Venice 2010

Guidebook corrections:

Please note: The following corrections were submitted by readers and have not yet been confirmed by Rick. Check updates from Rick for the latest.

"Le Chat Qui Rei" restaurant.

Prices have gone up. No longer the 5,00 Euro or so quoted in the 2009 Guidebook, pasta will run you about 6,50 Euro and it goes up from there.

Tonya in Phoenix, AZ USA 10/28/2009

The prices have gone up at some attractions (Academia)

Julia Bodson in Salt Lake City, UT USA 08/14/2009

Some of the prices of admission to the sites may have increased slightly.

Laura in Louisville, KY USA 06/05/2009

There is now a 7 day pass for the vaporetto for 50 Euro. This is better than having to get a photo and apply for a Venice Card. It also is cheaper if you take more than 9 rides.

Phil McAtee in Warner Robins, GA USA 05/08/2009

In reviewing the Tour information for Venice on page 44 of the Italy 2009 book, I thought the prices listed for the Artviva walking tours seemed high. I confirmed on their website that their prices are much more reasonable (i.e. lower). The Doge's Palace and St. Marks Square are listed at only 20 Euro per person.

Stewart Agreen in McKees Rocks, PA USA 02/26/2009

Directions to Hotel al Piave were confusing; we got quite lost trying to find it. The hotel itself was great.

evelyn lynch in hatboro, pa USA 10/25/2008

The fine for not having a ticket on the vaporetti is now 44 euro, up from the 36 listed in the book.

Hille in Neenah, WI USA 10/18/2008

8 euro to go up the campanile 12 euro to get Alilaguna water bus from airport (not 6 anymore) 4 euro to go up to the San Marco Museum in the Basilica

E Crowhurst England, UK 08/06/2008

The number 82 line for the vaparetto is now number 2; vaparetto maps still list it as 82. The new number 3 line is for venice residents only. This is as of July 2008. The Lace museum is closed for the summer.

tony in New York, NY USA 07/23/2008

No baggage storage at Campo Marzio in Vicenza! We just stopped for a day trip to Vicenza on our way from Venice to Milan and tried to store our bags at Hotel Campo Marzio as suggested in the guidebook. The lady at the front desk seemed put out that the recommendation was listed as she said they don't do that. Fortunately, we were able to get the TI to store our bags for a few hours; something they don't normally do. I would only do this day trip from a base in Milan or Venice and not en route from one town to the other.

David Barbrack in Sammamish, WA USA 07/09/2008

Add about the new Rialto Mercato stop (Route #1) for those staying at Pensione Guerrato. It saves you having to haul bags over the Rialto Bridge (not a fun experience).

For the Lagoon Tour, you need to more heavily emphasize that the arrival point at Murano is different from the departure point to Burano. We didn't pay close enough attention and ended up backtracking a good little distance.

The San Giorgio Maggiore church was NOT closed to sightseers on Sunday mornings during mass.

The Accademia Museum in Venice is currently undergoing renovation for some of the rooms, so a lot of the art has been moved around.

Michael in Seattle, WA USA 05/31/2008

Some prices have gone up. Also, watertaxi is really the only reliable (though VERY $$) way to get to your hotel from the airport, esp. if you don't know directions from where a vaparetto would drop you off and if you don't want to lug your luggage all over the city trying to find it.

Lindsay Kaun in Seminole, FL USA 05/18/2008

This guidebook was fabulous and paid for itself with one of your tips.

Patricia Kendall in Houston, TX USA 05/09/2008

Many prices have gone up since the publication of the 2008 Venice guide--such as the Chorus Pass (now E9), the vaporetto (now E6.50), etc. Also, obviously the value of the dollar to the Euro has slipped quite a bit. It was nearly $1.60 when we were there.

Cheryl Moody in Cheshire, CT USA 03/24/2008

Be ready for slight increases in many admissions and meals (one or two euros is common)

Brian Gulledge in Woodbridge, VA USA 02/11/2008

The owner of "Belle Arte Caffe" told me that the work on Accademia ans Della Salute was scheduled to go on for three years, so, Italy being Italy, we might expect it to go on for six years! (grin!)

Tom in DeKalb, IL USA 12/26/2007

Please clarify in transportation to Venice from Milan, the train connection from Malpensa airport. If is very vague in book whether you can get to Milan's Central Station from the train at Malpensa. You cannot, and it would have been nice to know that. Please explain that a connection must be made. Much simpler to take the €6 bus right from the airport to the central station.

Also a note about parking garage Tronchetto in Venice. Please clarify that the Vaporetto stop is outside to the left of the entrance to garage. We arrived late at night and the signs were pointing two different directions and it was very confusing. A single sentence clarifying that a vaporetto stop does exist and exactly where it is would have been helpful.

Kathy Smith in Benalmadena, Spain 12/07/2007

Rick's update for Venice 2008 mentions that no construction has started on MOSES yet. I just read an article from mid October, mentioning that construction is underway: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071020.VENICE20/TPStory/Environment

Steve in Bellevue, WA USA 10/30/2007

To buy a train ticket using a credit card on the Trenitalia site, you need to first contact your credit card company to let them know you are making this transaction. Otherwise it can be automatically blocked by your credit card company, and you get a strange error message on the Trenitalia site.

