idea of walking a few hundred metres to your hotel from the station sounds very appealing! And if you are flying, the airport bus to P. Roma is walkable if you do not have too much luggage (about 1 km, but beware of the slippery-when-wet Costituzione/Calatrava bridge), or the Alilaguna airport vaporetto stops at "Guglie" in the canal where the Canareggio hotel is located.

We stayed in San Marco at the Residenza de l'Osmarin, which is not too far from the Hotel Concordia, from what I can see. It was very convenient and yet really quiet at night, as it was not on the Grand Canal, but on a much smaller canal. We loved it. So I would think the Hotel Concordia would be a decent option, also.

We always stay in Cannaregio. The one area in Venice we won’t stay is San Marco, more crowded with tourists, day trippers.

hey hey michelle
definitely cannaregio, stayed in this area twice and loved it. do you have a canal view? how many days will you be there? you will get lost, end of alley ways, don't fall in, turn around and take a zig instead of zag. i ate lots of tiramisu and drank much prosecco, even did a private taxi tour to prosecco road and hills
walk these back canals, cross the bridges, this is local family neighborhoods, small restaurants, shops, bars, quiet.
ristorante diana on rio della misericordia
we was roaming, found this place, outside seating, was fabulous. my traveling friend was diane so of course, brought tiramisu with candle LOL
cocaeta.com on fondemonta S, giobbe 549
canal cannaregio at crea stop "best creperie" in venice to bring you happiness
walk to rialto bridge, st marks square, the back side. not many people go this route but so much to see and do. ride a vaporetto down the grand canal but no worth staying right on it. it's loud, busy busy with every kinda boat on it like commute traffic all day
camacana.com
make your own venetian mask
streaty.com food tours in venice
schezzini.it email alessandro for time, cost and where to do a cicchetti walk (bar crawl) with wine, small bites, and history
take boat to burano (alongdustyroads.com/ burano italy guide)
isoladiburano.it/ trattoria alla maddalena (on your own, no tour needed)
took boat to mazzorbo's ferry stop, got off, had glass of wine and salami outside under umbrella. walked small island and crossed wooden bridge to burano. i love both islands, have lunch there and roam the cute place with pastel color houses
eatwith.com/ venice
click event type, if something interests you, have lunc/dinner in locals home, food tour, cooking class
how are you reaching venice from airport? once you walk out of train station walk straight ahead and your first gorgeous view.
aloha

I would stay at Hotel Concordia. We had lunch there on our trip to Italy and the location is great overlooking St. Mark's Cathedral. It would be very convenient to stay there because you would save a lot of walking. Many of the sights are right there and when you get tired you can easily go to your room to rest for a brief time before continuing your day. We stayed in a hotel near St Mark's Square and loved being in that area and enjoying the music and gelato there in the evening. It is easy to walk to the vaporetto from Hotel Concordia also.

We are staying in Canareggio at the moment and I think it is fine. It is close to Fondamente Nove and the vaporetti to Murano and Burano.

I would never stay in the San Marco area because we would have to fight through the hordes of day tourists - though it is not so bad now as in summer :-) We usually visit Piazza san Marco in the evening to enjoy the music and the ambience, but this season there is too much rain and it is too cold. Next time we will go closer to summer.

We prefer the Castello area, but that's just us.

For more perspective you might try https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/venice-hotels.htm

It's true that the streets around Piazza San Marco are among the most crowded in the city. I recently stayed in Cannaregio, and my immediate neighborhood was blissfully non-touristy. However, for many visitors--especially those on short visits--the San Marco area is a convenient location. That's the trade-off: a very crowded (potentially noisy) neighborhood--and a more expensive hotel--for less walking time to many popular sights.

Much depends on how you want to spend your time. I made one trip of 2-1/2 hours to St. Mark's but didn't go to any of the other museums in that immediate area. I'm a glass nut and went to Murano 3 times (visiting Burano and Torcello as well on one of the trips), so staying not too far from the Madonna dell' Orto and Fondamente Nove vaporetto stops with good connections to Murano worked well for me. For a more typical visitor, my Cannaregio location--which was rather far from the train station--wouldn't have been so ideal.

One thing you might do is zoom in on the Google map and see how many times you have to cross water to get from each hotel to some of the key places you want to see. Crossing water means going up and over a hump-backed bridge. After a day or two in Venice my travel buddy requested that I choose routes with the fewest bridges rather than the absolute shortest routes from point to point. (If you're young and fit, the bridges won't be an issue except when you are burdened by luggage.)

Venice is fabulous. I'm sure you'll have a great time there.

Cannaregio is an extremely charming and interesting neighbourhood where Venetians actually live.
San Marco is a tourist maze- the only reason to stay in San Marco is if you have mobility issues and can't walk far.
Remember that Venice isn't that big. You can easily walk from Cannaregio to Piazza San Marco - ad it will be a beautiful walk!

Enjoy your first visit to Venice!