We independently evaluate all of our recommendations. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Hotels + Resorts 12 Best Hotels in Venice, Italy These are our favorite hotels in Venice for a most serene stay. By Elizabeth Heath Elizabeth Heath Elizabeth Heath is a writer and editor living on a hill in Umbria, from where she writes about travel in Italy, the rest of Europe, and farther afield. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines Published on July 26, 2024 Photo: Diego De Pol/Courtesy of Baglioni Hotel Luna Venice’s nickname may be La Serenissima, or “the most serene,” but as anyone who’s visited recently can attest, the Floating City can be anything but calm. That’s why choosing the right hotel for your stay is so important. Your Venice hotel should be a refuge — whether from high-season crowds, summer heat, or winter chill — in which to relax, regroup, and get a restful night’s sleep before setting out to wander the city’s narrow alleys, ply its canals in gondola, or find your next plate of cicchetti. To be fair, Venice has hundreds of Airbnb-type rentals and luxury suites. But in one of the most improbable, spellbinding places in the world, hotels are part of the city's fabric. They occupy ancient palaces and noble residences, are full of architectural quirks and exceptional details, and often have long, fascinating histories themselves. We narrowed this list of the best hotels in Venice based on factors like location, comfort, and amenities and focused on properties that really offer a sense of place. Because when you close your eyes and wake up in Venice, it should feel like it. St. Regis Venice Courtesy of Marriott Book Now Also available to book at Tripadvisor.com What We Like Absolutely flawless service in an art-filled, modern hotel that never lets you forget you’re in Venice. What to Consider Even entry-level rooms at the St. Regis are pricey and won’t come with those swoony Grand Canal views. I recently stayed at the St. Regis Venice for the first time and truthfully cannot find a flaw. T+L readers’ favorite hotel in Venice debuted in 2019 in the former Westin Europa and Regina and quickly shrugged off any vestiges of its outdated predecessor without ever losing its identity as a luxury Venetian hotel. That’s mainly due to its art-filled spaces, which, often with provocative modernity (look for Ai Weiwei’s middle finger in his monumental white chandelier), still harken back to Venetian craft and imagery from glass artworks produced at Berengo Studios on Murano Island (ask the St. Regis Butler to arrange a private visit) to ethereal, abstract landscape paintings where the Venice skyline appears like a chimera. Rooms and suites are made in a palette of glowing, cloudlike pastels you want to fall into. The Monet suites once welcomed and inspired the famous Impressionist painter. One look at the technicolor sunset over the canal makes it easy to see why. The Arts Bar is the hotel’s edgy living room, with complex bespoke cocktails (each with its own artist-designed glass) and nightly entertainment. Impeccable at every turn. GM Patrizia Hofer can pull rabbits out of hats: last-minute Carnevale costumes and tickets to the Doge’s Ball? Let her make a few calls. The Details: Location: San Marco, but tucked into a secluded courtyard and facing the canalFood & drink: Two canal-facing bars offering elaborate cocktails, upscale Gio’s restaurant (also the breakfast area), and a sizeable canalside terrace.Rooms & suites: Many suites overlooking the Grand Canal have balconies or large terraces.Rates: From $725, up to $12,000 for a threee-bedroom penthouse suite with a huge terrace Aman Venice Courtesy of Aman Venice Book Now Also available to book at Virtuoso.com What We Like The definition of sumptuous, this ultra-luxe palace features just 24 rooms and suites, most overlooking the Grand Canal. What to Consider Even in a city of overpriced hotels, the Aman is up there, with rooms starting at $1,100 and going for more than twice that in high season. There are palace hotels in Venice, and then there’s the Aman Venice. The centuries collide here in 16th-century Palazzo Papadopoli, where a riotous rococo makeover in the 1800s left behind Tiepolo frescoes and dizzyingly gilded grand salons and suites. Today, those spaces are decorated with tastefully subdued, modern furnishings that complement but don’t compete with the architectural ornamentation. With only 24 rooms and suites and — rare for Venice — two gardens, there’s an air of privacy and exclusivity