The Hotel A La Commedia is an excellent base in Venice. It has a great location a couple of minutes from the Rialto Bridge and maybe a quarter hour from San Marco (if you don't get lost, and there's a strong possibility you will! But then that's half the fun of Venice).

The hotel is beautifully decorated, comfortable and welcoming. The staff were both friendly and efficient and spoke excellent English. If we had a problem they sorted it out straight away. There's a little bar in the lobby which is great for an afternoon coffee or a nightcap--we never made it up to the roof terrace because it was so cold and rainy, but maybe that's something to do next time! We ate a self-served Continental breakfast which was plentiful (cooked breakfasts are also available, and for a small charge you can eat in your room). The morning staff were friendly and helpful and the coffee they served was delicious!

Our room was larger than expected and with a little balcony overlooking a small piazza (I don't believe there's such a thing as a bad view in Venice). Despite only booking a standard room we had a little seating area as well as a bedroom. The beds were comfortable, the room had individual climate controls and with the curtains shut there was little noise from the street. My only quibble is that there was no kettle or coffee maker, but I knew that in advance and took my own travel kettle as I need some coffee before I face the day--but as I said, the coffee served at breakfast was very nice and came in a pot big enough for two servings.

The staff also gave us a map which was more detailed than the one in our guidebooks, something you need when navigating the confusing tangle of Venice's tiny streets. There's no restaurant on site (apart from the breakfast room and light snacks at the bar) but you don't have to go far in any direction to find a cosy and inexpensive trattoria, cafe or pizzeria (although the one directly opposite the hotel was very expensive and quite disappointing--go further afield, you won't have to go far!).

One piece of advice is to take some really comfortable shoes as you'll do a lot of walking in Venice. Most of the famous sights, like the Rialto bridge and market, Pizza San Marco with the Doge's palace, the Basilica, the Campanile etc are not far away on foot. But beware! We visited in early December when the tides were very high and several canal-side streets had flooded, as had Piazza San Marco, which was easily six inches underwater in places. The Venetians are entirely used to this and go about their daily business with the help of raised walkways in the street and wellington boots. I really advise taking something waterproof to wear on your feet as shuffling along on those narrow raised walkways can be a tiresome business when everyone keeps stopping to take pictures every few seconds!

We took a shared vaporetto from the airport which was about €50/person return. The waterbus is cheaper but much slower, and of course you can't beat the glamour of racing across the lagoon in a speedboat! The hotel staff organised a shared gondola ride most afternoons (weather dependant) which was €30/person--compared to a lot of rides, that was good value and we really enjoyed it. I really recommend a water trip of some kind, even if it's just on the waterbus, because Venice looks totally different from the water.

Right, that's about it--suffice to say, I was very happy with this choice of hotel, and thoroughly recommend it!