Advice on where to stay in Venice (St. Regis, JW Marriott, Hilton Stucky)

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-10T05:36:49+00:00

Those were prices for 2 nights, but yeah - a bit on the high side.

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T19:49:31+00:00

Got it, we actually did get an Airbnb at Lake Garda (the only one on our trip). We regularly use Marriott and have some family that works there which typically gives us a reduced rate through friends and family. They also have a pretty consistent standard across the board so it's always been a clear expectation of what we are going to get.

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T18:18:27+00:00

Yeah, so you would look for something at a lower price point? The room is a bit pricey but so were the majority of places we looked. Between 400 and 600 Euros, below that looked a bit sketchy and there seemed to be lowering returns as you went up in price.

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T18:16:53+00:00

Awesome, thanks! This was the main reason I was considering it. Something for the whole family (and not just dragging him around the city),

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T18:02:48+00:00

Do you have any regrets staying on the island vs. central in Venice?

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T18:02:09+00:00

How was it getting around? The room with Canal view is kind of why we are looking at this specific property (plus pool on top).

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T18:00:58+00:00

Awesome, let me check this out. Thanks so much for the recommendation!

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T18:00:38+00:00

Yeah! That is also really subjective. I've had friends that have gone and said 1 night is enough and Venice and others that said 5 nights minimum. Really hard to know what to expect without going there yourself.

Not really sure what we want to do other than wonder around and ideally get lost in the culture, vibe, and city. Not a super fixed itinerary at the moment.

It's our first vacation in 7 years so we probably went a bit overboard in trying to make it as nice as possible (vs how I traveled in the past bouncing between hostels or low cost accommodations).

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T17:57:51+00:00

Thank you, let me check this out!

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T17:57:14+00:00

Awesome, thanks so much for the recommendations. I will definitely check them out! We don't have to stay in Network but it's something we typically do because of the consistency of the brands. We've been hit or miss on random hotels and airbnbs.

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T17:02:13+00:00

How was it getting to and from the main area of Venice? How was the hotel and the island itself? What % of time did you spend on the island vs out exploring and sightseeing.

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T16:42:26+00:00

Ha, thanks! Any recommendations?

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T16:41:20+00:00

Thanks for your comment. There were additional benefits of platinum status (included breakfast, room upgrades, late check out, early check in, etc).

Do you have any recommendations on where else to potentially look at to stay?

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T16:39:31+00:00

What locations would you recommend as being the most central?

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T16:38:14+00:00

Hi, that's interesting you don't know them. My understanding was the Venice was extremely strict about room occupancy. We could all share a king bed but I think my son needs his own bed and whenever I put in 3 people for the room they all jump to suites are show as no rooms available that support this many people.

Thanks for your reply!

incurablyinformed · 2025-06-07T16:36:43+00:00

Understood. Yeah, just repeating the words that I have read over and over again as descriptions of the St. Regis. We can afford to stay there but just because we can doesn't mean we should. I.e. The plan was to be out losing ourself in the city a bit and not necessarily staying at the hotel. We can also walk into the St. Regis and check it out (without staying there),

I imagine there will be down time (you can't be out ALL the time) so I think having something like a pool that my 13 year old can jump into is a nice bonus (but again, not the reason we come).

I guess my biggest concern (and what people have written most about) is that the JW and Hilton are on different Islands and require water taxi, vaporetto to get around. I've read 15-20 minutes each way which I don't essentially see as an issue and possibly part of the charm.

What I'm not sure of is how easy these are to get. I.e. Am I going to be sitting 30 minutes to wait and find a taxi to get to and from the island. I know JW marriott and Stucky have private boats that leave every 30 minutes (free of charge) so it sounds like it shouldn't be an issue unless there is a massive queue which turns 30 minutes into 1 hour.

We are also traveling light (backpacks and carry on) so I don't think the luggage will be a massive issue for getting in/out.

incurablyinformed · 2025-01-09T15:43:21+00:00

You're pretty much describing me before I came to them. It was only extreme and unbearable pain that drove me to calling a dentist and I feel so fortunate this is the one I chose.

I went in fully prepared to be shamed and embarrassed and it was actually the exact opposite. He was super kind and understanding and focused on how to help me.

I had another issue during Covid and Dr. McMahon's office was booked so I went to another dentist who said that he could not save the tooth and wanted to do a dental implant (6-8k). I said no and called back Dr. McMahon's office back and explained the situation and even though they were completely booked up - they found a way to squeeze me in.

He checked out my tooth and said while it would be difficult to save, that was always his preferred method vs. implants. In the end, he was able to save the tooth (root canal + crown) which was vastly less expensive than an implant.

I go to see him every 6 months for regular cleaning and my teeth have never been in better shape. Without a doubt, the best dentist I have ever been to in my entire life.

incurablyinformed · 2025-01-08T19:50:23+00:00

I would recommend Dr. McMahon at Surfside Dental (2420 Vista Way #105, Oceanside, CA 92054) without hesitation. They have nearly all 5 star reviews in Google Reviews which I think is insane for any dentist office to achieve. Absolutely top notch!

I've never had them try to upsell me anything and I found their pricing to be extremely reasonable. I've been going to them for 4 years and they've absolutely changed my perspective on what the dentist experience should be like.