here that few hotels in the city can match. Maybe that’s why the Clooneys and a host of other more anonymous A-listers have chosen Aman Venice for their weddings — and it’s made T+L’s World’s Best Hotels list for 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. ”Even if it’s just for a doppio espresso, pop into the gilded restaurant Arva. It’s the definition of dazzling,” says travel writer Nicole Trilivas. The Details: Location: San Polo, in a palace fronting the Grand CanalFood & drink: Arva Restaurant, a Lord Byron-inspired bar, private dining rooms, Sunday brunch, and seasonal garden dining.Rooms & suites: Even entry-level rooms measure at least 500 square feet and have ginormous bathrooms.Rates: From $1,050 to much, much higher Baglioni Hotel Luna Diego De Pol/Courtesy of Baglioni Hotel Luna Book Now Also available to book at Expedia.com What We Like With classic Venetian pomp and luxury, the oldest hotel in Venice is also the best-located hotel in the Lagoon City. What to Consider Heavy drapes, silk wallpaper, and gilt headboards may feel a little dated to travelers looking for a more contemporary vibe. No big deal. Just a hotel in a 12th-century palazzo that once sheltered the Knights Templar, it has served as an inn since the 1500s and bears original frescoes and design details from the 1700s. Another T+L reader favorite and one of our favorite family-run hotels in Italy, Baglioni Hotel Luna delivers the quintessential Venice experience: gloriously ornate and traditional rooms, suites, and salons — including a historic ballroom (and breakfast room) where Carnevale masked balls are held, the celebrated Canova restaurant, and a location just steps from Piazza San Marco. If you’re up for a real splurge, book the 1,345 square-foot San Giorgio Terrace Suite, routinely ranked one of the best in Venice. The Details: Location: San Marco, with some rooms overlooking the Giardini Reali or the Grand CanalFood & drink: Canova Restaurant is helmed by Michelin-starred chef Claudio Sadler, and the hotel also offers the more casual Canova Bistro and Canova Bar.Rooms & suites: Entry-level rooms start at 215 square feet and have street or courtyard views, while canal-view rooms and suites are larger and pricier.Rates: From $650, with occasional last-minute deals Hotel Cipriani Venice, a Belmond Hotel Courtesy of Hotel Cipriani Book Now Also available to book at Tripadvisor.com What We Like Next-level glamor and every posh amenity on a close-in island that feels a world apart from the hubbub of Venice. What to Consider Cipriani is a world unto itself, and first-time visitors to Venice may feel a little too far removed from the city. The approach to Hotel Cipriani Venice has been justly described as “cinematic,” and you’ll feel every bit the movie star as the hotel’s private boat whisks you from Piazza San Marco to this bucolic compound on Giudecca Island. Light-filled rooms and suites, many with leafy patios or canal and lagoon views, are in store here, as is the largest outdoor heated swimming pool in Venice, a private vineyard, and multiple dining options, including overwater Cip’s Club (really, is there a better place to sip a Bellini, the drink invented by Giuseppe Cipriani?) and Michelin-starred Oro. A complimentary shuttle boat will carry you back and forth from the T+L readers’ Best Hotel in Venice for 2022, but the question is, why would you ever want to leave? The Details: Location: On a verdant point on Giudecca Island, about a 10-minute boat ride from Piazza San Marco.Food & drink: High-end dining at Oro, plus more casual-elegant options at Cip’s Club, Bar Gabbiano, and Il Porticciolo, a seafood restaurant.Rooms & suites: With updated decor that still leans heavily on tradition, most rooms and suites have private patios or balconies.Rates: From $1,275; Signature Suites from $8,040 JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa Courtesy of Marriott Book Now Also available to book at Hotels.com What We Like This private island compound, with multiple pools, dining options, and ample green space, is a terrific option for families. What to Consider The island is a 20-minute boat ride from Venice. Another consistent list-topper in our World’s Best Awards, the JW Marriott Venice is a resort hotel on its own private island, the 40-acre Isola delle Rose, once a convalescent hospital. R&R is still the main pastime here, as the hotel has one of the largest spas in Venice, three swimming pools, a rooftop infinity pool, and extensive gardens and resort activities. Families