Bed & Breakfast Il Pallino di Arianna

The unique problem of this BB is to find it. Once you are in the train station, be prepare with some coins to call the owner using a public phone. He will give you instructions on how to get close to the apartment and then, call him again. In this second call in the Marcuola Vaporetto station, there is a public phone that didn't work so I needed to look for another one to call. Fortunately there is another public phone close on the Leonardo street and finally then someone was waiting for us at the Marcuola Station. We decided to walk from the train station, it's only within 10 min walking. Be prepare with a two wheel luggage since the 4 wheels on your bags won't work because the streets in Venice are the classic stone streets. The place is in the low level of an apt building. The place has two bedrooms, one dinning room and one kitchen. Let's start with the bedroom. Cleanliness of the room: Very good. This is the most important aspect for me when you stay in a hotel. This was my first experience with a BB and wasn't disappointed. Comfort of the pillows, Comfort of the mattress: Very good. Ease of finding and accessing electrical outlets: Very good. The noise of the room was acceptable. There is a small canal that is part of the Gran Canal, that sometimes there were boats going through. Recommendation in all your trips, bring with you your earn plugs and eye mask, specially when you stay in BBs. The condition of the furniture was accordingly with the type of place. There is a very small flat screen TV, a small vanity and closet. Two individual beds. Just the necessary space for sleep. About the kitchen, a sink, an electric cooktop with two heating elements, a coffee maker, bread and nutella all the mornings, tea, milk and chocolate. The small bathroom was clean. It's not inside the bedroom but belongs to the bedroom, that means, the other bedroom should have its bathroom inside. There is a window that goes to the small canal. I would say a good place just for sleep. You should pay in cash and in Euros the next morning. Good location to walk around Venice, 20 min away to San Marcos square. Just one block away from restaurants and stores. The room doesn't have WIFI, but we rented the WI tourist that it's an Internet service in all Italy. I recommend it.

This is really a small, 2-bedroom apt in an apt building. It is adequate, and reasonably priced for Venice. The breakfast was kind of a joke--white bread and Nutella. There was a coffee pot, but the stove didn't work, until the owner came Day 2 and plugged it in! The biggest problem was finding it. You MUST have a phone. The owner doesn't live there, there is no desk, no one at the location, no sign or even number on the building. Neighboring hotel never heard of it. The owner instructs you by email to call him on his cell and he will meet you at the dock, just 2 vaporetto stops from the train station. However, if you're new to Venice and not a good Italian speaker, I dare you to figure out which boat to take and where to catch it, from the 3 inscrutably signed launch places at the railroad station. One suspects the lack of signage at the B&B is an attempt to stay under the radar for tax or other evasion. My travel companion, who was to meet us there, came without a phone, and wandered around for 3 hours trying to find the place, as night fell. A rather traumatic beginning to a vacation.

Hotel was right off the water bus stop which was great, the owner met us there and showed us around the apartment. We stayed in room 2 which was a twin room (despite booking double) so we had to push beds together. Bedroom 1 was the actual double bedroom. Our room had a private bathroom however it wasn't en-suite, you had to go into the bathroom through the hallway, which made It an awkward dash after getting out the shower in a towel to the room! The bathroom was very narrow as someone else says, so had to sit on the toilet kinda sideways! The room had two windows which were above a back canal, couldn't have the windows open on a night as it was very noisy with the boats, but what do you expect! The owner ( I don't think he lived there.. it was literally just the two rooms, a kitchen and diner, that's it in the building!) brought fresh bread at 8:45AM every morning, which was standard hard Italian bread rolls, which you could have nutella, jam or butter. That was breakfast. Nothing else! You could attempt to make coffee, the Americano perk coffee machine was broke, and we couldn't figure out the italiano kettle thing.. but I could boil water in a pan! Sounds quite negative all in all, but I would stop here again, clean standard room, not too far from everything but is quiet and nice out the way of the hustle and bustle! Last day the guy left us front door keys so we could lock our bags in the dining room as we flew late on. Not bad at all! I wouldn't be put off by bad reviews, but I would be put off by the breakfast! Good thing I'm not a big eater!