venice cost's

is venice an expensive place to visit -- gondola rides, eating out Etc

is it a generally clean city

are the people there friendly

are there many interesting coach tours to book on

Alan wrote:

is venice an expensive place to visit -- gondola rides, eating out Etc

Compared to the rest of Italy, yes. It's not more expensive than much of
the UK though.

is it a generally clean city

Yes, though I saw lots of trash on the streets, falling out of flimsy
little rat-eaten shopping bags, last time I was there.

are the people there friendly

Less so (IME) than other places I've been in Italy, but they're not
unfriendly.

are there many interesting coach tours to book on

LOL.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

Make credence recognised that on Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:24:41 GMT, "Alan"
has scripted:

is venice an expensive place to visit -- gondola rides, eating out Etc

is it a generally clean city

are the people there friendly

are there many interesting coach tours to book on

Alan, are you trolling by any chance?
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

"Doesn't Frequently Mop" wrote in
message ...
Make credence recognised that on Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:24:41 GMT, "Alan"
has scripted:

is venice an expensive place to visit -- gondola rides, eating out Etc

is it a generally clean city

are the people there friendly

are there many interesting coach tours to book on

Alan, are you trolling by any chance?
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--
no not at all i have better things to do with my time, my wife is talking
about us going there for a short holiday, so do you have the answers to my
question's as i have never been there,

On Jul 3, 4:24 pm, "Alan" wrote:
is venice an expensive place to visit -- gondola rides, eating out Etc


It's one of the more expensive places in Europe as far as hotels and
restaurants, but it is possible to find moderately priced places
(keeping in mind that the US dollar is weak right now).

We found a triple room near the train station for US $105 (for all
three of us, not individually), and it was basic, but fine.

As for eating out, at a decent place for dinner you can expect to pay
US $25-30 per person without wine.

Some cafes charge a price of 1x if you sit at the counter, 2x if you
sit at a table inside, and 3x if you sit at a table outside - so
that's why two tiny cups of coffee can wind up costing something like
US $15.

The city is really beautiful just to walk around, so entrance fees
aren't as much of an issue as in other cities. The Doge's Palace is
one of the most fascinating sights of Europe, and is definitely worth
the US $17 admission, but that's the only must-see sight with an
admissions charge.

On gondola rides:

"Venice has official rates for gondola rides, and the standard cost is
€62 for a 50-minute ride. Exceeding that time will merit €31 per 25
minutes. At night, especially after 8pm, prices can reach €77.50 for
50 minutes. A gondola can carry up to six people. However, these so-
called official rates are not usually followed, so you will most
probably end up paying €100. This doesn't even guarantee you the
promised 50-minute ride. Price hikes may also occur if you ask the
gondolier to perform a song...To avoid inconvenience, make sure that
you and the gondolier have agreed on a rate before you enjoy your
ride."

is it a generally clean city


It's not spotless, you are visiting buildings that are unchanged for
hundreds of years, but it's not a dump.

are the people there friendly


Most people there are friendly, but they see a huge number of tourists
every year, so they aren't necessarily going to want to have long
conversations with everyone who comes by.

are there many interesting coach tours to book on


Venice can only be traveled by foot or water, not by car or coach.
You might look into walking tours of Venice.

You would only take a coach if you wanted to visit some of the
surrounding places also - like Verona or the Italian Alps, and you
might consider a train in that case.

Iceman wrote:

On Jul 3, 4:24 pm, "Alan" wrote:
is venice an expensive place to visit -- gondola rides, eating out Etc


It's one of the more expensive places in Europe as far as hotels and
restaurants, but it is possible to find moderately priced places
(keeping in mind that the US dollar is weak right now).

We found a triple room near the train station for US $105 (for all
three of us, not individually), and it was basic, but fine.

As for eating out, at a decent place for dinner you can expect to pay
US $25-30 per person without wine.

Replace the dollar with a euro, and it's more realistic. We paid around
40 euro each in one place for a nice dinner, before drinks. Depends how
many courses you have, of course.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

On Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:24:41 GMT, "Alan"
wrote:

is venice an expensive place to visit


Yes.


-- gondola rides,


Yes.


eating out


Yes.