are especially well-looked-after here, with a Kids’ Club and abundant green space — something you won’t find in Venice. Rooms are bright and somewhat minimalist, but what they may lack in a traditional Venetian vibe, they make up for with space, light, and lagoon or garden views. The JW Retreats are private residences with their own plunge pools. A courtesy boat to San Marco runs all day long. The Details: Location: Isole delle Rose is in the middle of the Venetian Lagoon, a 20-minute boat ride (complimentary for guests) from Piazza San Marco.Food & drink: Agli Amici Dopolavoro offers refined garden-to-table cuisine. It also has a laidback pizzeria and grill, a snack bar, a rooftop eatery, a bar, and cooking classes.Rooms & suites: The mood is modern in the Matteo Thun-designed rooms and suites, which range from 300 square-foot deluxe rooms to sprawling villas with private pools.Rates: Off-season rates range from $308 for an entry-level room to $700 and up in high season. The Gritti Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel Courtesy of Marriott Book Now Also available to book at Hotels.com What We Like Few places convey old-school Venetian luxury like The Gritti, where every space is a riot of texture, color, pattern, and exquisite details. What to Consider You don’t come here for understatement, and the exuberant fluff may not be for everyone. Like those cherub-filled Baroque cathedrals all over Venice, T+L reader favorite The Gritti Palace’s opulence is meant to overwhelm. Set in a noble palace dating to the 1400s, each art- and object-filled space is unique, giving this 82-room hotel a boutique feel — you’d be excused for forgetting this is a Marriott, albeit part of the brand’s high-end Luxury Collection. The top floor Redentore Suite even has its own plunge pool, plus views you’ll remember for a lifetime. The Club del Doge Restaurant is a bedecked dining room for elegant meals, while the outdoor Gritti Terrace and Riva Lounge offer some of the best settings in the city. Or roll over to Bar Longhi’s signature Martini Trolley and see what the barman shakes up. The Details: Location: In the Santa Maria del Giglio area of San MarcoFood & Drink: A formal restaurant in an even more formal salon, two canalside terrace restaurants (that only look casual), a swanky bar, and a cooking school.Rooms & suites: Too much is never enough in impressively ornate rooms and over-the-top suites — careful the views from the balcony don’t make you feel faint.Rates: From $900 per night, with balcony suites starting at $4,900. The Venice Venice Hotel Courtesy of The Venice Venice Hotel Book Now Also available to book at Hotels.com What We Like With its industrial-luxe design, ancient bones, contemporary art, and avant-garde mood, The Venice Venice is a disruptor of the city’s hotel scene. What to Consider The hip vibe will either enchant you or leave you longing for some old-fashioned Venetian frills. When The Venice Venice Hotel opened in early 2022, it scrapped the rulebook of what Venetian hotels should or shouldn’t be. For starters, the 42-room boutique property sits on the edge of the more lived-in Cannaregio sestiere, and is reached not via a grand piazza but by way of a narrow alley or a discreet water door. The 13th-century palazzo it occupies is stripped-down and rustic, but the spaces are monumental, with soaring ceilings and windows, minimalist decor, and significant contemporary artworks from the owners' collection. They call the approach “Postvenetian,” and it’s clear that The Venice Venice is looking forward, not to the past. The Details: Location: In Cannaregio, across the Grand Canal from the Rialto areaFood & drink: There’s canalside dining all day, a guest- and members-only club with drinks and DJ nights, plus private rooftop dinners.Rooms & suites: Expect wrought iron bed frames, big windows (many with Rialto Bridge views), bathtub-in-the-middle-of-the-room decor, and a few rooms and suites with balconies.Rates: From $540 up to $15,000 for a two-level spa suite Ca' di Dio Courtesy of Ca' di Dio Book Now Also available to book at Hotels.com What We Like We’re fans of the tranquil, modern ambiance here and the location far from the density of San Marco (but close enough to walk to everything). What to Consider While the Grand Canal view rooms here are indeed dreamy, most others have courtyard or street views. It’s tough to push the envelope of modernity in Venice without losing that sense of being in Venice. But Ca’ di Dio, with spaces designed by Patricia