Hotel Recommendations in Venice Italy -- Escape departs (Trieste)

[Cali4niagirl]

I know this has been asked before but I don't know where to find the answers.
Does anyone have any hotel recommendations in Venice?  the ship (ESCAPE) departs (Trieste) so something near by but also near things to do would be helpful.  We're looking for hotel recommendations in Barcelona too, my itinerary doesn't state WHERE the ship returns to in Barcelona.  We're deviating our flights for the two days allowed on the front and back end of the cruise.  Thank you!

[Essiesmom]

Have you looked on the Ports of Call board for Europe?  Also, have you joined the ROLL CALL for your cruise?  Folks sailing with you may have suggestions/plans to share.  EM

[VMax1700]

The Europe boards are here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/8-europe/

 

You mention Venice and Trieste and a hotel nearby.  Trieste is about 2 hours from Venice, so you will need transport.

[Zach1213]

My hot take of the day is that I would definitely just stay in Trieste because it's better than Venice. Venice isn't bad per se, but I do think it's just about the most overrated city in Europe (the world?), and Trieste is a nice little city with nice sites, affordable hotels, and better restaurants.

 

And, as pointed out above, Trieste is quite a distance from Venice so unless you really, really, really want to be in Venice, I would either just use Venice as a place to fly in to, or skip it all together and fly in to Trieste (limited flights, but possible via Frankfurt on Lufthansa/Air Dolomiti, for example flying BOS-FRA-TRS). One other option is actually to fly in to Ljubljana, in Slovenia, and hire a chauffeured car to take you from there to Trieste. Ljubljana has more flights than Trieste, and the drive is shorter than from Venice (and is shorter than the train from Venice too). So, don't count out Ljubljana. 

[mapleleaves]

We sailed out of Trieste last yr.  Took the train TO Trieste, and used FlixBus afterwards to the Venice AIrport.  Both take 2 hrs. 

Trieste looked to be a lovely city. There is a gorgeous hotel overlooking the Trieste pier, Savoia Excelsior that people were raving about. Dont know if it works for your budget.  Use booking.com or tripadvisor to look at hotels.   

I had been to Venice several times so we just stayed in Mestre pre cruise. Mestre is the last town on the mainland before you cross the causeway to Venice;  hotels are much cheaper but it's a 15-20 minute commute.

In Barcelona we stayed at the Hotel Lleo .  It was only 2 blocks from the airporter bus stop, and 2 blocks from LasRamblas.  Not fancy, but clean and budget friendly, with a good bfast. LOVED Barcelona !

 

Pick up Rick Steves book, Mediterranean Cruise Ports, so you can learn about the various destinations plus things to see and do.

 

 

 

[rdt10]

We have stayed at Hotel Jazz several times in Barcelona. Good location and reasonably priced. 

FYI, Barcelona Airport can be terrible. Very slow to get checked in and through security. Plan to get there early.

Edited April 5, 2023 by rdt10

[Zach1213]

14 hours ago, rdt10 said:

FYI, Barcelona Airport can be terrible. Very slow to get checked in and through security. Plan to get there early.

 

"Can be" really should say "always is". I've never seen that place not be a mess. Spanish efficiency at its finest 🙂

[dani negreanu]

On 4/6/2023 at 2:25 AM, rdt10 said:

We have stayed at Hotel Jazz.

 

 

Another vote for hotel Jazz.

 

For Venice, I highly recommend Hotel Fontana, which is a mere 3 mins walk, no bridges and no stairs, from the airport's Alilaguna line.

 

https://www.hotelfontana.it/en/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=GoogleMyBusiness