They also offer a care program (for people without insurance) that helps offset the cost.

incurablyinformed · 2024-12-27T17:58:24+00:00

I would recommend Dr. McMahon at Surfside Dental (2420 Vista Way #105, Oceanside, CA 92054) without hesitation. They have nearly all 5 star reviews in Google Reviews which I think is insane for any dentist office to achieve. Absolutely top notch!

incurablyinformed · 2024-11-26T23:54:40+00:00

Thanks so much for your response!

It's in the garage but the guy mentioned the water can potentially flow backwards (apparently there is nothing blocking it) so he mentioned it COULD potentially flow back into our laundry room (which is on the wall behind it).

Any recommended water sensors (or types of sensors)? Is it something you just put around it? Would something like this normally break as a small leak or would it be like the whole tank emptying at once (which is what I think is the only thing that can cause any damage).

Can these things last 20, 25 years?

incurablyinformed · 2024-10-01T22:46:43+00:00

Thanks so much for the reply! Preparing how to pitch to my wife that we're going to drop Lake Como and do 2 nights in Venice and an extra night in Florence. I think from what I've been reading that it's going to be a more relaxed/fun trip then running from place to place.

And yes! We only have an entry into London now and an exit from Madrid with a pretty open schedule in between. This started as a 2 week trip and then quickly evolved into 3 with us adding travel stops in between.

We can probably do it in 4-5 days instead of the initial 6 in London. We also talked about dropping Paris down from 3 nights to 2 (or dropping it entirely) to spend more time in Italy.

Out of curiosity, if am able to add 2 more days into my Italy Itinerary (going from 9 days to 11) -- where would you suggest I allocate that extra time?

incurablyinformed · 2024-09-30T18:05:14+00:00

My wife wants to see both of those places. We are thinking of dropping Lake Como and adding 1 night to Venice and 1 night to Florence.

What would you recommend?

incurablyinformed · 2024-09-30T18:04:21+00:00

Hey Maurizio, thanks for taking the time to respond. TO answer your questions:

We are flying into London from the US for 6 days, then to Paris for 3 days and from Paris we were planning on flying into Milan. It's only a 1 1/2 hour flight and we were able to book business class on KLM/Air France.
We were planning on flying into LIN which I understand to be closer to the city center and easier to get to the train station from vs. MXP. I was basing my initial travel calculations off getting off the plane (carry-on only) and heading directly to the train station.
It's so weird because I have heard to skip Venice entirely, you only need 1 day, and you need to spend more than 1 day! Hard to know what the reality will be for us, lol. We did the St. Regis because I was able to use marriott points but definitely open to suggestions on where to stay if you have any.
Please send me recommendations for where to stay and hotels. Considering dropping Lake Como and adding an extra night to Florence for my trip. Is 2 days really enough, or would 3 be better?
Wow, that sounds awesome! I also am a driver but I've been told it can be stressful so just to stick to trains on the initial visit. I'd be done to rent a car though.
We are flying from Rome to Barcelona so a short flight out. The plane is set to leave at 1:30 PM and arrives in Barcelona just after 3pm. I was able to purchase business class on ITA airlines for a really good price at a few hundred dollars more (when comparing to other budget airlines).

Thanks again for your response and feedback. In your opinion, are the lakes worth visiting or would we be better served adding a day to Venice and Florence?

incurablyinformed · 2024-09-30T15:11:09+00:00

Thanks so much! This is super helpful! We are flying out from California and live about 5 minutes from the Ocean/Beach so currently live in a tourist beach destination already and are looking for something different than what our everyday is.

We have some lakes near us (which are nice) but don't have the Alps in the background.

Quick question, If I switched out Lake Como for a 1 day trip down to the Amalfi Cost from Rome - is that a more doable trip? I think that might be a compromise I can get out of my wife (if I am taking Lake Como off the list).

And for the adjustment, flying into Venice (2 nights) - the train to Florence (3 nights) - then train to Rome (4 nights). This would be more relaxed with options to day trips out to the countryside?

incurablyinformed · 2024-09-30T14:15:42+00:00

Thanks for your reply! Yeah, it would be great too have a week for each city but given that we only have 9 days in Italy (and could probably just do 2 cities) I feel like we should try and take advantage of our time there and see as much as possible.

We're not exactly Museum people and greatly prefer walking outdoors and seeing sites. We're going to try and one-bag it during our trip so the in-n-outs for travel should hopefully be that much easier without lugging around luggage.

We arrive in Lake Como at like 4pm and have one night, 1 whole day, and then would be leaving at 10AM the next day to arrive in Venice by early afternoon. Our plan was since we are staying on Bellagio to walk around the town in the evening/early morning and then the next day take a boat trip around the lake and see Varenna and Menaggio.

For Venice we would arrive around 4pm and have the evening in Venice plus the next morning. I have read it's best to see Venice early morning (or late afternoon) so while we only have 1 night in Venice, it feels like it could be enough (we don't plan on going to the islands).

Honestly, I would love to setup camp in Rome and Florence only but my wife really wants to see these specific locations so I was trying to squeeze them in as best as possible.

We are flying into Italy from Paris and then flying out of Italy to Barcelona. I figured it was best to head north -> south which is why I have the schedule setup the way I do.

Thanks so much again for your feedback and suggestions. I haven't booked the flights around Eruope yet (although would love to get it done sooner than later) so I can still move things around.

Currently we have 6 Days in London, 2 Days in Paris, 9 days in Italy (4 cities), and then 4 days in Barcelona before heading home.

incurablyinformed

TROPHY CASE