A Venice Fish, Venice
Good hostels (and, quite often, any hostels) are hard to come by in Italy: but A Venice Fish was a lucky find, in a city where a good place to stay makes all the difference. This hostel is clean and friendly, and it has charm and a laid-back atmosphere. But without a doubt, the main selling-point of the Fish is its free dinners: not only are they a huge cash-saver in this most pricey of cities; they're also delicious, and a great way to meet and greet all your fellow guests at the hostel. This is the first free-dinner hostel I've stayed at in Europe; and not surprisingly, it's also the most fun I've had at a hostel on this side of the Atlantic.
Rooms: clean 6-bed dorms, nice and quiet all night long.
People: fantabulous crowd of fellow fun-loving, laid-back, predominantly English-speaking backpackers — great to chat with, great to drink with.
Staff: what can I say, except that the Persian is a champ — he cooks sumptuous dinners night after night, and he keeps the place running single-handedly.
Location: smack bang on the main island of Venice, about 15 minutes' walk from the main train station, and a 20-minute walk from the historic centre at Piazza San Marco. Couldn't ask for more.
Food: the dinners rock! Spag bol most nights, but always some variation on the theme — and it's basically all-you-can-eat. Sadly, no breakfast included: but you get full use of the well-equipped kitchen during the day.
Internet: supposedly one free PC, but the 'Net wasn't working on it while I was there (although the machine itself was). By the way, Internet in Venice (like most things) is an utter ripoff: my advice is simply do not go online while in the city; unless super-urgent, it can wait 'til your next destination.
Hot water: strong and reliable.
Contact info
Venice Fish don't seem to advertise their contact info anywhere: I too was unable to find it, even after extensive googling. They pretty much force you to book your stay with them through HostelWorld (or other booking engines), as it's the only way to contact them! However, they did send me their phone number and e-mail address, which I'm going to publish right here for everyone's benefit (whether the hostel wants me to or not — stuff you, Venice Fish, you can bloody well let people call or write to you): phone is +39 3470701833, and email is avenicefish OVER ATT hottmayl DOTTYDOTT komm (obfuscated to prevent spam harvesting — I'm sure you can work it out).
a venice fish!
hey! i jsut saw that you've been to A Venice Fish hostel recently. is there any way you have their contact info? e-mail, telephone number, anything?... i've been looking everywhere but i just cant seem to find it.
regards
nadine