Tourism is the city's biggest economic driver and consequently, the hotel, food, transportation and shopping costs are on the high side. You have to plan and budget properly in order not to waste oodles of money when visiting the "Queen of the Adriatic."

Finding an Affordable Luxury Hotel is a Challenge in Venice

First and foremost, the hotels tend to be extremely overpriced. Not quite as expensive as Paris, London, New York or Tokyo, but costly enough to make finding a wonderful place to stay at a reasonable price a challenge. Most of the luxury lodging options which are near the major sites are the worse in terms of cost. Many are out-of-this world beautiful but in my opinion, not worth the expense.

Before visiting this exotic city, I did an extensive hotel search. My lodging requirements were the following: