TRAVEL GUIDES
Our Guide To Venice
Venice travel guide off the beaten path
There are cities you visit, and cities that visit you back. Venice is without a doubt the latter.
Arriving by water taxi as the city rises from the lagoon is a cinematic experience that never gets old. Yes, it will cost more than the local vaporetto, but it is probably the most special thing you can do in Venice and it sets the mood for everything that follows. Worth every cent.
Venice is one of the most visited cities in the world, especially during Carnival or Biennale season. But beyond the crowds of San Marco, the gondolas, and the touristy menus, there is a quieter, more melancholy and deeply beautiful Venice waiting to be found: in the crumbling palazzi, the tucked-away campos, the lagoon islands barely touched by tourism. This is the Venice we want to share.
What makes visiting Venice feel different now is knowing that the city is quite literally disappearing. Scientists estimate that the city could be largely uninhabitable within this century if nothing changes. Going there with that awareness makes the whole experience more tender somehow, more urgent. It feels less like tourism and more like bearing witness to something extraordinary, while it's still there to be seen.
We've visited several times, enough to know what we think is the perfect mix: a few unmissable iconics done properly, excellent local restaurants booked well in advance, and quieter areas to escape to when the crowds feel like too much. This is that guide.
Where to Stay
Castello, Venice
From 500€ per night
The perfect middle ground if you want the luxury hotel experience without going to the most extreme end of the budget. The rooms were extremely comfortable, the breakfast is incredible and the service genuine. But the real reason to book it is the rooftop terrace, one of the best in Venice. Go up at dusk and you'll understand immediately. Insider tip: the terrace is technically for hotel guests only, but the bar staff at ground level can sometimes arrange access for a drink. Always worth asking nicely.
AMAN VENICE
Santa Croce, Venice
Perhaps the most extraordinary hotel in the city, possibly in Europe. Occupying the Palazzo Papadopoli, a 16th-century residence with original frescoes, gilded ceilings, and a private garden (which is genuinely rare in Venice) redesigned by landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic. The Aman experience here is immaculate, understated, and completely unforgettable. A bucket-list stay perfect for any special life occasion.
From 1400€ per night
ORIENT EXPRESS
Cannaregio, Venice
A legendary name finds a worthy home in Venice's quieter, more residential Cannaregio district: the 15th-century Palazzo Donà Giovannelli restored by architect Aline Asmar d’Amman and reborn as a hotel which feels more like stumbling into a living museum than checking into a room. Grand frescoed ceilings, hidden bathrooms, canopied beds, and a garden courtyard make it one of the most atmospheric openings the city has seen in years.
From 1000€ per night
San Marco, Venice
From 1200€ per night
Few hotels anywhere carry this kind of weight. A 15th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal, once home to Doge Andrea Gritti, later a favourite haunt of Hemingway and Somerset Maugham. The walls are lined with images of every star who has stayed through the centuries. If you’re not staying as a guest, you can still visit the hotel's bar, the Club del Doge, serves one of the best Negronis in the city, and the terrace at that hour is considerably calmer than during dinner service.
NOVECENTO BOUTIQUE HOTEL
A romantic nine-room boutique hotel in the San Marco sestiere, with an eclectic orientalist design aesthetic that immediately sets it apart: kilim rugs, velvet cushions, and a beautiful courtyard garden... One of the most characterful small hotels in Venice, and consistently excellent for couples. The design was inspired by the style of Fortuny, the legendary Venetian designer whose fabric studio is still operating in the city today. Worth visiting both.
San Marco, Venice
From 250€ per night
HOTEL FLORA
San Marco, Venice
A charming, slightly old-fashioned hotel tucked just off the Calle Larga XXII Marzo, which puts you in a superb central location without being right on top of the San Marco chaos. The small garden courtyard feels like a genuine little secret. Rooms are cosy and traditional, staff are attentive and warm. Good value for the location, and a real antidote to the city's more ostentatious options.
From 200€ per night
CIMA ROSA
A beautifully curated guesthouse in a quiet corner of Dorsoduro, the kind of place that feels more like staying with a friend who has excellent taste than checking into a hotel. Only six rooms, thoughtful design, and a real sense of calm throughout. Book as early as you possibly can; it fills up very fast, and you'll understand the moment you arrive why that is.
Dorsoduro, Venice
From 250€ per night
LOCANDA CIPRIANI - REOPENING SOON
The legendary Locanda Cipriani on Torcello island is one of those storied addresses: a remote, timeless retreat in the lagoon that has welcomed everyone including royalty. Hemingway used to write in the garden here, which is how Across the River and Into the Trees was partly drafted. We're watching its reopening closely and will update this guide as soon as bookings open.
Torcello, Venice
What to do
MUSEO DI PALAZZO GRIMANI
This museum is slightly hidden so you could easily walk past it. The woman who looks after it told us that's precisely what makes this place special: it's only for those who know to look for it. The palazzo's architecture is the real star: the rooms are largely empty, which means you can actually look without any distraction. The antiquarium, filled with classical sculptures is one of the most astonishing spaces in the city. They occasionally host mornings where you can visit while live music plays in the main hall.
