"For example, our address is Dorsoduro 3896, but the only person who knows how to find it is the postman. That's why we meet all our guests and take them to the apartment. Tourists understand that Venice is built on the water and that there are no cars, but many times they don't really grasp what that means. In most towns you can just take a taxi to your door, but unless you're renting a palazzo with a water door, you're going to be carrying luggage through winding streets and over a bridge or two. A water taxi can get you reasonably close, but they are expensive - about 80 €. So, pack lightly and bring a suitcase on wheels."American mystery writer M.D. Lake is a seasoned veteran when it comes to navigating the Venetian transportation system. He recently spent a month in an apartment in the Castello district. "I usually take the bus from the airport, not only because it's cheap and fast (about four thousand lire and 20 minutes), but because it drops me at Piazzale Roma, where I can either take a vaporetto down the Grand Canal to wherever I'm going, or walk. Either choice is a great way to wake up from a long flight and plunge into the rhythms of Venetian life. It helps, of course, if you've been to Venice before and know where you're going.

"By arrangement, I met Denise Corsili, the owner of Venice Rentals, in Campo Santa Maria Formosa at four o'clock, and she took me to my apartment. Denise is an American married to a Venetian, so she understands both cultures. Because I was renting for a longer period of time in the off-season, the price came out to be about 92 dollars a day for 31 days, and that included somebody who came in once a week and changed the bed linens and took away the dirty towels. The only time I needed to contact Denise after I moved in was when I discovered the kitchen had neither a cheese grater nor a bread knife - in Italy, yet! A bag containing one of each was hanging from my front door when I returned to the apartment that night."Don't expect to step into Lord Byron's prior residence on the Grand Canal, however, for that price. "Like many apartments in Venice, there were windows only on the north and south sides, and these faced the walls of other buildings - so close that I could almost have reached out and touched them," Mr. Lake observed. "The décor reminded me of summer cabins in northern Minnesota, but with crucifixes on the walls instead of antlers. It was clean, though, and large - two bedrooms with a big new bathroom and a decent shower, and a functional kitchen.