Book this place, don’t even hesitate. It’s worth it. This was one of the best places we’ve ever stayed in. This was our third trip to Venice, and we wanted to get off the well-trod tourist routes and discover a little bit more of the locals’ Venice. I was definitely *not* looking for a place right on the Grand Canal! However, it turned out to be one of the best decisions we made for our visit.
The apartment has three amazing window seats that hang out over the Canal. We spent hours sitting there, watching the water traffic and the life of the canal. Our kids loved it, and so did we. We were in Venice during a tremendous heat wave, and as such spent a lot of time in the apartment. We were grateful for the fantastic AC (which cools the entire apartment, not just the bedrooms as in many rentals) and for all the comforts of home. We did not have to contact our lovely host even once, which in my experience is unusual.
The location is fantastic. You are on the Grand Canal, and close to a vaporetto stop, but also just a couple blocks away from a more local part of Venice as well as the Jewish Ghetto. You can walk the main road straight to Rialto or Piazza San Marco but you can also slip into the life of the city, which is especially nice in the morning and at night (go to Torrefazione Cannaregio for coffee and Vino Vero for cicchetti ). Also super handy to have multiple grocery stores nearby, including the gorgeous one in the old Teatro Italia.
If you can, take the private water taxi to/from the airport. It was one of the highlights of our stay in Venice. It goes right to an almost private dock just steps from the building.
One note: the top bunk bed seemed a little unsafe to us because the mattress is higher than the edge, so we chose not to use it. If you need the bed for a young child you could easily put the mattress on the floor. The two main rooms were extremely comfortable, and the shutters on the windows were a godsend for blocking out the light for our jet-lagged kids!