Venice View On Grand Canal 1 by Wonderful Italy

The location is handy, right by the train station, but there are plenty of other hotels nearby and I’d choose one of them next time. The housekeeper was very loud every morning, banging around downstairs, slamming kitchen cupboards, moving furniture and even whistling. At 10:03 on checkout day she kept banging on our door while we were just gathering our bags and heading out. Check-in is arranged through WhatsApp, which seems common at Italian hotels. But if you’re not used to checking messages there, it’s easy to miss the instructions. One night at 10 pm, my husband and I helped an older couple who couldn’t get their room code because nobody was available online to contact. We tried for an hour, but they ended up spending the night in the lobby, despite having a room ready. If guests have paid in advance through hotels.com, the hotel should make sure they know how to get in and be reachable for emergencies.

We spent March 13 to April 10 here and would stay again. Being close to Piazzale Roma and the train station is ideal for getting around. The apartment has a great Grand Canal view, and Campo San Geremia and Chiesa Dei Santi Geremia e Lucia are about a minute away on foot. There are a few restaurants in the Campo, and we especially liked Ristorante Pedrocchi. Just off Campo Geremia, there’s also a large park where you can relax away from the crowds. Getting there from the train station was easy, about a 5- or 6-minute walk from Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia, with no bridges to cross. The directions were accurate, and it wasn’t hard to find our way through Venice’s streets. Check-in is listed for 1500, and the access code arrived right at that time, so plan around that. There’s a short flight of stairs in the building before the elevator. The apartment is well equipped for a stay, with A/C, a heater, WiFi, a reefer, microwave, oven, dishwasher, pots and pans, dishes, cutlery, toaster, and a TV with lots of channels. The washing machine is on the ground floor. We needed to buy dish soap, paper towels, and sponges. There are two terraces, a large one off the living and dining area and a smaller one by the kitchen, plus a tiny balcony off the main bathroom. Shutters on every window keep out the sun if you want to sleep in, or help keep the place cool when sunlight hits the south-facing side over the canal. A couple of things didn’t work well. The refrigerator door wouldn’t close properly, and the freezer was solidly iced up when we arrived, with water in the fridge. It was defrosted the next day, but had frozen over again within two weeks. The elevator also stopped working on April 1 when I was taking laundry down. Since it was Saturday, it wasn’t repaired until Monday. It can get noisy across from a vaporetto stop on the Grand Canal, since the boats run all night. The loudest part was when they backed up to tie in, and there was plenty of traffic noise during the day too.

The canal-side setting was lovely, and the area felt nice and private. We could hear the boats, but the view made the noise easy enough to live with.

Great views from the apartment, and checking in was easy. Restaurants, the train, and the pier are all within walking distance, so getting around was convenient.