Etc


That's expensive too. Everything is expensive in Venice. Venice is one
of the world's most famous tourist destinations, and there is almost
nothing in Venice but tourism. So yes, prices are high.


is it a generally clean city


Everyone has different standards of cleanliness, so it's hard to
answer this. I don't find it very different from other Italian cities.


are the people there friendly


I think so. Much like elsewhere in Italy.


are there many interesting coach tours to book on



In Venice? Are you aware that there are no roads for coaches in most
of Venice? Venice transportation is either on foot or by water.

Or did you mean from Venice to other places?

--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Tue, 3 Jul 2007 23:25:23 +0100, (David Horne,
_the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

Iceman wrote:

On Jul 3, 4:24 pm, "Alan" wrote:
is venice an expensive place to visit -- gondola rides, eating out Etc


It's one of the more expensive places in Europe as far as hotels and
restaurants, but it is possible to find moderately priced places
(keeping in mind that the US dollar is weak right now).

We found a triple room near the train station for US $105 (for all
three of us, not individually), and it was basic, but fine.

As for eating out, at a decent place for dinner you can expect to pay
US $25-30 per person without wine.

Replace the dollar with a euro, and it's more realistic. We paid around
40 euro each in one place for a nice dinner, before drinks. Depends how
many courses you have, of course.


The problem with quoting prices is that we all have different
standards of what we consider a "nice dinner," so we chose different
restaurants. We also choose differently with regard to what we order,
how much we order, etc.

That said, my experience is more like yours, or even higher, than
Iceman's. Our last trip to Venice was in May 2006. Looking back at
costs, for dinner we usually spent, for the two of us, US$100-150 with
wine. One night, we splurged and ate at Da Fiore. That was a *lot*
more expensive.

--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:24:41 GMT, "Alan"
wrote:

This doesn't sound like the namesake I know?

is venice an expensive place to visit -- gondola rides, eating out Etc

Yes
is it a generally clean city

OK
are the people there friendly

No
are there many interesting coach tours to book on

????

But it's worth it.
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/2007...d-trieste.html

Cheers, Alan, Australia

"Alan" wrote in message
...
is venice an expensive place to visit -- gondola rides, eating out Etc

I picked an expensive hotel (special occasion) but I found eating to be
reasonable compared with the UK. Didn't ride a Gondola because it's so
expensive and (in my view) tacky.

is it a generally clean city

I wasn't aware that it was particularly clean or dirty. It does have a
reputation for being smelly in high summer. We were there in March and
once or wtice, when crossing a canal I got a whiff. The Market by the
Rialto was messy late in the afternoon but that's the nature of a market and
it was being cleaned. One thing I was disappointed by was the grafitti on
the Rialto.

are the people there friendly

Not openly aggressive. Then again they don't rush up to you and kiss you
on both cheeks! We also visited Verona and Milan on the same trip and I
didn't feel Venice was any more or less friendly than those two.

are there many interesting coach tours to book on
Venice is a walking city. You park your car/abandon your coach and then
either walk or take a Vaporetto (river bus). There are water taxis but
they are expensive. We took one from the airport and it was a good
experience. However, our hotel was not on a canal the boat could/would
reach so he dropped us by the Rialto and told us where to go. That's the
nature of the city. There are a few (very expensive) hotels with their own
taxi quay but if cost is a consideration don't even think about water taxis.

The fact that it is a walking city means that you need to minimise your
baggage. You also need a reasonable map reading capability. You can just
wander, and there are plenty of cafes to stop in and watch the world go by
while you sup, but if you want to find specific places you need to have your
wits about you.

Usually hotels have brochures of bus tours. I don't remember them in our
hotel (but then again, as there are no buses in Venice ......) I just did
a Google for walking venice and came up with
http://www.tours-italy.com/venice/walking_tours.htm



Venice is a fabulous city. If your wife want's to go there she is correct.

One last thing. Ryanair don't fly to Venice - they go to Treviso airport
which is about an hour away. Again, we were on a special trip and chose to
fly on BA from Gatwick (partly because we were coming back from Milan which
bought us to Heathrow on BA and we live close to Heathrpw). We discovered
that BA were offering a £50 per person upgrade to Club on the trip from
Gatwick. It was Gatwick specific so we couldn't do it on the
Milan?heathrow.