Riva Excelsior Apartment

We had everything we needed. The apartment was comfortable and clean.

We barely slept. The wire mattress was uncomfortable, there were lots of mosquitos, and the bedroom faced a school playground.

We picked this lovely, spacious-for-Venice apartment mainly because the neighborhood hasn’t been overrun by tourists. The renovated place is on the first floor of a building over 100 years old. The stairs up are fairly steep, and there’s no elevator, so that matters if you have mobility issues. The building and alley are generally quiet. A vaporetto stop, served by Line 1, is about a five-minute walk away. From there, it takes around 20 minutes to walk along the beautiful lagoon promenade to St. Mark's Square. A Coop supermarket, bakery, fruit and vegetable boat, other shops, and several restaurants, including some very good ones, are all within five minutes on foot. The shower and bathroom were perfectly adequate, and the internet was excellent. We didn’t use the TV, so can’t comment on it. We ate all our dinners at restaurants in Venice and didn’t try the kitchen equipment. There’s no view of the lagoon or a canal, but that didn’t matter to us at all.

The place itself was nice, but the kitchen and front doors were in terrible shape. The key the tenant gave us, about the size of a locker key, broke in the lock because both the door and key were in such poor condition. We got locked out and had to spend the night in a hotel. I can’t recommend staying here until the kitchen and entrance doors are renovated.