Venice: Staying on Giudecca

At http://www.actv.it/en/movinginvenice/waterbusservicetimetable, look at the schedules for lines 2 and 4.1. San Zaccaria to Guidecca on line 2 takes about 15 minutes. There is late night (N) vaporetto service on a less frequent schedule. I think that location is fine if you're usually happy to stay out all day, through dinner, not needing to return to your room in the afternoon.

The Molino Stucky Hilton on Giudecca has a free shuttle across to Venezia that leaves from the hotel. You can check with them about the hours of operation. Don't miss the Hilton Skyline roof top bar with the great views, especially at night. You don't need to be a guest of the hotel to enjoy the bar or the shuttle. We used the vaporetti for most travel around Venice. Seven days seems a bit long for Venice, IMHO, but you can take a day trip via train to say, Florence. Check out www.seat61.com for booking Italian train tickets.

And don't lock yourself into "budget" which are really just "guesstimates."

Spend what it takes when you're there to do everything you want. If need be, eat takeaway meals from grocery stores or small vendors as Rick suggests to save some money.

Thanks for the tips! That's a huge money-saver! I'm actually going to be in Venice for 4 days, but the card jumps from a 3-day to a 7-day—no 4-day option, and the 7-day is cheaper than buying a 3-day and a 1-day.

Giudecca is quite a long and wide island group with several vaporetto stops in addition to the Molino Stucky, and some of them see more boats than others. You will want to be sure which stop and boat you will need.

If you are saving a boatload of money that's great, but do realise that you will have to commute to do everything.

I've over the years gone to 3 restaurants at various places on Giudecca and interestingly all were either closed or had vanished. There is not a great deal of infrastructure.

There's a good reason it's less expensive to stay on the Giudecca - It's not as enjoyable as staying on the main island. Can you enjoy your visit if you stay there? Yes. Would you enjoy it more if you stayed on the main island? Almost definitely.

for the vaporetto card remember that it starts counting hours (not days) when you first swipe it. The 3 day may actually work out for you if your plans will allow it. I don't know about anybody else but the time spent on a vaporetto is NOT transportation but rather wonderful time spent being a Venetian. The Giudecca, as with every other neighborhood, is a captivating part of Venice. Enjoy!!!!

Don't bother with Guidecca and saving a little money. Your enjoyment is also worth something. Just stay on Venice Island and have an enjoyable time without having to worry about getting back and forth from Guidecca.

Personally, I would spend the extra money on a hotel in Venice proper/the main island. Commuting to/from everything is a bit of a pain. I'm sure you can find some cheaper hotels or b&b's on the main island and thus you can also save money on the vaporetto card. We often like to return to our hotel in the afternoon prior to dinner and it would be cumbersome (not to mention tiring) to stay in Giudecca and commute back and forth. Just my two cents!

Jeff, stay on the main island and enjoy yourself being able to stop in room
at any time and no worry about late nite transport...we luv CaRiccio from
Cross Pollinate website...6 min walk to Rialto and 13 min walk to St Mark's
...only 108 euro inc great breakfast...nice room, clean and safe...going back
for 2nd time in May...Mike

My husband and I have been to Venice twice, the first time staying at the Hilton on Giudecca and the second time renting an apartment close to the Arsenale vaporetto stop. We stayed at the Hilton because we were able to use reward points for a free stay and I complained about being so out of the way prior to the trip. Honestly, with the shuttle service it was not that bad and I would do it again as a way to save money. I think that staying in Mestre would be much more detrimental. The shuttle ran frequently and late in the evening so we were able to stay in the main areas of Venice as long as we wanted. I don't feel that I missed out on anything by staying on Giudecca and Venice is one of my favorite cities.

Just be aware the Giudecca is much more residential with fewer restaurants, etc. Our first night we got to the hotel fairly late and had not eaten and we did not want to take the shuttle to the other areas as we were exhausted from traveling. Our dinner ended up being much pricier than we were expecting because there were not many options available.

Thanks for all the replies. After reading everyone's comments, I decided to stay on the main island and found a nice place near Chiesa di San Giacomo dall'Orio. I'm so excited to see Venice!

We enjoyed that area of Venice. The large campo that sort of surrounds San Giacomo dell'Orio is a great place to just sit on a bench, enjoy a gelato, and watch the world go by. Have a great trip!