Urquiola, manages to strike that tricky balance, thanks mainly to a serene color palette that reflects the delicate hues of the canals and rooftops of Venice. Set in a building from 1272, this T+L It List hotel for 2022 overlooks the boat-busy mouth of the Grand Canal, a series of verdant courtyards, and the rooftops of the Castello district. Those courtyards, as well as a lovely reading room, are what really makes this place feel like a refuge from the madding crowds. Two Altana Suites have rooftop terraces that bring the views. The Details: Location: Right on the Grand Canal, near the Arsenale and the Biennale venues of the Castello district.Food & drink: There’s a sustainability-focused restaurant with tables along the Riva, plus a restaurant and bar in the interior courtyards.Rooms & suites: The contemporary decor in rooms and suites reflects the scenery outside, so you’ll never forget you’re in Venice.Rates: From $595 for a courtyard or city view room, up to $4,500 or more for an Altana Suite. Violino d’Oro Collezione Em/Violino d'Oro Book Now Also available to book at Tripadvisor.com What We Like The intimate scale, thoughtfully curated spaces, and plum location make this new entry one of Venice's top luxury small hotels. What to Consider The boutique nature of Violino d’Oro means fewer five-star amenities, such as a spa or multiple dining options. In a city where so many five-star hotels try to woo guests with every imaginable perk, Violino d’Oro favors a subtle seduction. The result of three former mid-range hotels combined to form a 32-room boutique property, the newest property from the family-run, made-in-Italy Em Collection feels more like checking into the private palace of welcoming friends — albeit friends with really good taste in art and interior design. The mix of mid-century modern furnishings, spectacular Venetian-made seminato flooring, antique mirrors and paintings, and bespoke fabrics all work here to create an ambiance that’s interesting, cozy, and supremely restful — which says a lot, considering the hotel’s location a busy piazza right near San Marco. Families are well looked after here, too. The Details: Location: At busy Ponte san Moisè in the San Marco district, steps from Calle Larga XXII Marzo shopping and Piazza San Marco.Food & drink: In addition to the inviting lobby bar and lounge, the chic, cheerful Il Piccolo restaurant serves lagoon-sourced fish and vegetarian specialties and doubles as the breakfast room.Rooms & suites: The bright and spacious standard rooms offer a pleasing mix of modern and vintage, and the family-sized terrace suites are something special.Rates: Entry-level rooms from $595; terrace suites from $1,630. Londra Palace Venezia Courtesy of Londra Palace Venezia Book Now Also available to book at Hotels.com What We Like Posh and traditional, Londra Palace’s marquis location and flawless service will make you feel like royalty from the moment you check in. What to Consider While the hotel is a cocoon of exclusive privacy, its location right on the busy Riva may be too hectic for some travelers. Steeped in history and boasting a star-studded list of past guests, Londra Palace is a firm fixture among Venice’s old guard, grand dame hotels. For luxury travel and events planner Nicole Bono of Bono Events International, it’s her go-to hotel for clients or for treating herself when she is in Venice. “When you walk in, the warm hospitality of the team and an intimate ‘living room’ feel are the first things that capture you. Then you open the door to your room, and there is a world of Venetian elegance,” which Bono calls “pure bliss.” With color-coordinated rooms in gentle tones of silvery gray or blue, dusty eggplant or sage, she can often match a room to a guest’s favorite shade. Lagoon-view rooms are worth the (significant) splurge. The Details: Location: On the Riva degli Schiavoni, the wide waterfront promenade just north of Piazza San Marco and the Doge’s Palace.Food & drink: Options include an upscale fine dining restaurant or a bistro, both with interior and canalside dining, plus a classy bar or private dining on the rooftop altana terrace.Rooms & suites: Marble, wood, velvet, silk, and all the high-end Venetian trappings are prominent in light-filled rooms; those overlooking the lagoon and Riva are particularly impressive.Rates: From $550 for city-view rooms; lagoon views start at nearly twice that. Splendid Venice Courtesy of Splendid Venice Book Now Also available to book at Tripadvisor.com What We Like A superb