Stayed one night in Hotel Gardena, Venice - a very well situated hotel with canal views. This small hotel near the railway station is scrupulously clean and we had a good sized room; the bedroom furniture is a little dated but absolutely inoffensive. The room has lovely winter sun all afternoon. The bathroom is big with a lovely full claw foot bath and good quality linen. Breakfast was an excellent continental style spread, generous and far better than others I have experienced with a great help-yourself espresso coffee machine. Staff at breakfast and on the reception desk very nice, informal and friendly. This was not what I expected from a hotel in Venice, far exceeded my expectations.

This hotel has a good location. You do need to be fit to carry luggage from the railway/bus terminal as there are 2/3 steep bridges to negotiate or pay for a water taxi at an absurd cost. The majority of the staff are extremely pleasant although one of the younger male receptionists was quite off hand. The older gentleman was very helpful. The photos show a gondola - more likely to be a motor boat now. Good restaurants are nearby and the ferry terminal is 2 bridges away. You can walk back from St Marks however it does take good strong legs and knees to do so.

We stayed at the Gardena Hotel for two nights 19th & 20th December. Excellent little hotel with a good location. Easy to find when arriving by public transport. The main transport links are very close. The breakfast was excellent, very fresh and a good choice. The room we stayed in was large and clean. We really enjoyed our stay and found the hotel staff to be very helpful and friendly. We stayed for two nights for €100 including breakfast so the value for money was excellent.

Venice itself is a beautiful place but a few warnings that you might find useful. We seemed to pay a lot of money every time we stopped at a cafe for a drink. €12 for a cafe and small beer. We went to a restaurant to eat and our €10 pizza and small starter came to nearly €40 !! We also decided to use our day pass to get the water taxi back to the airport. We did check this was okay when we purchased them but once we were half way we were told we have the wrong tickets, pricey mistake. The journey cost us nearly €30 !!!

I would definitely return to Venice and I would definitely stay in the same hotel. But I would return with the knowledge that if you get a bottle of coke to take away I would pay €2.50 if you sit at a table it will cost you €5 !!!

Myself and my sister stayed in this hotel in the middle of august. It is in a great location right beside the grand canal and santa lucia station. It was very easy to get to coming from marco polo airport- we took the bus (it costs about €3) and it drops you to the station which is a 3ish minute walk to the hotel ! There are loads of restaraunts etc near to the hotel and the staff were very friendly and helpful. Breakfast was good- just a normal continental style breakfast.. cereal, tea/coffee etc, juice, bread, croissants, fruit, yoghurts etc. The rooms are clean and well kept. Overall, we were very happy with this hotel and I would definitely recommend it- such great value for a very handy location and nice clean rooms.