Hotel Al Ponte Dei Sospiri - Venice, Italy     

We stayed in the hotel for 3 nights from 16th June 2008. The reception staff couldn't have been more helpful, giving us maps, suggestions of sights to visit and restaurants to try. The room (151) was a great size with a separate sitting area with sofa, 2 chairs and table. The room was nicely decorated with drapes above the bed. There was more than enough room and storage etc. The bathroom was also large with a jacuzzi bath (that didn't exactly work!) and shower. The location is perfect, right on the canal behind St Mark's square, down a small side street (on arrival, go into the square, take the street to the left of the basilica turn left before the canal and 1st right and the entrance is by the bridge - only a minute's walk). One piece of advice i would offer is don't eat or drink in the restaurants around the hotel & square, it's extortionately expensive, we ordered 2 drinks and 2 small pizzas and paid over ?40! There are far better places a couple of minutes walk away from the hotel. Breakfast is excellent if you enjoy continental breakfasts. Don't expect bacon and eggs, it's breads, toast, croissants, pastries, muffins, jams, ham, cheese, salami etc or cereals plus juices and hot drinks too. Overall we really rated this hotel, excellent value for money in a very expensive city and the location couldn't have been better. If you're after a comfortable, quiet stay in venice, this hotel is for you.

We stayed at the hotel for 3 nights and it was wonderful. The reception staff were polite and helpful to all our questions (and gaves us maps of venice when we lost ours!). The breakfast was lovely and served in our room - no having to get dressed for breakfast - we just used their dressing gowns! V handy! Our room (no 352) overlooked the Bridge of Sights - amazing - apart from St Mark's Square I don't think you could get a better view. There is building work going on the other side of the canal but the noise didn't start till 9am-ish and had finished by the time we got back to our room to change for the evening. If you fancy a special experience get up at 5.30-6am and walk to St Mark's Square apart from a photographer, a street cleaner and some pigeons we were the only people there!