Venice Hotels

Those visiting Venice for the first time are often surprised by its size. The city is only 7.5 km square (3 miles). One can walk from one end of the city to the other in only 30 minutes (providing you don't get lost!). The city has fewer than 70,000 residents. Those expecting to find a large metropolitan area are sure to be disappointed - but not for long. The size of Venice adds to its charm and to its convenience. From nearly any Venice hotel in Venice you are a only a few steps away from the cities major attractions. In fact, hotels in Venice are attractions in themselves since they are housed in the historic buildings that have lined the Grand Canal for centuries.

Walking is mandatory in Venice. To reach the places where you cannot walk, you go by water. The famed canals of Venice are more than a simple tourist attraction. They are main thoroughfares. Tourists and residents alike make their way around the city in vaporetti (water buses), or aboard the traghetti (traditional gondola ferries) that ply between the banks of the Grand Canal, in the campi (squares), and along the calli (narrow Venetian streets).

A visit to Venice is unlike any other city in the world. Surrounded by timeless beauty, the more jaded traveler will find himself unconsciously looking for the "real" that props up the "facade". But this is not a movie set. This proud, fading princess has endured the centuries and, all things considered, she has held up remarkably well. The familiar landmarks are all there: San Marco, the Basilica di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale and its romantic Bridge of Sighs. Nearly everywhere you turn in the city evokes images of art and romance: a bridge silently casting its arched shadow across the canal, a gondola gracefully slicing the surface of the water, the aged buildings crowding over the narrow streets, guarding their secrets.

Today it is difficult to imagine "La Serenissima" as the powerful center of politics and commerce that it once was. Indeed "the serene one" seems to be exactly that - tranquil and supremely content to be the host to romantic notions of the world.