Blue Lagoon

We only found out after arriving that we'd be sharing the house with strangers and had to pass through their space to reach our upstairs area. There was no privacy, and the listing felt deliberately misleading. By the time we learned the setup, it was too late to do anything. A bad stay in an otherwise beautiful city.

We paid for two nights through booking-dot-com, but couldn't get in. The hotel's phone went unanswered after 18:00, and there was no way to check in later, so we had to sleep at another hotel. When we contacted them through Booking the next morning, they said there was no room for us, despite the one we'd paid for, and refused to return even half the money. Nicola is an angry administrator who doesn't seem client oriented at all. Highly unrecommended, the hotel stole our money.

We got around easily from the Giudecca Palanca water bus stop, which is only about three minutes from the hotel. You do need to take the Vaporetti to reach central Venice, but they're easy to catch. There's also an interesting little restaurant right next door where we had a delicious lunch. Our room was clean, tidy, and new, and there was a fresh smell as soon as the door opened. Nicola called before we arrived and offered us an earlier check-in. He was helpful, organized, and responsible throughout. The small house can be rented as a whole or by two people sharing it. The rooms are fully separate across two floors, with just the staircase, entrance door, and refrigerator in common, so read the description carefully. The kitchen isn't usable. My boyfriend and I stayed two nights and had a great time. Recommended!

The apartment itself was nice, and we were disappointed by how the stay was handled. We had carefully read the information and found nothing saying that cooking in the kitchenette wasn't allowed, or that booking a room meant sharing the apartment with other people. We only heard both things after paying, even though the kitchen restriction was crucial for us. When I raised it, the owner said it was our fault for not reading the conditions, and wasn't very nice to us. For that price, we could have found much better. I definitely don't recommend it.