Antico Panada Hotel Venice

Through Venere.com I'd booked a double room with shared bathroom at the 2-star Hotel Citta di Milano (San Marco 590 - Campiello San Zulian - Corte Lucatello) for 80 euros/night for April 17-20. Upon arrival at Citta di Milano, however, I found a note stuck on the door saying that the hotel was closed for emergency renovations and guests had been reassigned to nearby hotels. (Gee, thanks for the notice!) Another note said I got assigned to the Hotel Antico Panada about 2 minutes away. Showing up in their attractive reception area, I was worried I'd be charged a higher rate to stay at the very nice 3-star Hotel Panada, 30 seconds from Piazza San Marco, but I guess Citta di Milano had an arrangement with them where I paid only the agreed 80 euros/night for a fantastic triple room (one double bed and one twin) with ensuite bathroom and breakfast included. The room was large, nicely furnished in shades of gold with three windows opening onto a quiet internal yard, a safe, TV, and A/C, and spotlessly clean. The breakfast was surprisingly comprehensive for Italy: coffee, OJ, pastries and rolls, cold cereal, yogurt, jams, cheese and cold cuts. What a lucky turn of events that I could spend 3 nights at Hotel Panada for such a bargain! Perhaps I should send Hotel Citta di Milano a thank you letter...

Unique Quality: The hotel is a 30-second walk from San Marco and about a 6-minute walk from Rialto. Comprehensive breakfast.

Directions: Walk to the left side of Basilica San Marco and turn left.

I was surprised to see the negative reviews of Hotel Antico Panada here. Before going to Venice I looked at countless hotels and chose this one because of the vast amount of positive reviews I read about it online. We stayed twice for two days on our way to Croatia and for two days on our way back. Both times the staff were extremely helpful and friendly. Everything I had read about this hotel stated that the staff were friendly and I found it to be very true. The people who served the breakfast were also very nice and liked to chat about where we were from and where people were traveling to. They were multi-lingual and could help guests in many languages which I'm sure everyone appreciated. I thought I read online that all the rooms had jacuzzi tubs but I see here that another reviewer says they only got a shower. All I can say is that the two different rooms we had both had jacuzzi tubs which is great after a day of pounding the pavement. During our second two day stay were were given a room with a mysterious tiny stairway. We were trying to guess where it might lead before climbing up to find that it opened up to our own private roof-deck which had some views of the bell tower at St. Marks. The main view was indeed of other roof-tops, but it was a sweet surprise since we had not requested anything like this and were not charged extra for it. Aside from that I would say that the rooms looked just as they did on the website, nothing misleading there. Another comment that surprised me in one of the other reviews was about the freshness of the breads at breakfast. We had fresh (and I mean they tasted really fresh) croissants with apricot filling every morning. They had other breads as well which I did not try because the croissants were just too good. Their coffee also rocked. It was so good that I didn't go out every morning and buy cappuccinos as I had planned. Maybe things have changed for the better since the other posters stayed there, but we had a great stay.

Unique Quality: roof deck
cute bar on main floor
jacuzzi tubs
great location

Directions: Piazza San Marco

We were supposed to be in the Best Western Hotel,but they had "maintenance " to do in our room and we were transferred to the Padada,which was across the alleyway.
No great problem there,it just didnt look as smart as the Best Western.
The desk staff were very friendly and helpful,pointing out where to go,help with luggage etc.
Breakfast was a bit sparce,Ham and Cheese and not so fresh bread,the waitresses were a bit rude,not to us but with some other guests.
We were able to chech out and leave our luggage there which was a great help,the last thing I wanted to do was carry a suitcase around Venice all day !!

Unique Quality: The location of this hotel was perfect for sightseeing,which was the sole purpose of the visit.

Directions: 50 metres from St.Marks Square.