Ai Mori d'OrienteHotel

We just spent 8 days at Ai Mori d'Oriente and could not speak more positively about our experience. The rooms and common areas are all comfortable and keept immaculately clean. Ai Mori has something of the warm and cozy feel of a boutique hotel, despite the elegant decor. The staff could not have been more accommodating. They made us feel at home. The location is what I would like to underscore, above and beyond all the other positive values. Located in the Cannaregio district on a small canal, the hotel facilitated our immersion into a Venice I could not have imagined: morning and late evening walks with few people and no tourists on the streets. Iconic canal views without the hordes and their selfies. Venetian families walking their children to school in the morning. Children playing in the open "campi." If what you want is to roll out of your bed and descend into the masses streaming along the Strada Nova from the train station to Rialto and on to Saint Mark's this is not for you. If you want a quiet and beautiful setting, a window onto what is left of Venetian Venice and the peace that will allow you do reflect on all this, I highly recommend this hotel. One final note: this peace and beauty come with a tradeoff. You will need to walk 20-25 minutes or you will need to ride the vaporetto up and down the grand canal if you plan to visit the major tourist sites. Although this may not be optimal for all, for us, it was a plus. I was able to take zillions of pictures of Venice's major palaces and canal life and gained a fairly deep and broad knowledge of Venice's urban grid, geography, and architecture. And we heard a wonderful amount of Venetian dialect!