David F.
Yelp
Venice, with its labyrinth of narrow streets is wonderful for walking: the advice is to wander and get lost. However, this is not a great plan upon arrival. Lugging luggage throughout the city maze while trying to find your hotel did not seem like fun. Hence our #1 criteria for our Venitian hotel: something close to the Grand Canal and the vaporetto stop!
Enter Ca' dei Dogi, which had an ideal location. A 5 minute walk from the San Zaccharia vaporetto dropoff was painless, even with luggage - all flat, no bridge crossings.
We were here in Venice for 4 nights to celebrate my wife's milestone birthday, a special occasion. But our room we were shown into was a disappointment, to put it mildly. The entrance door was immediately behind the front desk, and the small room, almost completely filled by the bed, had no windows. It felt kind of claustrophobic.
We could have lived with it, it is what it is. But the owner, seeing our disappointment and realizing this was a special occasion, offered us an upgrade to an apartment which would be available for the last two days. We found this a very generous offer and gladly accepted!
This room, the ground-floor economy room, was acceptable for a couple days and for some, given the price level might be a good value.
The Dama apartment was beautiful, decorated in 60s chic, so the last two days capped off a wonderful visit to Venice. There is commercial activity in the early morning, probably from the restaurant below, so if you are sensitive to noise earplugs might be in order.
Ca' dei Dogi's location was very convenient: St. Mark's Square is only a five minute walk away - it was easy for us to stop by in the early evening to enjoy the square with diminished crowds.
The owner of the hotel also runs the attached restaurant, so the free breakfast every morning was a treat. Opening with a cappuccino, then a made to order omelet, hot croissant, pastries that varied by the day and fruit. After this breakfast, we could get by with just a snack for lunch and be good until dinner.
The hotel also coordinated a custom trip to Murano Island. A free water taxi zipped us over there where we had a tour of their facilities and the display room.
Excellent service and location at a reasonable price makes Ca' dei Dogi a good choice for your trip to Venice.