Cholula

I agree. If O2K says it's AOK then it's OK-Dokey with me.
I love Dovster like a brother but the whole Ramada/Denny's/Burger King thing has caused me more than one sleepless night.....

Canarsie

I have been able to walk on water long before I became a FlyerTalk moderator.

Of course, I always needed the assistance of a boat, boardwalk, etc. to do so.

Dovster

The Danieli and Westin Europa are both in the St. Mark's Square area. This is about as far from the Ai Mori as you can get without leaving the main part of the city.

BUT, as I said in an earlier post, nothing in the main part of Venice is very far from any other place. I generally walk from the Ai Mori to St. Marks. If you don't feel up to it, you can get on a vaporetto (water bus) and be there in a few minutes.

St. Mark's is very conveniently located to most of the places you will want to go in Venice. Our initial meet for drinks will be in St. Mark's Square. You are certainly going to see St. Mark's Cathedral, which is on one side of the Square. You are going to go to the Doge's Palace, which is right next to the Cathedral. If you are going to go to the violin concerts, they are about a 3 minute walk from St. Mark's. If you are going to the opera at La Fenice, it, too, is very close.

The places which you will want to go to which will require either a bit of walking or taking a vaporetto are:

1. The restaurant where will be having our Meet.
2. The Rialto Bridge (about half way between the Ai Mori and St. Mark's).
3. The Casino (close to the Ai Mori).
4. The Ghetto (close to the Ai Mori).
5. The train station (fairly close to the Ai Mori) -- you will have to get there to make the tour of Verona.

If you do decide to stay at the Ai Mori, remember that it is arranging a water shuttle for the Flyer Talk group which will take you to the Rialto and to St. Mark's.

Unfortunately, I have never stayed at either the Danieli or the Westin Europa, so I can't answer your other questions about them.

Dovster

Gee, it's a good thing that I haven't told you about my liking Quick's (a French and Belgium imitation of McDonald's), gulping down bratwurst -- or even better, krakauers from German kiosks, and stuffing my face with chocolate-filled pastries from neighborhood bakeries in Milan.

Suffice it to say that the UIG, who actually goes out of her way to buy organic green and red garbage, figures I have no chance of being killed by smoking because my diet will do me in long before the tobacco has a chance.

Dovster

If you think you will be doing a lot of travelling on the vaporetto, and especially if you will also be going to a lot of museums, you might want to look into buying the Venice Card.

It becomes an especially good bargain if you buy it on line, at least two days early, as the prices are sharply reduced for 3 and 7 day cards.

Keep in mind that a vaporetto ticket costs Euro 3.50, so if you will be using them quite a bit, they add up quickly. (I don't use the vaporetto much, as I like to walk -- and there will be a free shuttle from the Ai Mori -- but others might not feel that way.)

The Venice Cards can be bought for 1, 3, or 7 days. They are available in Blue (free vaporetti and use of pubic toilets) or Orange (free vaporetti, free admission to about 10 museums, including the Doge's Palace, and free admission to the Casino's gaming rooms.

If you want to save some money and not take a water taxi from the airport, but instead go on a shuttle, you can get a Venice Card which will include the shuttle in both directions.

Prices: One day Blue: 14 Euro. With airport shuttle, 34 Euro.
One day Orange: 28 Euro. With airport shuttle, 47 Euro.

Three day Blue: 27 Euro. With airport shuttle, 47 Euro.
Three day Orange: 46 Euro. With airport shuttle, 64 Euro.

Seven day Blue: 49 Euro. With airport shuttle, 68 Euro.
Seven day Orange: 66 Euro. With airport shuttle, 84 Euro.

Okay, one last thing -- how it works on the vaporetti. You are supposed to buy a ticket and put it into a machine to have it stamped when you board. You have to keep the ticket with you for the entire ride. Then you throw it away.

If an inspector comes on and asks to see a ticket, and you don't have a newly cancelled one with you, you are subject to a big fine. In real life, although I must have taken a vaporetto at least 50 times, I have never been asked for my ticket. I am not recommending that you go on without a ticket, just making an observation.

Punki

Can you actually take a water taxi from the airport? With luggage? If so that is way cool.

How long is the walk from St. Marks to Ai Mori? If it is not raining, I don't mind walking a couple of miles.

Dovster

You certainly can take a water taxi. It will hold about 4 people with their luggage, but costs quite a bit more than the shuttle. On the "plus" side it will take you directly to your hotel. The shuttle will make a few stops before arriving at St. Marks Square.

I'm sorry, but I can't help smiling at your second question. It is impossible to tell you how far anything is from anywhere else in Venice. It all depends on how you walk there.

Venice is not a city of streets. It is a city of tiny alleys, most of them not going more than a hundred yards or so. You can never, ever, walk in a straight line from one place to another. You will get to one alley, walk a few minutes, then find yourself turning left or right, and repeating this over and over again.

Rule number 1: Never leave your hotel without a city map!

Rule number 2: Know approximately where you are going. Then, start looking for signs to major spots. If you are going to either the Rialto or San Marco, you will never have a problem. At the end of almost every alley you will see arrows pointing with "Per S. Marco" or "Per Rialto". When you get closer to your goal, there will be more specific signs.