Castello, Venice
FONDAZIONE QUERINI STAMPALIA
A beautiful combination of a historic Venetian palazzo, a working library (open till late into the evening), and a contemporary art foundation all under one roof. The ground floor was redesigned by Carlo Scarpa in the 1960s and is a masterclass in how modernist architecture can coexist with something centuries older. The café is genuinely good too. It's right next to Palazzo Grimani, so combining both in one morning makes for a perfect few hours.
Castello, Venice
CASTELLO AREA
Castello is Venice's largest sestiere, and the one most visitors never quite reach. The further east you wander towards Sant'Elena, the more it feels like a different city entirely, away from touristy Venice: quieter canals, washing strung between windows, fishermen and locals doing their shopping. This is where the city gets on with itself. The Biennale gardens anchor the southern edge, a handful of extraordinary churches hide some of the city's best paintings that nobody's queuing for.
Castello, Venice
PALAZZO DUCALE
Yes, it's on every list. And yes, it's worth it. The Bridge of Sighs, the Council Chamber, Tintoretto's Paradise covering an entire wall: the scale of it all still manages to astonish. Beneath the palazzo lies the Pozzi, a series of ground-floor prison cells that from which Casanova famously escaped from in 1756 through a hole in the roof. We visited with an excellent Venetian private guide and it completely changed the experience, the kind of visit where you leave actually understanding what you've seen.
San Marco, Venice
GIARDINI REALI
A small, beautifully kept garden right beside Piazza San Marco that the vast majority of visitors walk straight past. the gardens were commissioned by Napoleon after he demolished a granary and a church to create them. A slightly dark origin story for somewhere so peaceful. It's a lovely spot to sit, catch your breath, and watch the boats on the basin without spending anything or queuing for anything. Simple pleasures.
San Marco, Venice
NEGOZIO OLIVETTI
A tiny but architecturally significant gem on Piazza San Marco that is very easy to miss even when you're standing in front of it. This was the very first Olivetti showroom, and the concept of a showroom itself was a radical new idea at the time. Olivetti commissioned Scarpa to design it in 1957 and the result is one of the finest examples of mid-century design anywhere in the world. Look closely and you'll start to notice how deeply Scarpa was influenced by Japanese architecture: the combination of materials, the presence of water, the obsessive attention to small details…
San Marco, Venice
This was without any doubt the best experience we have ever had in Venice. We hired a small wooden boat with a sundeck and spent a full day exploring the quieter islands and interior canals of the lagoon, places most visitors never reach and, honestly, never even know exist. Travelling between quiet islands in a beautiful wooden boat on a sunny day is almost impossible to describe without sounding like you're exaggerating. You can book the full day itinerary here.
Venice Lagoon
MURANO
A short vaporetto ride from the city and well worth half a day.What many visitors don't realise is that fifty years ago this island had over 200 working glass factories; today, only around 40 remain. We visited one of the most respected on the island. They showed us their museum and even a preview of pieces for the upcoming year. Crucially, they didn't push us to buy at the end, which changes from the other factories. If you do want Murano glass though, buy it here instead of Venice!
Murano, Venice
ISOLA DELLA CERTOSA
A lesser-known island in the lagoon, now home to a marina, a park, and a slowly growing creative community. A wonderful green escape from the intensity of the city. Bring a picnic, walk around the island, and enjoy the slightly surreal feeling of having Venice visible across the water while feeling completely removed from it.
Venice Lagoon
DORSODURO AREA
Our favourite sestiere, and the one we always recommend people base themselves in if they can. Much quieter and more local in feel than the rest of Venice. It has the Peggy Guggenheim, the Zattere waterfront, the Accademia, and some of the best bacari in the city, but it also has quiet residential campi where actual Venetian families live and children play football in the afternoon. Walk slowly, get lost, and stop for a spritz whenever the mood takes you.
Dorsoduro, Venice
FONDAZIONE PEGGY GUGGENHEIM
The collection needs no introduction: Picasso, Dalí, Pollock, Ernst... But what makes this museum truly special is its setting, Peggy's former home on the Grand Canal, with a sculpture garden that is one of the most pleasurable outdoor spaces in the whole city (and also the place where she is buried). More than just an impressive collection, it is an opportunity to understand more about Peggy Guggenheim herself as a woman: her life, her relationships, her taste. Don't skip the bookshop.
Dorsoduro, Venice
CA REZZONICO
If you want to understand how high-class Venetian families actually lived, this is the place. A magnificent Grand Canal palazzo now housing the Museum of 18th-century Venice, with rooms that are opulent with frescoes and furnished in a way that makes you feel the weight of the city's former wealth and ambition. The views from the upper floors down the canal are wonderful. Far less visited than it deserves.
Dorsoduro, Venice
ISOLA SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE
Take the short vaporetto from the Zattere and climb the campanile for one of the finest views of Venice, better than the famous one in San Marco, and with shorter queues. The island itself hosts the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Labirinto Borges, a beautiful garden labyrinth (it can only be visited during certain months, so check ahead). There is also a photography gallery and a lovely café filled with elegant locals that feels completely removed from the tourist circuit. Palladio's church is extraordinary too.
