Glamping in Venice the mini-trippie

[MadHatter1]

INTRODUCTION

Thought I would finally get around to writing up a report from a holiday last summer. We appear to have lost some of the pics so the pics here are not all in a good quality but I can’t find the rest so apologies now.

My kids had always wanted to go camping and as much as myself and DH tried to explain to them that our holidays to other locations such as Walt Disney World were much better the kids were adamant that all their friends went camping and it was the best holiday ever, they were missing out and we were ruining their lives etc etc.

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

Now if you are lucky enough to be as young as myself you will remember camping in France in the late 70s early 80s if not let me enlighten you. It started with Mum and Dad telling people how they were “going abroad this year”. Dad spent a whole weekend servicing the car and filling the boot full-of-goodness-knows-what but definitely more stuff than any 4 people should reasonably need for 2 weeks. We then woke up at some stupid o’clock drove to a ferry port queued for hours to get onto a ironically named roll-on-roll-off ferry which stank of stale Rothmans we then started to throw up into sick bags and didn’t stop until we finally arrived at our campsite just before it got dark. We then lived in tent for 2 weeks next to some very poorly maintained cleaned-once-a-day shower block and loads of other Brits and lived off bbqs, mini yoghurts and baguettes. Remember those trips to the camp shop to buy baguettes and swap the ice pack? It was only time you spoke to anyone French all holiday. To finish off your parents had a blinding row on the way back because they got lost driving through Paris. Still can’t remember? Let me google a photo to jog your memory.




PRE TRIPPIE

There is one small problem though, despite all the above being accurate we all had a very good time. So I eventually caved and managed to use avios points for flights and found a special offer for Canvas Holidays. Venice had not been my first choice but I couldn't find the airmiles flights in the school holidays for Switzerland or Austria. I settled for Venice as I had read a favourable article on camping in Venice in the Telegraph.

To be more accurate the campsites in Veneto are on the far side of the bay. There are islands in the middle of the bay one of which is Venice. This type of holiday is especially popular with German tourists. This suits us fine, we barely speak to one another on holiday so we certainly don’t want an over-familiar family in the next tent trying to talk to us!

We were not expecting much for 9 nights which had cost a little over £500, but the kids would get to camp and I would get a day out in Venice and DH was complaining about lack of gymnasium but hey you can’t have it all.


TRAVEL

I had booked flights leaving Heathrow T5 at 7:00am which suited us fine, we live close.



Another plus Gordon Ramsays Plane food is always welcome with our family. This is the Eggs Norweigan and the boys chose the fruit.





The BA flight was good I managed to take a pic of the food, which was the usual DH slept for the entire flights so it must have been fairly uneventful.






We landed in Marco Polo and took the water bus to Murano, this cost around €8 per person, next time we will use the water taxis though because as they overtook us they did look like they were having a really good time. For those who don’t know this is the island of blown glass not really my thing so we didn’t see any getting blown but here are some pics of the island.





It was an early flight and so we had a relaxed and very reasonably priced long lunch in Murano away from the hustle of Venice.



After lunch we caught the ferry over to Punta Sabbioni this cost around €8 per person (free for children under 6).

Arriving at the campsite soon after 3:00pm (the end of quiet time) there was a long queue to check-in. The Canvas reps are very welcoming even though they do have to tell you the rules of the basically German resort as they walk you to your tent.

ACCOMMODATION

I had read up on the campsite Sant’Angelo Village before hand and knew that siesta or quiet time is enforced but didn't realise they take it so seriously that you are not allowed to skate board or wash-up and yes there are patrols in case you forgot. Many people head for the beach, we often went to the beach bar which was the only part of the camp to stay open.

In fact it turns out Germans are actually very good at camps they take the rules quite seriously and you are reminded of them over a tannoy "Achtung ..." which is a trifle alarming as is the amount of stuff which many campers bring with them, supersized caravans, separate tents for white goods, satellite dishes etc. The plus side is that this camp has incredibly high standards for example the shower blocks were immaculate I don't think I ever used a basin which hadn't been cleaned just before I used it, there were 2 cleaning staff in there for 12 hours a day. The pool is also impeccably clean although this may be achieved by filling it up out of the cold tap every morning seriously it appeared to be colder than the sea.

There are negative reviews on Trip Advisor regarding prices on the campsite, we didn't really find anything to complain about although maybe other campsites are cheaper. An ice cream was €1.20 and a Spritz cocktail was €3.00 from memory a pizza in the on site restaurant was about €8.00.

A Spritz cocktail for anyone who is interested is Aperol, Prosseco, Soda Water and ice it is drank around Venice almost everywhere and looks a bit like this:

My husbands mum joined us for a few days she flew to Trevisio airport, her cab fare cost €80. The tent was plenty big enough for 5 people. Here are some pics:









DAY OUT 1. Aqualandia
Excellent theming and shows for an aqua park it is expensive but you do get what you pay for, we found it comparable to some water parks in Florida.



DAY OUT 2 Burano
This is well worth it many people prefer it to the bustle of Venice my only tip is the restaurants fill up quite quickly at lunchtime.









DAY OUT 3. Venice
This was MIL last day so she was doing her transfers through here. It was overcast this day which is lucky because Venice is very busy. Here are some pics;



George saw these guys at the bar and asked "are they Gondola drivers or criminals?"




GOING HOME

There were depressed faces on leaving day.



Thomas had mastered the wave board (2 wheeled skate board thingy) on holiday it had taken a while but was much easier after a 9 year old German who spoke embarrassingly good English tutored Thomas on the technique and me on basic engineering “hmm I think the wheel is stiff..you need some olive oil”.

We flew back into LCY which as always inexplicably just seemed to be a better service than LGW or LHR, even the in-flight meal appears better.



SUMMARY

We all enjoyed our time here, so what started as a 'kids camping box ticked holiday' actually turned out to be really successful. We have booked again for this summer but this time there will be 13 of us.

It is as many people say very surreal German camping in Venice but our kids didn't mind being spoken to in German by Italian reps "Deutschland nein...?" and could play perfectly well with their new friends, the language barrier seemingly does not apply to kids.

[HobosMum]

We stayed at Sant Angelo Village many years ago when we lived in Germany, we used to drive there through Austria. Had a few great holidays there and it was a lovely site.

[batleyboy26]

Thank you for writing your mini-trippie - looks great and fab photos.

We're going to Venice in a few weeks and staying on Murano - would you recommend that place you had lunch at?

[MadHatter1]

Had a few great holidays there and it was a lovely site.

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Hi, thanks for reading yes it is a lovely site they keep it absolutely pristine.

[MadHatter1]

would you recommend that place you had lunch at?

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Hi , sorry I would have loved to recommend the place we had lunch at, wanted to go back myself. Unfortunately I wander around these places constantly lost

[rebeccarobbins]

Hi
Thanks for posting. A really good read! You've sold it to me!

[Jet]

Fab trippie...love Canvas Holidays me and DH were Couriers for them for three seasons we met really nice people and got to visit most of France.
I would love to do it with our Grandaughters one day.