We are going to Slovenia July 31 and just decided to go to Venice next week for a couple days. What is the best way to get from Ljubljana Slovenia to Venice? I will look again at the questions (but there are so many pages), but what is a good place to stay for a couple days in Venice. I would like a 4 star hotel, but I would prefer not to spend more than 250 a night. Also, I would like to make reservations in next couple days, so what is the best way to do it? I would so appreciate any help, as I have heard wonderful things about Rick Steve's trips.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17600 posts
One possibility is the ferry from Piran to Venezia but it only runs on Saturdays, departing at 8:30 am so that may not work.
For hotels, since you want a specific category, I suggest you use booking.com to find availability, choose what appeals to you, and then book direct with the hotel. You can filter by stars, and then have the results displayed by price, from low to high. They are showing 80 4-star hotels, a number of which fit your price range.
Just make sure it is on the island of Venice, not in Mestre on the mainland.
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2699 posts
This transfer is easiest done by bus. It's about 3 hours...here's a link:http://www.drd.si/en/default.aspx?ID=199.
Posted by
California
146 posts
Just returned from venice earlier this month and stayed in the Cannaregio neighborhood. Arcadia boutique hotel. Not sure of the star rating, but it is rated #15 on tripadvisor and was just above your preference at $259/night. While it is more than I'd prefer to pay it was worth it imo. The price included breakfast and unlimited wifi which worked excellent.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
For booking hotels I prefer to book direct with them, unless I can get a better deal or better cancellation policy from another website.
When booking a hotel, I usually just e-mail them directly. Many hotels nowadays have an online booking capability, but particularly if you are not seeing availability for the type of room you want, or if you have a discount code, you can often do better with direct e-mail. I found this particularly in Switzerland; for whatever reason, the online booking on the hotels own website didn't show availability or good prices, but direct e-mail got me great results.
Be aware that star rating in Europe are different from those in the US. They relate strictly to amenities, not to luxury or even pleasantness. A lovely place with no elevator that serves only breakfast will get fewer stars than a dump with an elevator and full onsite restaurant.
I do agree that in addition to looking at Rick's listings, you should look at Hotels dot com or Booking dot com (for both prices and reviews), and check reviews there as well as TripAdvisor. Since Venere is an Italian website, that is also good for Italian hotels. Don't rely solely on any one source - cross check.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
Using a booking website will save you time, since you can filter by location, price, and amenities.