Venice hotel..stay in town or on water

I think the Grand Canal is in the center. Start with booking.com, assume you need 8 rooms. In Venice, mid price on the Grand Canal can be 300 EUR per night.

We prefer not staying on Grand Canal rather on a smaller canal. On our first visit we were on the Grand Canal and could not sleep because of the noise. It serves as a “major highway” in Venice with all that includes.

The Grand Canal is noisy and expensive. I stayed in Cannaregio at a hotel called Ai Mori d’Oriente and I would stay there again if I visited again.

April means Easter school holidays, so accommodation will be expensive and many rooms will have been booked months ago, so prices will be high.

We stayed at La Residenze in January which is recommended in Rick Steve's Italy book. It was on a lovely square about a five minute walk from the Aresenal water taxi stop and a 8 minute walk to San Marco square. It is a smaller hotel but lovely as it is in an old palazzo.

Your question is confusing. The whole of Venice is "on the water". It is a collection of islands separated by canals and connected by bridges. The "Grand Canal" is Venice's "main street", and runs in an S-shaped course through the centre.

As the others say, on the Grand Canal is more expensive and can be noisy. Choose a location on a smaller canal. DO NOT be tempted to pick a location on the mainland (Venice-Mestre)

This photo may help: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Aerial_view_Venice_07_2017_4995.jpg
You can see the Grand Canal as a wide S-shape. St Marks square is bottom centre, with the tower. The rail station and bridge to the mainland are at the top, at the other end of the Grand Canal.

Like Chris, I am confused by your question because all of Venice is on water and the Grand Canal is pretty much the center. I also do not know what you mean by moderate. If you mean mid-range by Venetian standards, I stayed at Hotel Ai Cavalieri di Venezia, which was excellent and in a quiet part of town. I have also stayed at Hotel Giorgioni, where I dealt with a single extremely rude staff person who put a damper on my stay but overall it was okay (the pool is tiny, if that matters), and the Hilton (gorgeous property on the water but not in the center). I have not yet stayed at Hotel Moresco, which I have heard good things about, because every time I try to book it, it is fully sold out. Good idea to go in April because the summer is Venice is a challenge.

I would recommend the Hotel Antico Doge. It is not on the Grand Canal but instead on a smaller canal, just a few minutes from Rialto Bridge. It is mid price and medium sized. Very nice accommodations and service staff. Right off a small, charming piazza with nice restaurants.

Awesome thanks so much