Our itinery lists our hotel in Venice as Novotel Venezia Mestre- this sounds like it is in Mestre( whatever that is) .Has any one done this or know this hotel and how far from Venice it is? Is Mestre like a suburb?
Shoul I worry that this is far from town? Thanks

Our hotel was also in Mestre but it was a different one. The Venice that we think of is what they call Old Venice. There is also a mainland Venice so to speak. I'm not sure if Mestre is a suburb or a section but it is on the mainland rather than in Old Venice. Our hotel was one train stop away from Old Venice. We took the train there on our own and also went with the group for the group tour.

Debbie

According to some guide books, Mestre is about 6km from Venice and you can get there by train or with your tour group.

well the hotel was very new and modern-built for businesspeople I think. We didn't know the hotel had a shuttle to the pier area. Some people took it to shop there but there was no easy way back. The hotel was in the middle of nothing-no shops or restaurants. Our guide took off with those going on the excursion without letting us know how to get anywhere! I was not happy with him or the management! We were stuck having to eat at the hotel. We did get a map from the desk and managed to find a tobacco shop half a mile away to buy a phone card. So Mestre is the large city and Venice the old city where you cannot take a motorized vehicle unless it is a boat.

We stayed in the Plaza which was right across from the train station. We took the optional dinner which included our bus ride over the bridge. Some said the train ride was easy, but we did not do it. We wish we could have stayed in "old" Venice. Mestre was an industrial kind of suburb of what we all picture as Venice. Take a look at www.lanesworld.net/italy in a few days and see what our Best of Italy tour thought of the hotel and the tour!