ABOVE: A sample walking map from our Venice Hotel Directions at Veniceforvisitors.com.

For some time now, we've been offering step-by-step walking directions to hotels in Venice's historic center at our main Web site, Venice for Visitors.

We've just finished improving and expanding our collection, which now totals more than 170 hand-edited walking maps.

Each hotel has its own page with directions from the most convenient arrival point.

We also provide hotel photos, brief hotel descriptions, and links to the hotels' pages at Booking.com.

For even more convenience, our index pages now show you:

• Alphabetical hotel listings
• Hotels near Alilaguna airport-boat piers (organized by boat lines and stops)
• Hotels near taxis and airport buses
• Hotels near Venice's Santa Lucia railroad station
• Hotels near the Marittima and San Basilio cruise piers

Whether you're looking for a hotel or wondering how to reach a hotel that you've already booked, head over to Venice for Visitors and see:

• Venice Hotel Directions

MAP CREDIT: Walking map by Anders Imboden, using basemap data from the Comune di Venezia and Regione Veneto under license IODL-2.0.

ABOVE: The Santa Chiara Hotel is next to the Grand Canal and the Piazzale Roma, making it easy to reach from airport buses, taxis, parking, and cruise ships.

Venice's Santa Chiara Hotel has long been popular with cruise passengers and visitors with heavy luggage, for a simple reason:

It's located along the edge of the Piazzale Roma, just a short walk from airport buses, land taxis, and the People Mover elevated tram to the Tronchetto parking garage and the Marittima cruise terminals.

From the Santa Chiara Hotel, it's easy to reach Venice's historic center on foot:

• You can cross the Calatrava Bridge (railing in the foreground of the photo above) and continue past the railroad station toward the Piazza San Marco. Or...
  
  
• You can cross a smaller stone bridge behind the hotel to reach Venice's main sights by a less crowded (and, to us, more interesting) route.

In the past, the 500-year-old palazzo-style hotel suffered from a major shortcoming: It was small, so getting a room could be extremely difficult at busy times of the year. Now, with the opening of a modern (and fully-accessible) addition with superior guest rooms and conveniences, the Santa Chiara can accommodate more guests than before.

Still, we recommend booking early to be sure of getting a room at the Santa Chiara Hotel or its annex, the Residenza Parisi. You can always cancel your reservation if you change your mind.

Tip: Our hotel partner, Booking.com, offers guaranteed lowest available rates with free cancellation in most cases. To check rooms and rates, see:

Santa Chiara Hotel and Residenza Parisi

We also suggest viewing this page at our travel-planning site, Venice for Visitors:

Walking Directions to the Santa Chiara Hotel

Finally, here's a nighttime photo of the hotel and the Calatrava Bridge:

ABOVE: From the T1 tram's terminus in Venice's Piazzale Roma, it's only a short walk over level ground to the Venice People Mover (an automated tram that runs to the Marittima cruise basin).

Mestre, on the Venetian mainland, is popular with cruise passengers for two reasons:

• Hotels in Mestre are usually cheaper (or offer better value) than hotels in Venice's historic center; and...
  
  
• From a hotel in Mestre, you can take a land taxi directly to the Venice cruise terminals at Marittima (used by large ships), San Basilio, and Santa Marta.

If you're considering a hotel in Mestre and are willing to pay 30 euros or more for a taxi to the port, any of the hotels in the article below should meet your needs:

Mestre & Marghera Hotels Guide

However, if you'd rather take public transportation, you need to consider your options:

1.  You can stay near the Mestre railroad station and take a train to Venice's Santa Lucia station, then cross the Calatrava Bridge to the Piazzale Roma and take the People Mover to the Marittima cruise port.

2.  You can stay in a hotel on a public bus line in Mestre that runs to Venice's Piazzale Roma. This may sound like a practical choice, but city buses can be crowded, and you may regret trying to board a bus filled with daytrippers or commuters when you're hauling bulky luggage.

3.  Your best bet (if you're departing from the Marittima cruise port) is to stay in a hotel on the new tram line that runs between central Mestre and Venice's Piazzale Roma:

Mestre Hotels on the T1 Tram Line

The tram is roomier and easier to board than buses are, and from the tram stop in Venice, you can walk a short distance to the People Mover. (The People Mover station has escalators and an elevator, so it's easy to manage even with a large, heavy suitcase.) See:

People Mover to the Venice Marittima Cruise Terminals

• Note: If you've already booked a hotel in an inconvenient location (or if you've let a travel agent make that mistake for you), we suggest that you cancel the reservation unless you're willing to splurge on a taxi.

For more information about cruising from (or to) Venice, see the Venice for Cruisers section of our travel-planning site, Veniceforvisitors.com:

Venice for Cruisers