This is not a question, but a review of our recent trip to Venice, Italy if you want some ideas of what to expect or to do…
We were there from May 2 to May 5…
Arrival: We arrived at 10pm via Lufthansa (Operated by Air Dolomiti from MUC to VCE). The Crowne Plaza provided a complimentary shuttle from the airport to the hotel. The driver was a little late. We called to confirm and they said he was on his way and showed up shortly. He then took us directly to the hotel...
Arrival Hotel: Due to our late arrival, we stayed near the airport on the mainland the first night at the Crowne Plaza. I cannot say enough about the Crowne Plaza. Flat out incredible. Nicer than the Bellagio in Vegas. We must have been given a King suite (Room 146) for some reason because we had a living room, bedroom, sitting area, and a bathroom that was made up of two rooms, a shower room with a sink and a bathtub/toilet and sinks. I’m sure the normal rooms are not this nice. The shower had an overhead showerhead, a wand, then a seat where jets hit you in the back and a waterfall effect came out of the side on top of your head. We have pictures if you are interested. Again, I’m assuming this is a suite which we did not pay for so I’m not sure what the rate would be. The gentleman who checked us in spoke perfect English. Our rate included two train tickets to the island, but not breakfast. They offer various packages. We booked through their website directly...
Day 1: The next morning we got our train tickets and walked to the train station, literally a 30 second walk around the corner. Don’t forget to punch your ticket at the yellow box!!! This is very important all over Venice as Rick states in his book. I think the train was about 30-40 minutes. You get on the train that everyone is getting on and you get off where it dead ends. We then bought the “Rolling Venice” pass for 4 euros each for youths (under 29) in order to get the youth 3 day vaporetto pass for only 18 euros each instead of the normal 31 euro! We bought it at the busy TI at the train station. It wasn’t that busy. Then we got on boat #2, the quick boat to San Marco. #82 that Rick mentions no longer exists. It was replaced by 2. We learned this the hard way. #1 is still the slow one that makes more stops. Again, don’t forget to punch it in the yellow box before you get on. You only have to do this the first time, then it’s good for 3 days...
Island Hotel: We got off at San Marco, near our hotel. We stayed at Corte Campana. We chose it based on the TripAdvisor reviews and it’s location, right near San Marco Square. This review is tough to write due to the extreme friendliness of Riccardo, the man who runs it. He is extremely helpful, speaks great English, and is a pleasure to talk to. We ended up leaving him our “Venice 2008” book because he asked if he could buy it from us. My wife spent a lot of time placing tabs for all the major attractions and was impressed with it. We just gave it to him as a “thank you” for his hospitality. Breakfast is included which consist of juice, coffee, yogurt, bread, and spreads. He also has a computer with free internet access which was great…
Island Hotel (Con’t): Unfortunately, now for the rooms. First, we were promised a double room with a bathroom in the room not only at the time of booking, but also 1 week before we arrived when we emailed to confirm. When we arrived, he had a “surprise.” Our bathroom was not in the room, but a private bathroom a few steps away. He admitted his mistake and gave us 25 euros off per night. Not a huge deal, but annoying. Second, it is on the 3 floor…6 sets of stairs. Not a big deal for us, but it may be for older people. Third, this place is old. The rooms are old. Maybe this is just the way all hotels are in Venice, I don’t know. The bathroom was small, but nice, seemed newer than the room, and the water pressure was great. All in all the room was not bad, but was not great either. The room was our least favorite of anywhere we stayed on our 2.5 week trip around Europe…
Day 1 (Con’t): The friendly Riccardo suggested lunch at “The Planet,” where we got pizza. It was ok, but I would eat lunch where we got dinner on Day two instead. We then continued the walk to the Rialto Bridge and the market. The Streetwise Venice map is a must! We never got lost thanks to this. Just buy it if you are going. The market is fruits, vegetables and fish. My wife bought a banana and we moved on. The post office is right here as well, so we sent some postcards. Then we walked back to the north shore (vaporetto stop Fondamente Nuove, A14 on Streetwise) of the island to take the 10-minute vaporetto to Murano. My wife wanted to see glass blown, however, when we got there, no one was blowing glass. It was a Saturday, but I heard rumors that it may have been due to the May Day holiday weekend. We were really disappointed. We walked around and then attempted to head back. This was a huge pain and frustrating experience…
Day 1 (Con’t): All we wanted to do was get on boat 41 or 42 back to the north shore. It came once and let about 10 people on because it was full. It took 40 minutes standing shoulder to shoulder with people in line until they sent an empty boat. We got on it, but instead of following the normal route, it went straight to the train station. We were just happy to get off of Murano. We then took vaporetto #2 back to San Marco and went up the Campanile. It was a good view and not ridiculously crowded at the top.