location, a ritzy bar, and rooms and suites that punch above their weight make this an address to remember. What to Consider Because the hotel is tucked into a warren of narrow streets and canals, some rooms can be on the dark side. Given its centralissimo location, a three-minute walk from the Rialto vaporetto stop and on the well-trod path to Piazza San Marco, I’ve walked past this hotel countless times on trips to Venice. Once I finally passed through the small reception area and into Splendid Venice’s elegant lobby lounge, I started to understand why this four-star earns such consistently high ratings. A maze of sitting areas is intimate and inviting, and the lounge bar sports vintage appeal. If it weren’t for the low prices and just a little wear around the edges, you could easily mistake this for a five-star hotel. Photos of my regal blue-on-blue Splendid Heritage Suite were enough to elicit an “OMG” from my tween daughter. Splendid indeed. The Details: Location: The hotel occupies several conjoined palazzi on the Rio dei Bareteri, midway between Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco.Food & drink: Besides the lounge bar and private rooftop dining, highly-rated Le Maschere has a retractable roof and a lagoon-focused menu; it’s also the setting for an abundant breakfast spread.Rooms & suites: All accommodations are updated but done in traditional Venetian style; highest category suites have terraces with rooftop views.Rates: Rooms from $200; Heritage Suites from $560. Novecento Boutique Hotel Beatrice Pilotto / Novecento Boutique Hotel Book Now Also available to book at Tripadvisor.com What We Like With just nine rooms, this clubby boutique hotel feels like you’ve stumbled onto your own secret bolthole in Venice. What to Consider Though it more than makes up for it in other ways, Novecento is not a full-service hotel. For me, the best hotels are the ones that surprise me by exceeding expectations, as did Novecento, the sultry little sister of the perennially popular Hotel Flora. Its nine rooms and warm, woodsy, gently lit common areas have a Silk Road ambiance that’s right at home given Venice’s centuries as an east-west trading center. The Romanelli family, longtime proponents of sustainable travel in Venice, walk the walk here with plastic-free room amenities, vintage and upcycled decor, and a demonstrated small-scale, slow travel approach. The Details: Location: In the San Marco sestiere, near Campo San Maurizio, it is a four-minute walk from the Santa Maria del Giglio vaporetto stop.Food & drink: A breakfast buffet, including healthy items, is included, and there’s an honor bar, lounge sitting areas and a small courtyard with tables.Rooms & suites: All nine rooms are similar in size and style, with fabric-swathed walls, flattering lighting, and smallish, efficient bathrooms.Rates: Rooms from $185 to $270, depending on season Know Before You Go Plan ahead. Hotels in Venice can sell out months in advance, especially on high-season (basically May to October) weekends. Book well in advance, even if it means paying more for a cancellable rate, if you think your plans may change. Carnevale, Easter, Christmas, and New Year’s are busy times in the city, and hotels will charge premium rates. Stay central. Unless you’re staying at a hotel that runs a frequent, complimentary shuttle boat to the city center, I urge you to pick a hotel in one of Venice’s close-in sestiere — San Marco, San Polo, Dorsoduro, Castello, Cannaregio, or Santa Croce. Venice by night is intoxicatingly beautiful; don’t miss out on it because you must return to your mainland hotel. Consider a low-season visit. In winter, Venice can be (but is not always) cold, rainy, windy, and foggy. It’s also blissfully crowd-free — on my last visit in February, I walked along a deserted Riva degli Schiavoni at around 10 p.m. and encountered only a handful of people in Piazza San Marco. Was it cold? Yes, but not unbearably, and so worth it to feel as though I had the city to myself. How We Chose These Hotels To choose the best hotels in Venice, we looked to the winners of our annual awards, the results of which come from reader surveys, and evaluated hotels based on their location, design, room and suite offerings, and food and drink options. We tapped T+L contributor Elizabeth Heath, who’s lived in Italy for 15 years and makes frequent trips to Venice, one of her all-time favorite destinations in the country. She drew on her own experiences and called on travel industry colleagues to share their insights.