The Best Hotels in Venice, From Five-Star Grande Dames to Design Boutiques

After a long day of traipsing the Venice streets, a sense of fatigue is likely to set in: however beautiful the surroundings, hours spent sharpening your elbows to weave your way through the hordes of tourists will exhaust even the most intrepid traveler. It’s little wonder, then, that one of the most beloved hotels in Venice is one slightly removed from the heart of the city: Hotel Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel, which sits in a prime position on the tip of the island of Giudecca. It’s just a 10 minute shuttle ride to St. Mark’s Square, but feels an entire world away—as you pull up to the jetty, you’ll see the ritzy Cipriani crowd sitting out on the terrace of the Il Porticciolo restaurant, retro umbrellas flapping in the lagoon breeze as they dive into plates of crab ravioli or some of the best wood-fired pizzas you’ll find in all of Venice.

The real magic of the Cipriani, however, is its scale: spread across a sprawling network of properties, ranging from the 15th-century Palazzo Vendramin with views across to St. Mark’s, to the Dolce Vita glamour of its sleek main building facing out to the lagoon, there are abundant gardens, multiple outdoor dining and bar areas, a tennis court, and the largest pool in the entire city, complete with cabanas so you can feel like you’re at a beachside resort. (The pool is especially welcome during Venice’s baking summer months.) With an ongoing revamp courtesy of fashion’s favorite architect and designer Peter Marino, the interiors are also being given a new lease of life without losing any of the old-world glamour that has seen celebrity guests flock here for decades. (During the Venice Film Festival, in particular, the star factor here rivals that of an Oscars after-party.) The Cipriani remains a classic for a reason.