La casa del mercante Veneziano B&B

This was our fourth time staying here, and we'll be back. The owner is super friendly and happy to share local advice. It's clean and spacious, with large bathrooms. They're not en-suite, but they're for your own use, and that works for us. The location is away from the bustle around St Marks, but still close enough to walk there. The nearby arsenale stop also makes it easy to take waterbuses in any direction.

We enjoyed finding places to eat along Via Garibaldi where local venetians go. La Casa del Mercante is easy to find from the arsenale water bus stop, and a bus pass from piazza roma lets you watch Venice and the grand canal on the way in. Keep your luggage as light as you can, though. Getting around Venice with heavy bags when you don't know the way is miserable, and you'll want room to shop. This was our third Venice trip in ten years. On the first two we stayed near St. Marks, where hotels cost a lot and the rooms and bathrooms are famously tiny, so we wanted to try the Arsenale area and a B and B this time. Our room here made us glad we did. The bathroom is outside the room, which didn't bother us, and it's huge by Venetian hotel standards, clean, and has a bath. The room is simply furnished, but the bed and mattress are comfortable, which isn't always true even in some four-star hotels near St. Marks. The air conditioning is great, and there's a fridge plus tea and coffee supplies, so you can manage a bit for yourself. If you want luxury rooms that all look the same, this isn't the place. But it's clean, cool in summer, away from the St. marks and rialto crowds, and well placed for exploring on foot or by public transport. I'd definitely recommend it.

Lovely host, and a great place to stay while you're in Venice.

Really comfortable and accommodating, with a lovely, helpful host :)