Hotel Amba Alagi, Venice (Marghera) - Review

Hotel Amba Alagi: exterior

I usually advise travellers to stay in central Venice, but there are times when lodging outside the city - on the nearby mainland, for example - may be be a practical option. Or indeed, the only option. I visited Venice in October at short notice, when all the decent and affordable central hotels were booked up. Not wanting to stay in a hostel nor to spend hundreds of euros per night, I broke my own rules and tried out two cheap mainland hotels. First of the two was the Hotel Amba Alagi, where I paid just €55 per night for a double room.

I found Hotel Amba Alagi very decent for a one-star. It's in Marghera, on the Venice mainland, and on the far side of Marghera for Venice. That's the disadvantage – but that's also what makes it a budget option. With car parking and easy road access, it's a practical idea for travellers with a car who want to go into Venice once or twice by public transport, or for travellers on a tight budget.

Marghera was designed as a kind of 'garden suburb', across the railway from Venice's sibling town Mestre, and separated from the Venetian lagoon by a large industrial port area. It's composed of wide modern streets radiating out from roundabouts with leafy parks in the middle; nowadays it's a combination of respectable and down-at-heel side-by-side. Buses and trams connect the suburb with Mestre and with Venice.

The hotel is around the corner from a tram stop. Named 'Beccaria', the stop is on line T2. This runs quickly to Mestre railway station and on into the centre of Mestre. You could travel there and change to Line T1 which crosses the lagoon to Venice, although this would be a circuitous route into town (I didn't time this, so it's possible it would be quick and more comfortable than the buses). More directly, ACTV bus 6L runs from Piazzale

Double bedroom

Concordia, a few minutes' walk away, into Venice. From the hotel door to Piazzale Roma in Venice I'd allow 20-30 minutes. At the time of writing the tram service continues until 9pm and the 6L runs its full route until around the same time. As an alternative, bus service 6 has its nearest stop at Piazza S. Antonio, which is walking distance of the hotel, and on the route of the tram. This bus also runs into Venice and continues until after midnight. At night, therefore, you'll need to get a bus back as far as S. Antonio and then walk (easy as you can follow the tram tracks, but a bit creepy if  you're alone).

I booked a double room at the hotel. It was on an upper floor (room 8), was a reasonable size and better than I would have expected from the one-star rating. The only negative points were that the room wasn't terribly bright, and the paint on the walls was a bit marked. Otherwise, I was impressed. The décor was fairly neutral, with a hard tiled floor, rugs by the bed, a small table to act as a desk, a wall-mounted TV, a couple of chairs, a suitcase stand, coat hooks and two bedside tables and plug sockets: everything you'd need and extra too (coat hooks are welcome but rare in Italian hotels). The complimentary hotel slippers and little bag of local speciality biscuits were an unexpected and hospitable touch. 

To control the temperature there was a fan above the bed, an air-conditioning unit and a radiator; I didn't need any of these during my visit, although the room was quite cool in the evenings (early October). During my first night I took the spare blanket from the cupboard and pulled it over me; when the cleaner visited the next day, he/she carefully remade the bed to include the blanket between sheet and coverlet: good service, I thought. The room and bathroom had windows with the kind of external slatted shutter you pull down using a strap. Not elegant, but it saved opening windows and leaning out at the mercy of the local mosquitoes.

En-suite bathroom

The en-suite bathroom was small but again, fine. The shower was decent, and there was some space for toiletries. The only niggle was that the towel rail was squeezed in rather close to the toilet seat.  Toiletries provided were soap, shower sachet and a shower cap. There was a hairdryer in the bathroom attached to the wall – a good one with different settings and a directional nozzle, although inconveniently placed for right-handed guests.

The hotel's location was very quiet. The rooms/doorways weren't soundproofed though, and I did hear other guests talking and using the TV, (ear plugs fixed this) and there was a very faint smell of cigarettes a couple of times. I slept very well. The bed was two singles put together; the mattresses were comfortable enough. 

The people who run the hotel were friendly and helpful – I'm not sure how much English they could speak, as we talked in Italian, but they provide guests with a map indicating the nearest bus and tram stops. Breakfast wasn't included in my room rate. 

Welcome biscuits

I would say this hotel is a good option if you're looking for cheap and practical, and are prepared for the travel required to get into Venice. I found this a drawback at night; though if you aren't alone or aren't staying late in Venice, this won't be such an issue. An advantage of being a bit nearer the start of the bus route means you've a fair chance of getting a seat on the busy service to Venice. There are hotels in Marghera which are nearer to the lagoon city; though these tend to be either significantly more expensive or poorly-reviewed (and you'll generally have to stand on the bus). I later switched to one of the nearer hotels, and I missed the Amba Alagi; the décor may have been tired but the room's amenities were better.

