Venice Two nights - hotel question

Here's one thought: What about booking a hotel right at Piazzale Roma? This is the large piazza at which the road across the causeway to Venice ends, and taxis and buses can swing through this piazza. There are several hotels right at this piazza. If somehow those skis can get into a taxi/taxi van, from the airport, then a taxi/van could transport you pretty much right to your hotel. You could then arrange with your hotel to get similar transportation to pick you up at 4:00 am on departure morning to get back to the airport. From that piazza you are on the islands of Venice, and can enjoy walking the streets, eating the food, seeing the sights, taking the vaporetto up and down the Grand Canal, and would not have to change hotels twice in two nights. I don't have a specific hotel on/near Piazzale Roma to recommend but others have done so on this forum and you could also look on booking dot com on their map and look for hotels at that location. (If you are taking the train from Val di Fiemme to Venice then I would suggest getting off at the Mestre station and taking a taxi to Piazzale Roma/your hotel from there. You can also get a taxi from the airport to Piazzale Rome/your hotel.)

I think the suggestion above is a very good one for your situation -- just one hotel, good airport access, easy walking or vaporetto access to sights in Venice for your one full day there. But you should get going earlier than 4:00 for a 6:00 flight. If that's a problem, then maybe the airport hotel would work better for the second night.

Kudos and best luck to your daughter!

I agree that it sounds like a good choice. Staying at the airport for a visit to Venice will be a bit cumbersome as getting back to your hotel during the day will be a bit of hassle.

Also, world cup in Val di Fiemme in early January. Is your daughter participating in Tour de Ski?

Venice is my absolute favorite place to visit and staying on the island makes it so much more enjoyable. You really don't need to stay at the airport hotel unless you just want to. We have stayed on the island and made a 6:00am flight before and its not that difficult. We arranged for a water taxi to pick us up at a small canal dock steps from our hotel at 3:00am and, walking from the dock to the airport, we were inside at checkin just a few minutes after 4:00. On that day our airline desk didn't even open until 5:00am (check your airline to make sure) so we were super early, which doesnt bother me at all. The cost of the water taxi to the airport has been between 100-125 Euro with our most recent trip being March 2018 and I think it is well worth that to spend an extra night on the island. I hope that you post an update on your experience. We are scheduled to return to Venice in late May 2022 and your observations and experiences would be appreciated. FYI- we usually stay at the Hotel Al Codega and they have been wonderful. Good luck and happy travels!

The suggestion to take a water taxi to and from the airport/your hotel is another great idea, given the amount of luggage that you all will be towing. One well reviewed hotel - a number of posters on this forum have stayed there and love it - is Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo. That hotel has its own boat dock on a small canal just off the Grand Canal. This hotel is perfectly located within a 10-20 minute walk of just about anywhere you might want to go in central Venice.

You all are so amazing to give advice! Thank you! I changed the hotel to one off the Piazzale Roma and feel so much better about it. I'm relying on creative italian taxi drivers to help figure out how to get the skis in the taxi but I think we can figure that out. We'll be dropping our rental car near the airport when we get there so we should have some choices. I cannot wait to experience Venice! And we will schedule a taxi for 3am because I too like to be early.

And the competition in Val di Fiemme is for women's nordic combined (ski jumping and then skate skiing). Our US team is young and small but determined. The italians have a great up and coming women's nordic combined team as well and we can't wait!

I would recommend the Hotel Dalla Mora. In the Santa Croce district, close to the train and transport to airport. Right on a small canal.

https://www.hoteldallamora.it/

Trip update. The advice was spot on. We stayed at the Hotel Santa Chiara in the Piazzale Roma and they arranged a shuttle van that could take the extra long skis and dropped us and picked us up right at the hotel. Highly recommend the hotel. Thankfully the trip went smoothly from a COVID perspective and we are now home having had a great trip (and I was able to see my daughter place 20th in the overall World Cup individual competition with 12th in the race - a good result!) Takeaways:
* Most places had no idea what to do with the vaccination card from the US but I smiled and pointed and said "Moderna, Moderna, Moderna" to each of the three entries. No real resistance except at the world cup where I was wishing I had the article and Ministry regulations that I had printed. They ultimately accepted them.
* We used the Abbott monitored COVID test that United Airlines accepts and it was very smooth and easy. Took the tests in the morning in case there was a hiccup and we would need to go search out a pharmacy. I also brought regular at-home rapid tests in case we felt ill.
* The airlines were a little confusing and seemed to suggest at times on their website that you needed to meet the requirements for the country that you were passing through (in our case Germany) but I do not believe that to be true. We needed to meet Italy and US entry requirements only because we never left the Munich airport and had boarding passes for the next flight.

* It was actually a treat to see so many sights without crowds. Minimal lines.
* We should have made dinner reservations when we stayed in Predazzo/Dolomites. It was busy season and we could not get a table a few times. Not a crisis but could have made it easier.
* Bring a lot of masks. And mints.

Thanks so much for the update. It is great to hear all went well.

And congratulations to your daughter - what an accomplishment!