Hotel Gritti Palace, Venice

Advantages: Location, decor and super-efficient concierge
Disadvantages: Pricey for some

...The Londra Palace is one of the oldest hotels in Venice, having first opened its doors in 1860. Perhaps its most famous visitor, at least in terms of what he did there, was the Russian composer Tchaikovsky who actually wrote his Fourth Symphony there. Having just heard a rendition of this work by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Torino it somehow seemed appropriate to stay there. An initial word of caution. If you ever arrive in Venice in the middle of a storm, maybe it is best to avoid a water taxi. Quite apart from the prohibitive fares (a typical two mile or so ride from the railway station to Piazza San Marco will set you back over £40) it can be DANGEROUS! The boat lurches like a bobcat when it moors beside a jetty and as the driver hols you have to jump onto a rather narrow and possibly slippery pier.... one step wrong... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Central location, clean
Disadvantages: Food, rooms

...We stayed at this hotel in London a little over a month ago now for two nights, we chose this hotel mainly because of the central location and because it was only a ten minuite walk from the show we had booked to go too. Check in was very quick - About ten minuites and the staff at the reception seemed very friendly. My first thoughts on the hotel was that it looked really clean and that it was nicely decorated and it looked modern. I was a little dissapointed with our room as it was very small and basic, our room had a double bed, tea and coffee making facilities, a tv with satellite and a small, basic en suite bathroom with a shower. The views from our room very very poor - A block of offices which made our room dark as they were so close. The hotel has two bars and two resturaunts, the bars were again nicely decorated... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great hotel, great location?
Disadvantages: Perhaps too big!

...Last year in the Sunday supplements I read about the new Hilton Hotel that had just opened in Venice and they had comments on the wonderful views and the roof terrace. As we had booked to visit Venice in March of this year, and had been several times before this was an opportunity to see another view of Venice from a different area. I had read that it is a large hotel and thinking about Venice and the size it must be out of the main Venice tourist area, we had not seen any building work on that scale the year before. The Hilton hotel is in the Giudecca area of Venice away from St. Mark's Square. We had to catch a water bus from San Zaccaria, over to Zitelle and then just wondered along until we arrived at the Hilton which is the other end of Giudecca Island. They do say that Elton John has a house in this part of Venice... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful