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Hotel Reiter, Venice Lido - Review
Hotel Reiter **Hotel Reiter is a good cheap option located on the Lido, a twenty-minute ferry ride from tourist Venice. If you are more concerned with budget than with romance or luxury, then we'd recommend the Reiter as a clean and reasonable place to stay. > More information/make a booking
Italy Heaven Review
I stayed anonymously at the two-star Hotel Reiter for three nights in May 2006. Hotels on the Lido are generally cheaper than their counterparts in Venice proper, but even so the Reiter was a surprisingly good bargain at €40 a night for an en-suite single room. The webpages and past guests mention the free internet access; so I decide to give it a go. Unless you are seeking to recreate that Dirk Bogarde Death in Venice sea-bathing experience, staying on the Lido is a compromise. There are cars, the only architectural highlights are a twentieth-entury buildings, and you'll get very familiar with the ferry journey from Venice. However, the atmosphere is leafy and much calmer. In the late afternoon local families sit in the sunshine or promenade up and down, chatting with their friends and admiring the occupants of buggies.
Because of a delayed flight I arrive late. It's a straightforward journey from Marco Polo Airport, taking the Alilaguna ferry service - the hotel is a five-minute walk from the main Lido ferry stop, along a wide avenue which feels safe at night. I had called from the airport to confirm my late arrival, and the receptionist on night duty is expecting me. However, my initial impression is not perfect. Having read about the free internet access on the hotel webpages and in other guests' reviews, I have been relying on using this facility extensively during my stay. But the receptionist tells me that there is no longer any internet access at all. As this played a huge part in my hotel selection, I'm disappointed and frustrated. On the plus side, I am given the keys to a double room, as no single room is available. On the negative side, the receptionist airily says that I might have to move rooms during my three-night stay (I don't). The double room is nice and large. The bed is wide and fairly comfortable, while the room is well-furnished with desk, chair, wardrobe and bedside tables. The ensuite shower-room is fine (apart from a slightly mildewy ceiling) and is reasonably clean. A quick scout around the facilities sends me back down to reception to ask for a hairdryer (also listed on the website). I'm told that none are available but to ask again in the morning. Hmm. My room overlooks the wide boulevard, and on the first night I'm disturbed until well after midnight by noise from a nearby bar or restaurant. This may have been a one-off, though, as the following two nights are very peaceful. Fortunately there is not much traffic (it seems strange to be visiting Venice and hearing car engines), but the occasional heavy vehicle sets the room shaking. Breakfast is a self-service buffet, typical of Italian hotels. A choice of two cereals, jams, honeys and those dreadful dry plastic-wrapped 'toasts' (does anyone eat these revolting items??). The fruit juice is watery and sugary, though the self-service tea is very welcome. Baskets of rolls and croissants are brought to each table - the quantity and freshness varies from day to day but they're usually good. After breakfast I acquire a hairdryer (I think a chambermaid has removed it from the wall of someone else's bathroom, but I'm not complaining and I hang on to it for the duration of my stay). I learn that the internet facilities are suspended 'because of terrorists'. I later connect this to the new Italian rule whereby every internet provider must retain your personal details - every fly-by-night internet cafe has the right to take and copy your passport, all for 'security' reasons. I still don't quite see why the Reiter can't cope with this requirement, but I manage to make do with the very expensive internet cafes I come across in Venice. It's easier to do 'normal' shopping on the Lido than it is in tourist Venice. There is a very handy supermarket called Billa between the hotel and the ferry stop for those who want to save money on meals. Restaurants and bars, mostly but not exclusively aimed at the guests of the many hotels here, line the street. I eat two good affordable meals in a pizzeria-restaurant towards the ferry stop. This does feel like a budget hotel, but at €40 for my luckily-acquired double room I'm not complaining. There's plenty of space, good furnishings, a reasonable bathroom and even breakfast is passable by Italian standards. Best of all though, I'm paying half the price of a similar room in the heart of Venice, and I'm only a twenty-minute journey away. Prices vary throughout the year, but if you can make a saving by staying here, it's worth making a booking. I actually find myself growing quite attached to the peaceful normality of the Lido after squeezing along the crowded alleys of Venice. And the view over the lagoon towards the towers of Venice, with the snow-capped mountains behind, is breathtaking. Hotel address: Gran Viale Santa Maria Elisabetta 57/B. This wide boulevard starts opposite the main Lido ferry stop and crosses the narrow strip of land that is the Lido. The hotel is on the left, after about five minutes' walk. There is an all-night ferry service so you can spend your evenings in Venice. > More information / make a booking at Hotel Reiter Hotel Reiter review by an Italy Heaven editor. |
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