Villa Mabapa

My sister and I traveled with Gate 1 to Italy, and this was our first hotel. When we arrived by water taxi, we thought the hotel looked charming. The outdoor garden and bar area was just lovely. We were fortunate enough that our room was ready when we checked in about 10:30am. The entire staff was nice, polite and efficient. Our room was in the second building back, after walking through a decent small garden area. The room was the disappointing part of our stay. I have been on 5 Gate 1 tours and this was the worst I have been given. It was my sister???s first with this tour company, so I was even more upset. It was extremely small, (my dorm room in college was larger and nicer), with an extremely small bathroom. The hotel had turned the air conditioning off the day before, (we were there October 1), so it was extremely hot. The only way to cool the room down was to open a small window with no screen and we didn???t have any balcony. In come the insects. This was a major complaint among the entire tour group, even the tour manager who resides near Rome. It was worse the second night when it rained and we had to close the window. I must say the meals we had were very good. We had one dinner and it was excellent. The two breakfast buffets were fine, with enough options for most people. It was only a few ???blocks??? to the bus and water taxi station to go to the big island of Venice. It was fairly easy to navigate this system. I cannot say I would stay here again, but it was bearable for 2 nights.

Spent an enjoyable 3 nights at this hotel on Lido island in November. Unfortunately, at that time, Venice suffered the worst floods for 50 years. The hotel was not affected as it is on Lido island which looks north towards the Venice main island. Simple trip by Alilaguna boat (???27 return) from Marco Polo airport to Lido Santa Maria Elisabetta pier on Lido island. A 10-15 minute walk along the coast road to the hotel (there is a bus station at the pier head with a bus that stops close to the hotel). This is also the pier for the water buses into Venice. Hotel staff courteous on our arrival and room very comfortable (apart from the shower in need of updating and position of toilet almost under the hand basin). We decided to eat that first night at the hotel and was surprised by the quality of the food. Very good selection and good wine list. Meal, with wine was approximately ???60 for 2. Breakfast was, as usual, a mix of continental with scrambled egg as hot course. Due to the chaos in Venice during the flooding we also ate at the hotel for all three nights and enjoyed each meal. The bar service could be, at times, a little slow but the bar staff were helpful. Out of season this hotel is situated in a good place, however, because this island has the nearest beach (on the other side of Lido island to Hotel Mabapa) to the main island it does get full in the summer season and the price does tend to increase substantially. Recommended.

Our trip was influenced by the flooding in late November, We stayed at the Mabapa Hotel on the Lido island and we were fortunate to have chosen this very pleasant small hotel. Very nearby, there was a vaporetto stop which didn't flood. The hotel itself was delightful - comfortable with excellent food and service. One day, the hotel hosted a wedding between a local woman and her German bridegroom. The wedding party included a variety of European friends and relatives, also an Australian couple. We were invited to join the celebrations that evening. How friendly the whole set-up was! Affordable, excellent location and highly recommended.