We arrived in the middle of the night which I would not recommend as it takes considerably longer to get to the apartment fromMarco Polo via Alilaguna, than it did to get fromGatwick to Venice. Ivan met us and answered queries we had. The restaurant nearby is very nice, we didn't get one of the things we ordered as we don't speak Italian but it didn't matter we had ordered too much anyway. The bakery next door has lovely breads and pastries. Ivan left sliced bread wine and juice.
It is quite a walk in the midday sun to San Marco but no problem earlier, later or when you are there due to the shady back streets.
We spent a week there so had a 7 day water bus ticket, that was expensive but far cheaper than buying tickets each trip. Annoyingly kids are full price.
The area of Saint Elena is very quiet and I would recommend it.
There was no air conditioning but that was fine there are fans in the bedrooms and it was not too hot at night, although it was very hot in the day being August