A room at the classy-but-cheap Hotel Bernardi-Semenzato in Venice.
The family-run Hotel Bernardi-Semenzato has made its reputation offering fine rooms packed with amenities at laughably low prices (oh: and canal views in the annex)
The Pepoli family runs a stylish hotel in a 16th century palazzo with four-star amenities and class—wood-beamed ceilings, antique furnishings, A/C, free WiFi—at one-star prices (just €44 to €90 for a double in 2011—at least online) just off the main drag between the train station and San Marco. Upstairs rooms enjoy higher ceilings and more light.
If I had to make a choice, I'd probably actually opt for a room in the dipendenza annex located a few blocks away. It offers the chance to feel as if you've rented yourself an aristocratic apartment, with parquet floors, 200-year-old iron chandeliers, massive fireplaces, and 18th-century ceiling frescoes.
Room no. 5 is on a corner with a beamed ceiling and fireplace, two-room suite no. 6 overlooks the confluence of two canals, and no. 2 overlooks the lovely garden of a palazzo next door.
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Details
Hotel Bernardi-Semenzato ★★
Cannaregio 4363-4366 - On Calle de l'Oca, a side street just north of and parallel to Strada Nuova
Vaporetto: Ca d'Oro
tel. +39-041-522-7257
www.hotelbernardi.com
€
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- If you're looking for a hotel near a particular sight, just go to that sight's page and, in the sidebar on the right, you'll see a list of all the nearby hotels (with "Reid Recommends" choices preceded by a little RR icon: ).
- The Venice hotel tax: As of 2011, Venice began charging a Visitor Tax. This is the city's doing, and it is not a scam (just annoying). All charges are per person, per night, for all guests over the age of 10, and the tax is charged for stays of up to 10 days. (There are discounts: Dec-Jan, 30%; Kids aged 10-16, 50%; Stays on the Lido or other outer islands, 20%; Stays in Mestre or elsewhere on the mainland, 20%.)
The cost breakdown is insanely complicated (varies with official clasification and rating cateogry), but general as of 2014:
- Hotels: €1 pppn (per person per night) per star rating. (So a couple [2 people] staying three nights [2 x 3 = 6] in a four-star hotel [6 x €4 = €24] would pay an extra €24.
- B&Bs: €3 pppn flat
- Apartments, residences, rental rooms: €1.50–€2.50 pppn
- Hostels/religious housing and agriturismi: €2 pppn
- Camping: €0.10–€0.40 pppn
Some hotels have folded the fee into their quoted rates; most properties tack it on as an extra when you check out. Just be prepared.
- Book ahead in summer and during Carnevale: Venice is way more popular than the number of beds it has, so while in the dead of winter you can often show up and find a good place to crash easily, the best rooms (and the best-value hotels) are booked well in advance for the summer months and the two weeks prior to Ash Wednesday (when Venice breaks out the fancy dress and masks for its famed Carnevale celebrations).
Same goes (though less so, and more at the chic and high end hotels) during the Venice Biennale art festival and the Venice Film Festival.
- Pay extra for A/C in summer: No matter what kind of lodging you pick, if it's summer (a) try to get a room with air-conditioning and (b) even if you can't (or you can but have a hankering for some fresh air) resist the urge to open the windows to your room.
Venice is, I believe, the primary breeding ground for the mosquito population of Southern Europe, and precious few Italian hoteliers have discovered that newfangled invention called window screens. Keep the windows shut, or prepare to be bitten.
(Also, carry some bug spray for those romantic canalside dinners outside. Trust me.)
- Avoid Mestre: Any hotels with an address in "Venezia-Mestre" is actually in the dull, modern, industrial suburb at the mainland end of the bridge over to the real, ancient Venice you came all this way to see. Do not stay in Mestre! You'll spend more time and money commuting each day in an out of Venice proper than you will save.
Other Venice links & resources
- Airport transfers: By land (to Piazzale Roma)
- Atvo.it (shuttle bus: €6)
- Actv.it (city bus: €6)
- Venice rail station
- Venezia Santa Lucia: Grandistazioni.it, Fondamenta S. Lucia (in the NW corner of the city)
- Vaproetto to San Marco: 1, 2, N
- Driving/parking
- Asmvenezia.it (Piazzale Rome garage: most central, €23–29; S. Giuliano lot: farthest, €12)
- Veniceparking.it (Tronchetto garage: fairly central, €21)
- Car resources
- Emergency service/tow: tel. 803-116
- Highway agency: Autostrade.it (traffic info, serivce areas, toll calculator, weather)
- Italian automotive club (~AAA): Aci.it
- ZTLs: Ztl-italia.blogspot.com (lightly outdated, but handy, links to cities' traffic-free zones)
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