Hotel Abbazia is situated a very short walk from Santa Lucia train station or Piazzale Roma bus station depending on how you arrive in the city. The location is perfect as it allows you to wander aimlessly through the backstreets or travel across the city from one of the main water taxi stations giving plenty of options and making it easy to get to and fro.
On arrival I asked if our room was early ahead of the normal check in time of 2pm. The welcoming reception staff advised that not only was our room ready, it was a ‘beautiful’ room that had been allocated. Ever the skeptic, I wasn’t entirely convinced. Climbing two flights of stairs heading along a corridor to then go back down another set of stairs seemed a bit odd and I started to wonder if I’d made the right choice. As the bell boy opened the door I was nothing short of amazed. The room was enormous, the biggest I’ve ever encountered. It had a bathroom with double shower, double sinks and a toilet at one end, a long corridor come lounge with a sofa and a tv separated off from the main bedroom which left me speechless.
The hotel is a former abbey which explains the quirkiness however it also adds to the charm. The ceiling of our room was easily 8ft tall and the standalone bath was certainly a talking point. In big cities it’s become the norm to expect the smallest space and it’s generally never a problem because hardly any time is spent in the room however we went from one extreme to the other with this place & I certainly wasn’t complaining.
We had booked bed and breakfast and I knew it would be a continental style. I was pleasantly surprised to find not only gluten free options but also lactose free milk (soya) for cereals, tea or coffee. Small things like that make travelling so much easier and it’s nice to see it becoming more and more amenable to obtain alternatives. Alongside the usual croissants, bread, eggs, meat & cheese was a selection of fresh cakes and tarts each day.
The thing that attracted me to this hotel over the others when I was browsing and trying to decide between the many different options was the outside / garden space offered. This is something I hadn’t found in other hotels in Venice and it made me curious to find out more about the location and check through the reviews. The location seemed ideal given my previous visits and knowledge of the area and it was perfect enabling us to get around easily and with lots of amenities in the vicinity including a supermarket, pharmacy, shops along with lots of restaurants, bars and cafes.
The thing I’d say was the best about this hotel was the staff. They couldn’t have been more pleasant, helpful and generally jolly despite it being a very tough time for tourism in Italy. The reception staff especially were wonderful and went out of their way to make sure our stay exceeded all expectations.
I’d highly recommend this hotel if you’re planning on visiting Venice and I look forward to returning in future.
xo!