Getting to the hotel by public transport from the airport is fairly straightforward. On festivi - i.e. Sundays and public holidays - the ACTV bus service 15 runs all the way from the airport to Marghera. Check the latest information, or ask at the ACTV desk at the airport, as previously this bus used to run every day, and it could change again. In the absence of a direct service, take the ATVO express or the ACTV bus 15 to Mestre FS (the railway station) before changing to the tram T2. The tram stop is in an underpass beneath the bus parking area; there are stairs and a lift, labelled with the direction: Marghera. Alight at the Beccaria stop.

>  Check prices or make a booking at Hotel Amba Alagi
> ACTV bus timetables

Visiting the Conservatorio di Musica in Palazzo Pisani, Venice - a Biennale treat

There's a Biennale in Venice every year - the Art Biennale in odd-numbered years and an Architecture Biennale in even-numbered years. The Art Biennale is the better-known and larger of the two, but both give added interest to the city's visitors over a period of several months (generally June-November). Although there are major exhibition spaces at the Giardini and Arsenale sites, my favourite thing about the Biennale is the access to smaller, private spaces.

Many 'national pavilions' and associated exhibitions are housed in Venice's palaces, halls and churches. These are almost all free and many offer the chance to visit an interior you would never otherwise see. Sometimes this is a last chance. Two of the finest palaces I've visited for Biennale exhibitions in the past have now been renovated and altered; they'll never again have that authentic decrepit charm which made them magical. (One is now yet another luxury hotel chosen by George Clooney for his wedding celebrations). Once Venice's historic buildings are modernised  and converted to hotels or private dwellings, a lot of their character will disappear; as will easy public access. So getting into these buildings when they are temporarily open may be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience a bit of history. You'll also, of course, see an art display - although the standard can be highly variable and to be honest I am almost always far more interested in my surroundings.

There are maps available of Biennale-affiliated shows, and you'll see posters and sandwich-boards outside palazzi as you walk around Venice or cruise down the Grand Canal. I've not really bothered with the Biennale this year; the exhibitions can get pretty tedious and

repetitive. But I did accidentally come across one treasure. Wandering to a quiet court off Campo San Stefano in order to take a phone call, I saw a Biennale banner on the outside of one of the most intriguing buildings in Venice. Palazzo Pisani is the home of Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello  (it has housed the municipal music college since 1897). It was once one of the grandest private palaces in the city (perhaps the grandest).

Having only ever seen the building from the outside, I was fascinated. Built between the 17th and 18th centuries for the hugely-wealthy Pisani family, the palace is even more imposing inside than you would guess from the splendid exterior. The most striking features are its two internal courtyards, separated by four storeys of loggia, and the way the building climbs upwards towards the sky.

This year there are two Biennale exhibitions housed in the Conservatorio, giving visitors the chance to explore two sections of the building:  The Sound of Creation: Sound Paintings by Beezy Bailey and Brian Eno and the Angolan exhibition On Ways of Travelling (both closed on Sundays).

The first of the two exhibitions (with paintings to study and headphones for listening) is displayed up the length of a grand monumental staircase. The stairs climb up and up, and once you finally reach an attic room at the top and peer through its windows, you can see that this must be among the tallest buildings in Venice. You also get an idea of how vast and rambling the building is; this is just one staircase in one corner of one courtyard. Piano music drifted onto one landing through the closed double doors of an auditorium (I peeped through the crack between the doors). Off another landing I caught a glimpse of a meeting where modern business-suited attendees contrasted sharply with the ancient and faded grandeur of the surroundings.

The second art exhibition is housed on a piano nobile at the far side of the building, above the entrance hall, in a long frescoed chamber with chandeliers. When the Pisani family had money trouble in the nineteenth century they sold off the palace and its contents, including important works of art, but the wall and ceiling paintings are still in situ.

Getting a chance to nose around Palazzo Pisani was an unplanned treat. For me it was also a reminder of how many fascinating sights there are in Venice; you can spend years here and still come across something new. It is always worth keeping an eye open for special events and openings, and the Biennale is a great chance for this kind of off-the-beaten-track exploration.

The Art Biennale runs until 22nd November this year. As the Conservatorio is a music college, it may (perhaps) be possible to glimpse Palazzo Pisani's courtyards on other occasions. The building may occasionally be open to the public for other special events. Many of Venice's other buildings are also open to host Biennale exhibitions. A map of Biennale locations can be found here (pdf file).

More of my insider tips for visiting Venice including out-of-the-way sights can be found in Venice: Italy Heaven Guide.