"Super central hotel.
Stayed here in July 2026, three nights in en suite room 206. The hotel has a lift to the upper floors which many in Venice don’t.
Not cheap at €684 euros for 3 nights B and B, but by Venice standards quite reasonable. However you’ll spend £150 sterling getting a 15 minute water taxi from the airport, and then €10 for a local beer, and €34 for a cheap bottle of wine in Venice, so there’s no point worrying too much about costs anyway.
If you don’t want to be bored by reading my waffle any more, just stay here! It’s very nice indeed.
All the staff are absolutely lovely, and speak great English. In fact they could not be more helpful.
The room was an adequate size, pretty good by Venetian standards with an en-suite shower which was compact but functional. I believe an estate agent would describe it as “bijoux”. Lovely raindrop shower, with huge, brilliant white bath sheet towels, fabulous.
Fridge and digital safe in the room, 2 bottles of water are supplied in the fridge and replenished daily. Bed very comfortable indeed, slept like a log under a lightweight duvet. And of course the only passing noise is footsteps, and you certainly can’t hear those.
WiFi in the room was superb. Most of the time over 300Mbps, and it’s a decent secured WiFi with a WEP code so none of this horrible unsecured stuff where I regularly forget to turn my VPN on.
Like many older hotels there was a very worrying single step up from the bedroom to the bathroom. This always concerns me as I tend to be half asleep when I have a night time comfort break at 3am as the step is a recipe for a bad fall. Not so here as there was a light sensor that popped a small ceiling light on, right above the step when you approached it. Absolutely brilliant. I fell in love with the hotel at 3am on my first night!! Was slightly worried that the light would waken the sleeping dragon at this ungodly hour, but it didn’t and it ensured very safe nightly loo trips. Thank you Albergo San Marco.
Breakfast from 7am to 10am. Two buffet tables in the restaurant, one with rolls and cakes/pastries, and the other with scrambled eggs/sausages, toast, cold meat/cheese, fruit salad, yoghurts and normal salad.
All was very enjoyable and I chuckled at the fresh fruit salad which was delightful, but definitely rustic, which is exactly how I make our fresh fruit salad at home. None of this “peeling the apples and cutting into tiny cubes”, just chop them up and chuck them in.
I had an enormous bowl every morning, a complete delight, and teased the lady of the house that my brother was the chef. She didn’t have to say “God I hope not” but there you are, that’s love for you.
A few comments about the location.
The plus side is, it’s very adjacent to St Marks square, you couldn’t wish for a better location to wander around and see Venice.
The minus side is that if you get the water taxi from the airport, it will drop you at the waterfront the opposite (southern) side of St Marks Square.
Here’s a link to where you will be dropped:-
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GdvateeDtjmwNG529?g_st=ic
Now, if you know exactly what you are doing and are familiar with the area it’s probably 300 metres walk across the square to the hotel.
If, like us, you are exhausted after delays to flights and boats, and it’s pouring with rain, you likely won’t find the quickest route and will probably walk 600 metres! No fun dragging two cases and a carry on. We got to the hotel soaked, exhausted and fed up.
The next thing is that there are no less than TWO hotels in Venice named “Albergo San Marco”. They are about a mile apart, so take care when using Google or Apple Maps that you get the right one. For the benefit of doubt, this is the What 3 Words link to this hotel:-
https://w3w.co/field.rely.hobbies
Finally a couple of caveats about walking the lanes and alleys of Venice.
Firstly, there are lots of small bridges over the internal canals. Maybe 10-12 steps either side. There are no alternatives for those who struggle with steps. And in fact you have to negotiate one such bridge on the walk back from St Marks square, when you arrive with your suitcases!
Secondly, many of the lanes are so narrow, with high buildings either side that phones don’t pick up reliable GPS signals. We used our phones a lot for getting around on foot, as it’s so convenient, but it’s not easy in Venice because of this. Often you can walk perhaps 100 metres and you phone says you’ve stood in the same spot.
Simple solution, take a decent street map. Problem solved.
If you’ve got this far without falling asleep, well done indeed! Enjoy your stay - we certainly did."
