Would like hotel recommendations for Florence, Venice, and Verona

You should consider buying a copy of RS Best of Italy book. Lots of helpful intel.

Venice: https://www.cortecampana.com/ is within your lower range budget. There is one flight of stairs up the elevator. 5 minute walk to San Marco but on a quiet street in Castello neighborhood. Very affordable. Grace and Riccardo are great hosts.

Since you like small B&Bs, you might like monastery stays. Very affordable. https://www.monasterystays.com/
I’m staying in monasteries in Florence and Rome in September. You might get better cancellation terms and extended stay discount if you book direct.

Water taxi’s are expensive plus they can’t get into all the canals. Vaporetto will take you most places on the Grand Canal. Plan to do some walking. You probably want to buy a vaporetto pass from the kiosk in the train station.

Have you searched the forum?
There are lots of threads with hotel recommendations for those locations.

Florence- we liked Hotel Berchielli. Friends just stayed at Hotel Paris and were happy.
Verona- Hotel Accademia
Venice- Hotel Ala, Hotel Abbazia, Ai Mori d'Oriente Hotel -diff locations, diff price ranges.

You need to read up on transportation in Venice.
You don't need reservations for vapoettos- it's like a public water bus, runs all day, many routes
Water taxi- yes reservation. Only useful if your hotel is on a canal.
All of the above are either walking distance from train station or right a vaporetto stop (Ala)

Go to Booking.com and do your research there.

Florence- Hotel Balesteri.
Venice- small hotels or BnBs near the main train station.

Like Horsewoofie, we stay in convent/monasteries. First time we booked thru monasterystays.com which is where I would look first even if you decide to book direct. In Venice Istituto San Guiseppe ( located on a canal midway between Rialto and San Marco ) and in Florence Casa per Ferie .. Borgo Pinti ( Can see the Duomo from some rooms, taxi driver said it was the best location in Florence ).. Price about 100 Euro per night.

You don’t need to be Roman Catholic or even Christian to stay there.

Thank you to everyone who has replied.

Horsewoofie, I looked at Corte Campana B&B, and it looks lovely and very convenient. We like to walk everywhere when we travel, and certainly plan on seeing a lot of Venice by walking. My only concern is about walking with luggage from the train station to our hotel. I recently read an article (forgot where) about the vaporettos being extremely crowded so that made me concerned about getting on them with luggage.

ChristineH, thank you for your suggestions. I have looked at all of them and will give them serious consideration. I especially like Hotel Berchielli in Florence. I use booking.com all the time. But I do like to get first-hand recommendations from people because I notice that booking.com always and gives only glowing reviews. So I wonder if they only show the best reviews and deliberately omit negative reviews.

geovagriffith and Stephen, I just saw your responses. Thank you so much! Will check them out!

Just saw this thread, but you might also want to check out Hotel Torcolo in Verona, Hotel California in Florence, and Pensionne Guerrato in Venice. Guerrato does not have a lift if that's a factor. I think the other two do, but perhaps I'm getting them confused with other places.

A private water taxi from the train station in Venice to your hotel anywhere will be expensive for such a short distance. Using the vaporetto with luggage has never been a problem for us. Maybe we've just been lucky. There are, however, a number of places near the train station that will only require a relatively short walk with luggage.

Thank you TC. I read on Trip Advisor that the vaporettos typically have standing room only. That's why I am a little hesitant to rely on boarding a vaporetto with luggage. So I guess you didn't have that problem? I will check out the hotels you recommend.

Claudia, I just purchased Rick's guidebook for Venice, which I can tell based on the sample pages that it will be very helpful for Venice. When I started planning our trip, I purchased Lonely Planet's guidebook for Italy. It doesn't have a lot of practical information for Venice, and I don't like LP's new format. I then purchased the Michelin Green Guide for Tuscany and The Rough Guide to The Italian Lakes but somehow neglected to purchase a Venice specific guidebook. Thanks for the reminder about Rick's guidebook!

Last spring we stayed at hotel Giulietta e Romeo in Verona and liked it very much. It should be close to your price range. I have recommended it to friends and they liked it as well. It is right off Piazza Bra, about a block from the Arena. It has an elevator, front desk staff were friendly and helpful, and had a very good breakfast included in the price. Contact the hotel directly as I don't think their 2025 prices are online yet. On my last two visits to Florence we have stayed at two hotels in or near your price range, an easy walk from the train station, near the Piazza di Santa Maria Novella on Via della Scala. There are lots of budget friendly hotels in this area. We stayed at Palazzo dal Borgo last year and at hotel Alba Palace a few years ago. Both had elevators and good breakfasts included. Here is a restaurant tip right in that area. We have eaten here several times and were never disappointed. It is a very popular place with the local residents. Lots of times there are lines waiting to get in, but we never had to wait long. They offer a daily lunch special which is varied and very reasonably priced, Ostaria dei Centopoveri. One nice area of Venice, that is near the train station but just a walk across the bridge is that of Santa Croce. Very convenient to both the train station or to Piazzale Roma if you are taking a bus out to the airport. Take a look at Albergo Marin.

A few years ago we stayed in a Convent in Rome and a Monastery in Venice, loved them: https://www.monasterystays.com/

We've since stayed in Rome with a larger budget for hotels but these are great!

Cheers,
Jean

So I guess you didn't have that problem?

No, not even when it's standing room only -- and that's usually the case. We each have one carry on bag and a slightly smaller day bag, so they are easy to handle. If you do stay at P. Gueratto, we can give you some directions for a short cut that will eliminate a bunch of walking with your bags.

Pat, thank you so much for your recommendations. I am especially interested in Hotel Giulietta e Romeo in Verona. It's in our price range and looks beautiful. The two hotels in Florence might work for us, and I appreciate the restaurant recommendation. Someone else recommended the Albergo Marin in Venice so that is a good possibility. I also really like the Hotel Antiche Figure but it is pricier than Albergo Marin. Trying to decide if we should have one splurge hotel (for us) on this trip. And if we do decide to splurge, I think Venice is the place to do it. Was there anything you didn't like about Albergo Marin?

jeanhol and TC, thanks for your helpful information! It's much appreciated! I'll check out the link to the monasteries; not sure yet if that's what we want to do but it doesn't hurt to check it out.

TC, that's good to know about the vaporettos and luggage. Maybe I'm worrying about that too much.

I really enjoyed staying at the Guilietta e Romeo in 2014. It was so long ago that I hesitate to recommend it. But it sounds like it's still going strong.

Hotel Pendini was our favorite hotel in June 2023 (Venice, Florence and Rome). Great air conditioning (100 degrees when we were there) and a good breakfast. I thought location was super convenient to everything too.

Estimated Prophet and sdw, thank you so much for your hotel recommendations! It's much appreciated!