Couchsurfing in Venice

So.. everybody knows that hotels in Venice are very expensive. In fact, they are among the most expensive in Europe, as you can see in this research by travel website trivago.com

So what can you do? There are many solutions, as we’ll explain in our guide, but one of the most popular is going Couchsurfing in Venice.

If you’re reading this post you probably already know that “Couchsurfing” is. In case you don’t, well.. it’s a website where:

• you can offer a place to sleep for free
• or you can look for one

There are feedbacks, profiles, reviews etc. so you’re sure that the person you’re going to host is nice and polite, and it’s an all around great way to meet new people, have fun, and travel a foreign city with the help of a local guy like you. Does this reminds you of something? It’s exactly the spirit behind Italian Buddy (as you can see in one of our previous posts)!

Anyway, as you can imagine, there are thousands of people looking for couchsurfing in Venice. This is the situation right now:

And now it’s not even the best season! Carnival hasn’t started yet, it’s cold and nobody has holidays so.. it gets worse. If  you also think that among those 190 requests, many are for more than 1 person, well.. you get the message.

Now, let’s see some facts:

• every person who is available to host people (like us) receives at least 2-3 requests per week, even when they set their profile as “we can’t host anybody right now”, so it will be very difficult to find someone who is free for you.
• almost everyone who hosts in Venice doesn’t live in the center of Venice (the island), but ouside, in the mainland (Mestre), so even if you find a host you’ll have to use train or buses to get to Venice and back.

To make a long story short, our suggestion if you can’t find a place where to stay for free is:

If you can’t go Couchsurfing in Venice, go to the nearby cities!

You can look for a couch in Treviso or Padova. Those cities are very close to Venice and it will be much, much easier to find a place where to sleep for free, because there are more hosts (those are bigger cities than Venice) and less requests!

I know what you’re thinking: “Man, this kinda sucks, those are completely different cities, I’ll have to take the train to get to Venice and back..”

Yes, I agree: if you can find a host in Venice go for it, it will be much better. But if you can’t find one, perhaps it will be better to look for one in Padova or Treviso, then to go in a hotel and pay incredibly high prices!

Plus: Padova and Treviso are both very beautiful cities. Sure, they’re not comparable to Venice, but they are definitely worth seeing. We talked about them in other posts, so if you want to really enjoy Italy like a local, this is a great opportunity to visit not just the most touristic places but also nearby gems.

Also: the train from padova takes only 30-40 minutes to get to Venice and it costs about 4€, it’s not like you’re on the other corner of Italy!

Anyway, we wish you luck and hope you can find a couch in Venice, but remember our advice, you might need it  😉

For more information on places to visit near Venice, also read our other posts:

• 5 Amazing places to see near Venice
• Top 6 things to see in Padova

Edit: 18/02/2015

Couchsurfing is certainly an awesome way to travel cheaply and meet locals who can show you the city, but I would like to stress how important it is to choose your host carefully. Even if you’re in a hurry because you didn’t have time to plan your trip and you’re looking for a host at the last minute, do not choose the first one who answers. Read carefully the reviews other guests left, as well as the rest of their profile, to understand if he will be a good character match for you.

Remember that your safety is much more important than saving money, and if you ever feel just a little uneasy you have all the rights to leave your host early, even if that makes you feel impolite.