Dinner: We bit the bullet, and ate at one of the Cafés in San Marco square with the orchestra. Specifically, Café Florian. Actually, the food is relatively cheap at 9 euro for a panini. It’s the drinks that are outrageous. Also, there is a 6 euros cover for the music. We got tap water and a 7 euros Coke to share. Total, 33 euro with no coffee or alcohol. It was very relaxing sitting outside listening to the orchestra, right next to the Campanile. I’d say it was worth it...
Day 2: We went to Doge’s Palace for the Secret Itinerary Tour. They had one at 12:20, but the catch is that we couldn’t leave until the tour. We followed Rick’s podcast tour which was accurate (unlike Paris). We were hungry, so we just ate at the cafeteria there. The tour started out doing exactly what we did in our podcast and my wife and I almost ditched the tour. I’m glad we didn’t because we quickly went to rooms you can’t access otherwise. 90% of this tour is not accessible on your own. It was well worth it considering it was only a few euros more than the normal pass. See Rick’s book for guides on museum passes. We didn’t care to see the Correr, so we didn’t buy the pass…
Day 2 (Con’t): Next we toured the Basilica. We started off with the podcast, but we got bored, so we just walked around ourselves and left. We didn’t pay to see the extra parts. Maybe we missed out, but we wanted to see other things. We then took vaporetto #2 from San Marco to the train station (vaporetto stop Ferrovia) and got on Boat #1 and followed Rick’s Grand Canal tour. This podcast was great. We got off at the S. Toma stop and walked to the Frari and followed his podcast. This podcast was great as well. We then walked back to San Marco Square to see more of Venice. This was a long walk, but we didn’t mind. After a rest at the hotel, we were off to take a gondola ride. The thought of negotiating with the gondolier made my wife and I cringe. Fortunately, the first guy said 80 euro for 30 min, by ourselves, and that was fine with us. We had heard from others they were going for 100 euros, so it didn’t seem bad. It was nice and relaxing and he took us under the Rialto bridge…
Day 2 (Dinner): 1 block north of the north east corner of San Marco square there was a walk up café bar that sold paninis, so that’s what we ate. I think they were 3-5 euros each. Good and cheap. We were happy. It’s either on the corner of “S Basso” and “C. Larga S. Marco” or the corner of “Rizza” and “C. Larga S. Marco” on the Streetwise map. We got our paninis to go with a couple of Cokes and went and sat on the steps in San Marco square near the orchestra and ate.
Day 3: We had to leave early, really early. Out flight was at 8 in the morning. We got on the Blue Alilaguna boat (the only one with a pick-up at 5:50am) to the airport right next to the San Marco vaporetto stop. You buy you tickets on the boat for 12 euros each. It takes a little more than an hour to get there. Then it’s a 5-10 minute walk to the airport…
Other Notes:
Phone: We have T-mobile and activated their free world service online before we left. It worked great and it’s very convenient. Calls are $1/minute, but we would keep them short, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Overall Tips/Thoughts:
1. Vaporetto #82 no longer exists. It is #2.
2. Get the “Rolling Venice” and 3 day pass if you’re under 30. It’s a great deal.
3. Gelato stands are EVERYWHERE! Get some, it’s great for 1 euro a scoop.
4. If I had to do it over, I would have stayed at the Crowne Plaza on the main land each night and just taken the train in each day as long as the train ran late. Venice is by far better at night as Rick states.
5. Overall, my wife and I were not impressed with Venice. Everyone we had talked to before we left loved Venice. Some said it was their favorite place in the world. It was not for us. It was neat to see, but after a few hours, we felt we had seen it. We enjoyed Paris and Switzerland much more later on in our trip.
This site really helped me out before we left. Thank you to everyone who gave great advice and tips. I hope my experience helps others out. Please email or post if you have questions or want photos from anthing I mention.
Thank you!
Andy
