Camping in Venice

Campeggio Marina di Venezia campground in Punta Sabbioni, Venice, Italy

Camping Marina di Venezia on Punta Sabbioni is one of the largest campgrounds in Europe—with room for 12,000, its own water park, 7 restaurants, 30 shops, and 1.2km of private beach.

Campgrounds around Venice, Italy

There are actually several excellent campeggi (campgrounds) ringing the lagoon of Venice—including one of Europe's largest. Rates range from €20 to €50 for two people in a tent; €30 to €80 for a bungalow.

There are no campgrounds in the downtown sestieri, of course, but there are several dozen on Punta Sabbioni (at the end of the spit of land enclosing the north and of the lagoon; sometimes called by the name of the nearby town Cavallino-Treporti)—plus one on the Lido (Campeggio San Nicolò; www.campingsannicolo.com). There are other, less well-sites options in Marghera and Mestre.

Both of these locations are close enough to vaporetto (water bus) stops that you can be at St. Marks within a half-hour of zipping shut your tent.

Here are some favorites:

Camping Miramare, Punta Sabbioni, Venezia

Camping Miramare (Punta Sabbioni) - Yes, you can camp in Venice! Or at least, you can camp on Punta Sabbioni, one of the long barrier islands between the open Adriatic Sea and the Venetian lagoon (like the famous Lido—in fact, it's the next one up from the Lido in the chain of islands). It's actually quite a nice little seaside campground. You can sit out on the beach and watch the sunsets, and there's a pizzeria-bar and an Internet point. There are also free bikes for guest use, and a free ferry shuttle to the Piazzale on Punta Sabbioni (or a ten-minute walks) from whence you can catch a ferry to downtown Venice in about 40 minutes... » more

Camping Marina di Venezia (Punta Sabbioni) - This is the biggest and one of the best of the dozens of campgrounds lining the Punta Sabbioni promontory separating the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. This place is one of the largest campgrounds in Europe. It's literally like a mid-sized town made up entirely of campsites. It stretches over 173 acres, can comfortably fit more than 12,000 campers, and features 30 shops and 7 bars & restaurants (not counting beach bars). It has an impressively-sized water park with six swimming pools, and a fabulous beach or yellow sand 200 yards deep that stretches for miles (of which 1.2 km belong exclusively to the campground)... » more

How to find campgrounds in Venice

Venice tourism (www.turismovenezia.it) - The Venice tourist office maintains a list of all 78 campeggi in the Greater Venice Area (click on "Cavallino-Treporti" for the 29 on or near Punta Sabbioni)—but that's all it is: a database list with basic contact, amenities, and price info. No pictures. No maps. They don't even hotlink the websites for you; you have to cut-and-paste them. Lame.
HostelWorld (www.hostelworld.com) - Yes, it has "hostels" in the name, but this site also lists several Venice-area campgrounds—as well as loads of cheap hotels, apartments, and B&Bs.
Camping.it (www.camping.it) - Database of Italian campgrounds. Big benefit: it's in English.
Campeggi e Villaggi (www.campeggievillaggi.it) - Another privately-run database of Italian campgrounds.
CamperOnline.it (www.camperonline.it) - In Italian (though you can get an English version of the menu—though not the content), but choc-a-block with info on camping and RVing all across Europe, including hundreds of country-specific links to tons of other useful Internet resources, free sites to park your RV, and on-line camping catalogues.
Camping Italia.it (www.campeggio.it) - An online booking engine for Italian campgrounds.
Touring Club Italiano (www.touringclub.it) - Italy's main automotive club (like AAA). Sadly, its website no longer lists campgrounds (at least not many, and not usefully for non-members). However, once you're in Italy you can pop into any bookstore and buy one of their excellent camping guidebooks.

Details, tips, & links

Italy camping tips

Camping in Italy is pretty darn cheap (the biggest attraction, really). It generally costs anywhere from $15 to $65 for two people and a tent, sometimes a wee bit more if you are in a campervan or RV.
Keep in mind when you're perusing prices that there are separate charges per person, for the site itself, for the tent, and for the car, (though the car and plot—called "piazzola" in Italian, often come packaged together under one price) so that €5 price tag ends up ringing in more around €18 to €32 for two people car camping with a tent—and that the highest prices are applied in July/August.
Most campgrounds are seasonal, shutting down from late September/early October through Easter-ish.
Many campgrounds also offer bungalows in case you didn't BYO tent. These run €30 to €100 (as high as €160 in popular areas in July/August).

Lodging links

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B&B
Apt
Hostel
Residence
Farm

General Venice lodging tips

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.