Originally Posted by
mzzxx11
Thanks heaps, Perche. Very helpful.
When you've mentioned getting a taxi to Mestre you meant a car right, not some boat in the canals?. Sorry if the question seems trivial but haven't been there before.
Also, any suggestions on hotels to stay at which are near Via XXII Marzo or Strada Nuova? As I've mentioned, budget is up to 300EUR/night.
Cheers
Depends on where you stay.
A taxi is a car. A vaporetto is a water bus. A water taxi is a private, very expensive motorboat.
If you stay near the train station or near Piazzale Roma, you go to Piazzale Roma and you take a 15-20 minute taxi cab to Via Orlanda in Mestre on the mainland. Staying near either place is not recommended. It is only for people just looking to get in and get out of Venice, and not to enjoy the nicer parts of Venice. The train station area is horrendous and touristy, and Piazzale Roma a few blocks away is the only part of Venice with cars, buses, taxis, and smog. It's like not staying in Venice. These are just areas to get a taxi, bus, or train, not places to stay if the goal is to enjoy the best of Venice.
Right on via XXII Marzo is Hotel Saturnia. It's a nice hotel, with one of Venice's better restaurants. At that time of year it will be considerably less than your budget. You can walk from it to Piazza San Marco in 5 minutes. La Fenice is right around the corner, if there is an opera, symphony, or chamber music. I would never recommend staying in such an area anytime other than in January, because it would be too crowded, but in January instead of waiting an hour or two to get into Basilica San Marco, you'll be able to walk right in with no wait. Other nice places in that area, like Gritti, or Bauer Palazzo would be over your budget.
If you stay at Saturnia you will need to take a vaporetto to Piazzale Roma, then a taxi to Via Orlando in Mestre. But you'll be in a nice area.
Strada Nuova is not a nice place to stay. Napoleon didn't like the fact that Venetian streets are topsy turvy, crooked, with many dead ends that made it hard for his carriage to negotiate. He basically plowed everything down in a straight path to construct one long street from near Ponte Rialto to the area where the train station now is, the point closest to the mainland. That ruined the areas character. It even has a McDonalds now. But, it's a reasonable place to shop for value, at least in Venice. It is all shops.