Sant Elena Hotel

I have just returned from a memorable week in Venice. The city is enchanting. I was with a small group of university alumni from the US that stayed at the Hotel Sant'Elena throughout our visit. Apparently the hotel accommodates many tour groups. During our one week stay several other tour groups checked in and out. Perhaps this is somehow related to the poor service provided by hotel staff. The rooms were clean and of adequate size and the location provided a quite environment. Breakfast offerings provided a variety of hot and cold items from which to choose. However, I found the staff to have a generally unpleasant attitude. In fact they were frequently down right rude. In spite of written confirmation for the number of rooms required by our group, hotel mamagement refused to provide the required accommodations for several days. It was apparent they had overbooked and refused to accept responsibility for their error. Nor did they make any attempt to assist in finding other accommodations for those in our group without rooms. When requested to assist in getting baggage to our rooms hotel staff responded 'its not our job'. I cannot recommend this hotel based on its disregard for service to its guests.

I booked this hotel as part of frequent flyer deal with SAS and Best Western hotel chain. Being my first visit to Venice and treating my partner as a birthday trip, I really wanted to stay in the centre of town. However, on arrival at the hotel we were pleasantly suprised with the location (only 3/4 water bus stops from the tourist action) and the peaceful nature of this area after the hectic crowds. To be honest we actually looked forward to escaping back at the end of a long day spent walking the canals and major sites. If you are lucky enough to book a junior suite as we did, the rooms are bright spacious and extremely clean. No need for a hotel restaurant (I never use them anyway) since there are plenty of options a couple of water bus stops away. Get off at Arsenale and walk back to the Via Garibaldi. This area is a mix of locals and tourists where the food is excellent and reasonably priced - Not like the tourist rubbish around San Marco.

I highly recommend Hotel Sant'Elena. My friends and I spent two nights in a triple room, although a bit small, was very clean with modern decor. The room actually had two small rooms; one with pull out queen bed and the other with twins pushed together to make a king bed. The bathroom was modern with both shower and bathtub. The location is about a twenty minute stroll from the main San Marco area, but the walk is breathtaking as it meanders along the waterway most of the time. Our location was great, but a little different than I expected. The area of Sant'Elena is a ways off the main waterway area, so to get to it from the vaporetto stop, you must walk down a sidewalk through a lovely grove of trees to reach the street; then go a little ways down that street and make a turn to enter the hotel. Breakfast was a treat, with some hot dishes, like scrambled eggs, and the usual cereals, pastries, yogurt, bread and fruit. The breakfast room is large and modern, felt more like a restaurant than the breakfast rooms of the older hotels. The staff was professional and had excellent suggestions for restaurants. They were also very helpful in getting us up and going in time to catch a 5:00 a.m. water taxi to the airport. Our concierge made sure we had an expresso before we left, helped me put on my jewelry and walked us part way to the pick up spot which was just around the corner. Anyone who stays at the Sant'Elena will be pleased!

As an airline pilot I am fortunate (sometimes..) to stay in many hotels around Europe - our visit to Venice on this occasion was purely for holiday. Hotel St 'Elena, located on the main island a few minutes from St Mark's Square was EXCELLENT for the class and level of hotel (Italian 4*). It was very well located in that it is NOT immediately in the vicinity of the tourist heavy St Mark's, but a reasonably short and attractive 25 min waterfront walk from the centre of Venice - or two stops (8 mins) on the water bus. The water bus stop (St Elena) is 2 mins from the hotel - no steps/bridges for luggage either! The rooms are spacious and relatively contemporary - a pleasant alternative to the cramped pseudo-gilt 'heavy' Venetian style of all other hotels I have seen in Venice. Well sound proofed and kept immaculately clean. One of the main attractions is a very well kept central garden area, surrounded by the hotel (a recently converted Convent) and provides a wonderful haven from a day of hot footing it around the city. Comfortable padded wooden loungers/chairs provided - no plastic rubbish so often seen. Breakfast can be taken in the garden as well. Staff are friendly and attentive - good English spoken by Main Front Desk staff and most helpful too with booking restaurants/ recommendations as well. All in all, Hotel St 'Elena made our 4 day visit to Venice -- thoroughly recommended --- in fact 6 of us are going back there in December! Well done St 'Elena - and volare.com for efficient web booking and competitive pricing. PS One or two final recommendations: 1. Ask for Garden facing rooms and ideally a Junior Suite - price difference well worth it 2. Travelling from the Airport to Venice? Firstly buy a 1,2 or 3 day unlimited Vaporetti (Water Bus Ticket) - you'll use it a lot 3. If you can, go by water TAXI (nor water bus) from the Airport direct to the Hotel. Price difference for 4 people ~ 20€ and worth every cent. An exhilerating 25 mins high speed transfer instead of 1hour and a change of boats with luggage and a zillion other people…

We stayed at the Sant' Elena in December 2004 for a weekend. We booked a junior suite which was very spacious (bed plus sofa area with coffee table). Bathroom was very clean and had two wash basins - shower was fine. Ladies - take your own hairdryer as the one in the bathroom is useless unless you have very short hair. Breakfast was good - a good selection, and I agree that although the bacon didn't look too nice it did taste good. It is in a nice area far enough away from the tourist trail. The vaporetto takes about 10 mins into the centre or it is a very pleasant 20-25 minute walk. All in all highly recommended, would definitely stay again.

