The 3 star Hotel Santa Chiara Venice Italy has a great location, especially if you’re renting a vehicle from Marco Polo airport, with the accommodation being within the only part of Venice reachable by car.
In fact, Santa Chiara was for a long time one of the few hotels where you could find private parking for cars and motorbikes within the hotel.
However, nowadays, with a new extension to the hotel being build to the parking lot, you need to use the public parking building close-by.
If you come to Venice via a cruiseline, Santa Chiara has one of the best locations, very close to the People Mover (transportation between the cruise terminal and Piazzale Roma).
On top of the convenient location (in the sestieri of Santa Croce), you’ll also like the palatial house that the hotel resides in…with a history spanning over 500 years.
When booking a stay, you have a choice (from a total of 40 rooms) between a standard and a superior room.
One of the main differences between the alternatives is that superior rooms have views to the Grand Canal and the Calatrava bridge…
…and standard rooms have pleasant views to the Rio Nuovo, the nearby gardens, or Piazzale Roma.
PHOTO: Standard room at the Santa Chiara Hotel. Some of the standard rooms are located within the main building. Additional rooms are at Annex Residenza Parisi, 100 meters away (12 rooms, with views of a courtyard).
PHOTO: View from a Santa Chiara standard room to the Rio Nuovo canal next door.
All of the rooms are decorated in authentic Venetian style, including having traditional wall fabrics, Venetian-style flooring, and Murano glass chandeliers.
Each of the rooms have private bathrooms, mini-bars, satellite TVs, safes, and telephones, as well as air-conditioning. The rooms are also sound-proofed, to minimize sounds from the nearby Piazzale Roma bus station.
To get to the major tourist sites in Venice, you can take a vaporette waterbus (100 m from the hotel) or a water taxi. For purchasing groceries, there is a great supermarket (Coop) just down the street from the hotel.
Hotel Santa Chiara Venice Italy Reviews
The services I always use to check Hotel Santa Chiara Venice Italy reviews are 1) TripAdvisor (340 reviews) and 2) Booking.com (161 reviews).
On TripAdvisor, the hotel has a guest rating of 3.5/5, ranking the place #195 out of 433 hotels in Venice in the service.
On the reviews, most of the reviewers give the hotel good marks for being a good, yet somewhat basic 3 star hotel.
The best marks for Santa Chiara come from the location, excellent for those coming to the city or leaving via Piazzale Roma or the S. Lucia train station.
The superior rooms (at the main building), with direct views to Grande Canale, get the highest recommendations.
Also, what gets good mentions from TripAdvisor reviewers are the rooms at the Annex Residenza Parisi part of the hotel, with larger rooms than what are available at the main building.
At Booking.com, Santa Chiara has a rating of 7.5/10, based on 161 reviews, all written by guests after they’ve stayed at the hotel.
The reviews seem to, on general, appreciate the hotel’s excellent location, and the large rooms within the Annex building.
The main building’s attic room, for four people, is also a rarity in this star category in Venice, as a total of four people can stay in that room.
Many reviewers also consider Hotel Santa Chiara good value for money, overall.
Hotel Santa Chiara Venice Italy Deals
Many of the best Hotel Santa Chiara Venice Italy deals are available from their official website, under the heading “Our Offers”.
The last time I checked, you could get discounted rates for extended stays, for three-four nights+.
Usually, these rates are offered inclusive of Italian VAT and buffet breakfast.
To take advantage of these offers, you can use Santa Chiara’s online booking engine (at hotelsantachiara.it), or email the hotel directly (a good way to also get details on the discounted deasl).
You should also consider that there is a city tax in place in hotel stays, which varies depending on the season (high or low), and the rate is established for each year separately.
The hotel’s official website offers and overview of these city tax rates, and you can find out about the discounts, caps on, and exceptions to the per-night stay city tax.
When making a booking, there is also a box for placing your discount code, if you have any (travel agents often have these codes).
On top of the official website deals, you might be able to find deals on internet booking engines such as Booking.com.
Hotel Santa Chiara Venice Italy Website
Hotel Santa Chiara’s official website is located at hotelsantachiara.it, and you can read it in three languages, English, French, and Italian.
At the official website, you can look at pictures of the available rooms and see their rates, make a reservation…
…and read more about the additional services, such as meeting rooms and the breakfast restaurant.
The hotel’s direct booking engine is powered by Vertical Booking, a popular Italian technology company. You can also make reservations through Booking.com, and many other booking engines.
If your unsure about what tourist attractions to see from the hotel, the website has articles on possible itineraries, and a great overview of the Santa Croce sestieri and its history.
At the time of writing this, Santa Croce Hotel does not have Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, or Google+ accounts.