We stayed four nights at the Igea as part of a three-nation tour in Europe. Despite a day of torrential rains and hectic traffic, we thought the Igea was the highlight of our stopover.

Elisabetta and her staff were most helpful and engaging, esp. the women who assisted at breakfast. The rooms had fine amenities including towel warmers--not always found in this price range. With the St. Antonio Square about 5-6 minutes walk away, it was a pleasant morning walk, and the key buses to train station were available just two minutes away. Consider it if you're using Padova as a base for Veneto visits.

dirty old hotel, air condition from 80's, lift out of service, bad smell, very noisy centre of the town

At this hotel we spent a noisy and hot night in a room with no air conditioning.

In the en-suite bathroom the shower was not enclosed except by a curtain – so inevitably the bathroom flooded comprehensively when the shower was used. This was (to say the least) not a very satisfactory arrangement.
We did enjoy the good Buffet Breakfast though.

We stayed 9 nights at the Hotel Igea, using Padua as a base to see Venice and take some day trips. We booked a double superior for 115 euros/night. The bathroom was amazing, with a heated towel rack and HUGE tiled shower with a place to sit down. Other features: extremely comfortable bed, lots of drawer space, a sofa, a mini-bar fridge (we kept white wine in it), spotless housekeeping. Very quiet room except for the pigeons outside at night! But the noise was more charming than annoying.

It is simple to get to the train station. Walk a block to the main drag and catch a #4, #19, or #24 bus to the train station It takes 5 minutes. The Padova card includes bus transportation. When it expires, buy a carnet of 10 bus tickets for 12 euros. There are frequent trains to Venice. We took day trips to Verona, Vicenza and Ravenna. Ravenna was a little farther and we had to change trains, but the mosaics were one of the highlights of the trip. We caught the local bus back to the Igea every time.

Around the Igea is a great bakery, several fruit markets and "convenience" stores, and several restaurants.

We saved a lot of money staying at the 3 star Igea instead of a Venice hotel. The round-trip train fare to Venice was less than 12 euros a day for both of us. Of course we saw the Scrovegni Chapel frescoes--- make online reservations before you arrive. We also had an interesting tour of the medical school, seeing the old anatomy theater where cadaver dissections were performed.

The only problem was that the hotel could not get us a cab at 5:30 a.m. so we walked 10 minutes to the bus station to catch the bus to the Venice airport. (Less than 8 euros for two tickets)

We definitely recommend this way of seeing Venice and the Veneto.