To Get There: Take the Express Bus from Marco Polo Airport (3 Euros, One Way). From there, go to the Vaporetto Launch. It is located across the street from the bus station (we just followed the crowd!). Take Vaporetto #1 to Sant'Elena. (3.5 Euros, or 10.5 Euros for 24 Hours, or 22 Euros for 72 Hours). Walk straight ahead, through the park, and you will come to Calle Buccari. Walk straight a little bit further, and Hotel Sant'Elena will be on your right. It's a bit out of the way, secluded in a park setting. This is quite nice after a long day of travelling and sightseeing. We had a Junior Suite overlooking the courtyard, which was quite spacious with a very nice bathroom, and a little setee that could double as a bed. As with many places in Europe, the actual "King" bed is two twins pushed together. The room was very modern and airy, as is the whole hotel. It looks quite new. When we were there, the staff was quite friendly. Our first night we were pretty worn out, but hungry, so my partner asked the front desk for a restaraunt recommendation. They recommended a good little place on a backstreet, that was priced well and had good food. The bartender was also very friendly, mixed some good drinks and really looked after the guests. Breakfast is continental. Cereal, rolls, yogurts, cold meats & cheeses, but they also have eggs and what appeared to be bacon. It's adequate to get you going, but nothing too fancy.

I stayed at the Sant' Elena Hotel in early March 2005 - Our room was in one of their ground level garden rooms. The room was fine for our 4 day stay, but not great storage space or floor space if you are staying a week or longer. I was informed by a staff member their main Hotel rooms were slightly larger than the garden rooms. Close by there is a grocery shop/butchers (The owner very kindly saved my bacon and loaned me a cork scew!) - There is also a greengrocers(also selling wine) and a tabaconnist/toy shop (you can get get all your vaporetto tickets here) - The hotel sells vaporetto tickets, but not the 72 hours tickets at €22 which are great value) - There is also a Chemist shop a little further away from the hotel and a local bar/restaurant(I regret not been able to try the food there) - The hotel breakfast was good, perhaps the cooked bacon did not look great, but it certainly tasted very nice. The hotel is only a few minutes walk from the vaperetto stop - One morning we caught the Nr1 vaporetto and found a seat at the front of the boat (outside) and had great views of life on the Canal and the wonderful buildings all the way to Piazzale Roma. The hotel will arrange a FREE water taxi to a glass factory at Murano on request - a good way to start a day and take a vaporetto to Burano (or anywhere of your choice) after you have visited Murano. On arrival at Marco Polo airport we took the Waterbus to the Lido and then just one stop by vaporetto to Sant' Elena. Room rates were very reasonable in March (3 for the price of 4 nights) It is a shame the Hotel does not have its own restaurant, However, I recommend it as a well run, good, clean hotel in an unusual location for Venice.

Yes, this is indeed a beautifully clean and friendly hotel. Yes, apart from the 'cooked' items, the buffet-style breakfast was good. But if you need something ironed then you have a problem! You cannot plug an iron in to any of the sockets in the room, using an international adaptor or anything else! The receptionist informed me that ,'oh, we send things out for pressing as we do not allow ironing to be done on the premises, but as it is Saturday they are closed, and also on Sunday they are closed. If you had given us the garments on Friday we could have had them back on Monday!' My advice is to iron everything before you go and pack it very carefully and hang everything as soon as your luggage arrives. Also, beware of little things going missing, when we were checking out we were asked to pay for some items from the mini-bar which we had not had, but our protests were taken on board and the bill was waived. Apart from these two minor inconveniences we thoroughly enjoyed the hotels' peaceful situation and the close proximity to the fabulous vaporettas. Would definately go again.

Nice hotel, tastefully furnished in a modern style. Room was large, bright and airy. Smart bathroom. A quiet location away from the crowds but plenty of good and reasonably priced places to eat within a 10 minute walk. Close to the water-bus stop. Breakfast was adequate. Would definetely stay here again.

We have just returned from Hotel Sant Elena and would recommend it to anyone wanting to stay in a quieter part of Venice. To get from the Airport we got the Alilaguna to the Lido and then the vaporetto - just one stop to Sant Elena, then a short and easy walk - no bridges - to the hotel. Having stayed in the centre before Hotel Sant Elena was so easy to get to - no lugging cases through tiny crowded streets or over bridges. Despite having a 72 hour ticket for the vaporetto (well worth getting) we enjoyed the lovely walk (about 30 mins) and its views into Venice each morning and late at night on our way home from the Carnival. The hotel was modern, clean and the staff were efficient and helpful. Our only complaint was that we were cold at night. Partly our fault because we switched off the heating - as we don't like heating in our room at night. We just asked for an extra blanket and then we were fine. The breakfast was plentiful - self-service - juice, coffee, tea, rolls, croissants, cheese, cold meat, scrambled eggs, bacon, yoghourt. It was a really good start to the day.