Venice hotel for April

[foliedouce]

Can anyone recommend a hotel in Venice please?

3 nights in April, need to go to a place 45kms from Venice one day so near the train station would be nice but not essential.

Prefer boutique hotels to 5 star (not that my budget would go that far anyway!), ideally keeping per night cost below £250 but would go more for something special.

Ideally walking distance to the 'where the action is' (restaurants / bars etc)

Ta

[foliedouce]

Nobody? There seems to be a myriad of options and I'm keen to get a recommendation.

[Freakuk]

I've stayed at the Carnival Palace Hotel which was very nice if that's within your budget, not too far from the train station (10 min walk)

[foliedouce]

Freakuk said:

I've stayed at the Carnival Palace Hotel which was very nice if that's within your budget, not too far from the train station (10 min walk)

Looks bang on to the requirement and in budget as well - Many thanks

[sjabrown]

I stayed in Hotel Al Sole last autumn. Not the poshest, but found that we spent very little time in the hotel between seeing the sights, eating late, enjoying the atmosphere. About 5 mins from train station. Nothing is too far away in Venice.

[Twin2]

I stayed here in January with my girlfriend.

http://www.sancassiano.it/

I was pretty basic because we're poor students (obviously, going on holiday in January) and only paid something like £120 for 3 nights including breakfast which was smashing!

It's right on the canal, about 5 minute walk from Rialto.

Regarding the train station, your best bet would be right in the centre of Venice so that you can walk anywhere in 20 mins, then you can get a water bus to the train, they appear all the time and are pretty cheap and relaxing.

[GuinnessMK]

We stayed here last year; http://www.carltongrandcanal.com/

Directly opposite the railway station, but nice place to stay.

[NNH]

We stayed at the Hilton Molino Stucky in February for my wife's birthday. It's across the big canal from San Marco, but the hotel has its own free boat service which adds to the charm!

[foliedouce]

Thanks for the input guys, we ended up booking http://www.thegrittipalace.com/ which is he complete opposite to what I wanted and over budget, but hey ho, happy wife, happy life and all that.

Any suggestions on good places to eat and 'romantic' stuff to do - I'm assuming a gondola ride is a must?

[boyse7en]

No, I wouldn't touch a gondola with a barge pole. From memory its about e80 for a half hour, more if you want singing.

[foliedouce]

boyse7en said:

No, I wouldn't touch a gondola with a barge pole. From memory its about e80 for a half hour, more if you want singing.

I appreciate it's expensive but surely it's one of the 'must do' things in Venice?

[The Leaper]

You will see tourist couples waiting around the gondola pick up areas and so you can do a deal and go as a foursome sharing the costs. Not utterly romantic but still good. We joined a couple from Canada. This was 25 years ago when the price then was around 60€

R.