If you wanted to walk from San Marco to the Ai Mori, you would first follow the signs to the Rialto. When you get to the Rialto you will have two choices: Either stay on your side of the Rialto bridge and turn right or go across the bridge . Either way, you will look for signs that say "Per Ferrovia". This will head you towards the train station.

If you did not cross the Rialto, before you get to the train station, you will see signs "Per il Ghetto". If you did cross the Rialto, you will get to the Scalzi bridge and you will have to cross that. When you get off the Scalzi, you will turn right and follow the signs for the Ghetto. You would then walk through the Ghetto Square, get to Fondamenta degli Ormesini, turn right, go to Calle del Forne, turn left, go to Fondamenta della Sensa, turn right, and be at the Ai Mori.

Sound confusing?

Yup, it is. But that is the great part of Venice -- wandering through all of these small alleys. Every time you think you are hopelessly lost, you will wind up near some major landmark, find it on your map, and re-orient yourself.

I imagine that if I added up all the days I have taken in short visits to Venice, they would total about three months. Do I still get lost there? Almost every time.

At the very worst, you can always ask somebody where the Vaporetto is -- you will never be a long distance from a vaporetto stop -- and wind up taking it to a stop (one of two from different directions) just a few minutes walk (through more twisting alleys) to the Ai Mori.

Punki

OK, so if I had a map, and understood what I was doing, how long would it take me to walk from St. Mark's to the Ai Mori?

I don't suppose we would really mind wandering around Venice totally lost for three days, as long as we could from time to time find food and drink. But, we would not want to pass up the opportunity to meet new FlyerTalkers and hook up with those wonderful FlyerTalkers that we have previously met.

SanDiego1K

Punki, Jailer stayed at at least one if not both properties in the last month. He posted a report in Trip Reports. stimpy posted a report on the Danieli.

Cholula

Excellent reports! Thanks for sharing.
Jailer could rival Dovster as a journalist.....
And stimpy is an excellent writer as well.

Dovster

Firstly, there is no if I had a map -- you have to have one. Fortunately, good maps are free everywhere. You can get one at the VCE terminal (tourist info section), the train station, your hotel desk, or anybody else's hotel desk. Just ask and they will be happy to give you one, whether you are staying there or not.

Having done that, you have a chance of making it to the Ai Mori -- especially if you have gone on line to their site and found their set of instructions.

Depending on when you arrive, you may well not want to go to the Ai Mori right away. If you get there on the 19th, wait for us and we will meet you at the bar near your hotel.

How long will it take you to walk there? Having made the trip numerous times, being apt to get lost somewhat less than you, and being fairly immune to the lure of Murano glass stores, I could walk it in 30 minutes at a leisurely rate. It will take you about an hour and a half.

KathyWdrf

One thing you forgot to mention is that Venice is also a city of many small canals (in addition to the Grand Canal, which has only three bridges over it -- but they're big bridges). These small canals have small bridges over them. There usually are steps up and steps down each side of the bridge. So, you won't just be zigging and zagging, you'll be upping and downing as well. Great exercise. It's slightly inconvenient, however, to be climbing up and down the numerous steps of the numerous bridges when you're trundling your rolling luggage with you. But I managed OK on my last trip (in 2002).

Dovster

Kathy is absolutely right about the bridges, but you should be able to avoid them when you have your luggage.

To the Ai Mori: A water taxi will take you there directly from the airport. If you take the shuttle and then get on Vaporetto Line # 5, you will face only one small bridge after getting off. If you take Lines 1, 2, or 82, you will have two small bridges.

To Saint Marks: Between the shuttle stop and the Danieli there should be no bridges. I am not certain about the Westin.

I will be arriving by train, hence the situation is a little worse for me. I have one fairly large bridge to get across, but it has a place where I can roll my luggage. I then face three small bridges.

My way back will be the problem. I will be with the UIG who, with her bad knee, will not be thrilled about taking her bag over those bridges. Hence I will face them trying to roll my suitcase, her suitcase, and carrying my laptop.

I might even break down and take the Vaporetto.

KathyWdrf

I personally am not worried about the bridges and my luggage. The reason it was sort of a big deal on my last trip was that, on the last day of my stay in Venice, it just so happened that there was a vaporetto strike, or something like that. I could have paid for a water taxi but really didn't want either the expense or the bother. So I rolled my luggage all the way from Dorsoduro to the train station (I was continuing on to my next stop in Italy by train). That was kind of a worst case scenario. (To get TO Venice, I had taken the Alilaguna water bus, for about 10 Euros, from the airport to San Marco or someplace near there, then walked to Dorsoduro from there; some little bridges and the big Accademia bridge were on the route. In looking back, I wonder if maybe, if I had stayed on it, the waterbus would have taken me to Dorsoduro and saved me the trouble!!! My hotel was right on the Giudecca Canal.)

Anyhow, after managing all that last time, I'm sure I can cope with whatever I need to!

The waterbus mentioned above is a LOT cheaper than the water taxi, but not always as convenient.

platbrownguy

1) Junior discount for those under 29! ^

2) So I get in Friday morning and leave Monday morning... is the three-day Orange w/ shuttle good for 72 hours, or if I collect it Friday @ noon will it expire Sunday night some time? If it's good for 72 hours it seems worth it to get it with the shuttle included.

3) It's 39 Euro for the blue and 52 Euro for the orange... how much is museum admission normally? And they charge for casino admission??

Still working on the platbrowngal situation...