25 min
40 min
35 min
Vap 1 · Vap 2 · Vap 4.1 · Vap 4.2 · Vap 5.1 · Vap 5.2
38.0 / km²
5
1
1,573
−3% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Staying in Cannaregio
Cannaregio runs along the north side of the islands from Santa Lucia station to the Fondamente Nove, and most of it is where Venetians live. There are fewer sights here than anywhere else in the historic centre, which is exactly why the rooms cost less and the restaurants are priced for people who eat in them twice a week.
Two things make it worth booking rather than merely cheap. The Jewish Ghetto, walled in 1516 and the origin of the word, sits in the middle of the district with its museum and its five synagogues. And the Fondamenta della Misericordia and Fondamenta degli Ormesini are the closest thing Venice has to a night out that is not a hotel bar, with tables along the canal until late.
The catch is the station end. Lista di Spagna, the street leading in from Santa Lucia, is a corridor of luggage, souvenir shops and menu boards in four languages, and plenty of hotels are on it. Book north of the Strada Nova, towards the Ghetto or the Misericordia, and you get the district everyone means when they recommend Cannaregio. From there San Marco is 25 to 30 minutes on foot and there is no shortcut.
What works
- The cheapest rooms in the historic centre, and cheapest of all in the lanes behind the station.
- Five minutes from Santa Lucia, so arriving and leaving costs you nothing in vaporetto fares.
- Fondamenta della Misericordia and Fondamenta degli Ormesini stay busy after the rest of Venice has shut.
- The Jewish Ghetto, the first in Europe, is inside the district with its museum and synagogues.
- Enough residents that the greengrocer and the hardware shop are still in business.
What does not
- Lista di Spagna is the worst tourist gauntlet in Venice and a lot of hotels sit on it.
- The northern end is a 25 to 30 minute walk from San Marco and there is no shortcut.
- Wheeled suitcases start banging over the bridges near the station around 06:00 and do not stop.
- Almost none of the famous sights are here, so you commute to them like everyone else.
There's a small cluster of hotels in the alleys next to the railway station which is sightly cheaper compared to other parts of the city.