Doyle Johnson in Medfield, MA USA 08/27/2007

I would respectfully suggest to remove the Fondazione Levi from the list of your recommended accommodations for Venice. I found their cancellation policy outrageous. It is in poor English and worded in a contradictory manner. I did not receive it until after I gave them my credit card no. for the booking. In May this year I had to cancel a 5-day stay due to a medical emergency and called them 3 full days ahead. Regardless, they charged my credit card for the full 5-day stay. And that at the height of the tourist season when I am sure, they had no trouble reselling the room...

They tried to explain to me what their policy states was that if you cancel in less than 15 days before arrival, you are charged for the full stay.

This was in their email confirmation: "Our cancellation policy is the intere rate of the first night if you don't advise 15 days before the date of your arrival after this term you have to pay the all rate of your permanence here." I thought this meant they would charge for the "entire first night" if you cancel within the last 15 days.

Gabe Kish in Pacific Grove, CA USA 08/24/2007

Can't agree with recommendation for Al Vecio Pipa in Burano - it was HORRIBLE!

Jennifer Henry in Dublin, CA USA 08/14/2007

72 hour Vaporetto pass is now 30 euro but still well worth it. I highly recommend it for a 3 day stay.

Bill & Pat Ernst in Sun City Center, FL USA 08/14/2007

Please list directions (or make more prominent) for train tickets. We learned the hard way that there is a 25 Euro fine per person for not having your ticket stamped in one of the yellow machines! Our tickets were rarely checked, but when they were, we got repremanded for having no stamp! This was unclear to us and would have been helpful to be warned about!

Kate in Redondo Beach, CA USA 08/11/2007

Would you consider revising your entry of Venicescapes? It's a bit off-putting "beyond the attention span of most mortal tourists." Many visitors to Venice would appreciate the tour's depth of information and Michael's personal attention to group members.

Angie Corbet in Wayland, ma USA 07/17/2007

For apartment rentals in Venice, you recommend venicerentals.com, so I tried that site. You can't puruse their listings; you can only send them an e-mail. So I sent what I thought was a thorough e-mail, including which siestieres we were interested in, how many bedrooms, baths, price etc., and got back only a long list, none of which met our criteria. I would have thought there was nothing for rent in Venice that had what we wanted at the price we wanted, except that I had already found several listings at viewsonvenice.com and holidaylettings.co.uk. We found both of those sites much more helpful than venicerentals.com, and hope you will change your recommendation (which venicerentals.com uses as a promotion on their website.) In our experience, compared to the others they were no help at all.

Jean McNeil in Boise, ID USA 06/14/2007

Re the vaporetto passes: there are actually 24 hr, 36 hr, 48 hr, etc etc passes. Also, you might point out that not every stop has a ticket office to buy a pass, but every stop does have a validation box. So buy your pass as soon as you get to Venice and know the time period you'll need it for, then stamp it the first time you use it. Or you'll end up like I did - having to pay $6 three different times before I was able to get to a stop that actually had a ticket office.

Vicky Bartlett in Gresham, OR USA 05/22/2007

The description of Lido was not very favorable. We found it a lovely alternative to Venice. It is quiet at night. However,there are great resturants.

Evelyn Clark in Montain View, Ca USA 05/21/2007

We took the Alilguna "speed"boat from the airport, that you (and our hotel) recommended. It was at night and it was so slow and we couldn't see anything anyway. We wished that we would have taken the land bus that a fellow experienced plane passenger took and said was faster.

Craig Caldwell in Kaysville, UT USA 05/09/2007

Hotel alla Salute cicic We did not find them the least bit indifferent. Otherwise your advice was good

J baxter in Keswick, on canada 05/08/2007

3 day orange cards are no longer available. It appears that the entire travel/museum card time structure has been resorted, so this will definitely need to be updated in the next edition. This part of the book could be much more helpful. It's not written very clearly and was not useful when faced with the actual choices available. We ended up just buying a 48 hour transit pass and paying for museum admission. This saved us money and was easier than trying to calculate how many Euros we could save/spend with all of the options available. Since cafes and bars let you use the WC with purchase, our ample gelato consumption more than covered required pit stops. You don't really need that part of the card. Also, it's much faster to get to Murano by taking the vaporetto from Fondamente Nuove than from San Zaccharia.

Angela in Sammamish, WA USA 04/15/2007

I recently read through the Venice book to prepare for my upcoming trip, and the map pages in the front simply fell out- I didn't pull on them or even use them, they just weren't glued in well at all.

Jen in Bellevue, WA USA 03/13/2007

1. La Fenice "guided tours" are audio guides, no set times, no need to book in advance 2. train tickets must be time stamped. Not menitoned anywhere in guide book, cost us a 25 euro fine (for a 6 euro trip!) 3. Roman theater in Verona is across from the bridge, but the entrance is hiding somewhere, maybe around the corner, we did not find it. 4. Consider adding Hotel American Dinesen to your recs, great little place near the Accademia 5. La Calcina pensione is not in the index, it has a nice restaurant that should be listed under eats. 6. guidebook was great!

Richard Pearson in Walnut Creek, CA USA 02/26/2007