Location is all important for this apartment. Venice is expensive at the best of times, but having the space that the apartment provides is a huge bonus compared to a small hotel room. The view from the top Altana down the Grand Canal from the Rialto bridge is excellent, particularly at dusk/night. The lower platform also gives a great view towards the east of the city, the tiled roofs laying a path to the Domes of the Basilica and adjacent St Mark's Tower. We used a water taxi from the airport to get to the Rialto Bridge where our host met us and guided us to the apartment, with a quick brief the only thing required to become familiar with the apartment.
A word of caution here for those who may not be fully physically capable, as there is no lift but around 90 stairs to the apartment (but the view is worth it). Apart from that, the central location (Spar and Co-Op markets are on the waterfront just down from here) allowed us to not only get to San Marco in a few minutes but to go further into Cannaregio and Castello, where good home cooking and a lesser number of tourists was the order of the day while we stayed.