Giudecca, Venice
CASA DI TRE OCI
A striking Neo-Gothic building on the Giudecca, built in the early 20th century as the home and studio of painter Mario de Maria. Today it hosts some of the best photography and contemporary art exhibitions in Venice. Worth crossing the canal for, and the building alone justifies the trip. A quick note: the name means "house of three eyes", referring to the three large arched windows on the facade that Mario de Maria designed specifically to let in the particular quality of northern light he needed for his painting.
Giudecca, Venice
CANNAREGIO AREA
Cannaregio is the kind of place that gets better the further in you go. It’s the city's most northerly sestiere with the main drag along the Canale di Cannaregio. Wander past the main canal and you'll find locals-only bars, narrow waterways, and a slower pace of life. Don't miss the old Jewish Ghetto, the first ever established anywhere in the world, and the origin of the word itself , where the tall, tightly packed buildings and layered history make for one of Venice's most genuinely moving walks.
Cannaregio, Venice
FORNACE ORSONI
The oldest mosaic and glass factory in Venice, founded in 1888, and still producing the gold and enamel smalti used in the ongoing restoration of St Mark's Basilica. Quietly one of the most remarkable places in the entire city. You can visit the factory and its extraordinary floor-to-ceiling archive of thousands of colours, but note that public visits only happen twice a month. If you want a private visit at another time, reach out to us and we can arrange that for you.
Cannaregio, Venice
FONDAZIONE DRIES VAN NOTEN
This one genuinely stings to write because it opened the week after we left Venice and we have not stopped thinking about it since. The Belgian designer Dries Van Noten has opened his foundation in a historic Venetian palazzo, dedicated to the intersection of fashion, art and craft. Everything we know about it so far suggests it is exactly the kind of place we would have spent an entire afternoon in. It is firmly at the top of our list for the next visit and we will update this properly once we've been. Watch this space.
San Polo, Venice
What to Taste
Dorsoduro, Venice
€
Our favourite lunch in Venice, and one we recommend to everyone. A historic trattoria on a wonderfully quiet street in Dorsoduro, with a vine-covered garden terrace that is one of the most romantic settings in the city. The food is traditional Venetian at excellent quality and reasonable prices. Come for lunch on a warm day and refuse to be in a hurry. You'll notice many local families from the neighbourhood doing exactly the same on weekends.
San Marco, Venice
€€
he name refers to the assassins said to have lurked in the nearby calle in past centuries, but the only thing dangerous here is how easy it is to love it. A classic Venetian osteria with an excellent small menu, a good wine list, and a warm atmosphere with vinyl playing in the background. The pasta alle acciughe e burro was one of the best things we ate in Venice. The osteria has been in the same family for decades, which explains why it feels so consistent and why the service is so kind.
Cannaregio, Venice
€€€
Without a doubt the new place to be in Venice for aperitivo and dinner. We arrived by water taxi during golden hour planning to spend an evening here and it turned into one of the most special nights we've had in the city. We got a table right by the water with views over the Ponte di Rialto and gondolas passing just beside us. The drinks were excellent, the food was too, the light was magical. It's also a hotel, we had a quick look around, but our main recommendation is firmly for aperitivo and dinner.
San Polo, Venice
€€€
Deliberately hidden and pretty famous for being so. An institution that absolutely deserves its reputation: a proper Venetian seafood restaurant with no pizza, no lasagna, and no tourists who haven't done their research. The fish crudo to share as an antipasto was excellent. Book well ahead and do not be late. One thing to know: the signs in the surrounding streets actually point visitors away from the restaurant. This was a deliberate decision by the owners to keep the clientele exactly as they want it.
San Polo, Venice
€€
On the Rialto's Grand Canal bank, a relaxed wine bar with excellent Venetian cicchetti and small plates. A perfect spot to sit by the water, watch the boats go by and take a little break from the walking. It gets quite busy during aperitivo hour so we went for a drink just before lunch, which turned out to be the ideal time: quieter, slower, and with just as good a view.
San Marco, Venice
€€€€
Another Venice institution. It is expensive but if you've never been, go at least once for a drink standing at the bar. We had the extraordinary luck of coming here some years ago for an intimate lunch with Arrigo Cipriani himself, who ordered everything and told us the whole story: the friendship between Harry Pickering and his father Giuseppe Cipriani, how they invented both the Bellini and the carpaccio for their best customers. There is so much history in one room, it’s impossible not to come.
Dorsoduro, Venice
€
A Venetian institution on the Zattere waterfront, open since 1935. The current owners are the grandchildren of the founders and are committed to keeping it exactly as it was. The gianduiotto, a brick of chocolate and hazelnut ice cream served in a cup of whipped cream, is the thing to order, the only thing to order! Eat it sitting on the fondamenta watching the boats on the Giudecca canal.
Dorsoduro, Venice
€€
A relaxed neighbourhood seafood spot well away from the main tourist circuit. Fresh fish, no fuss, and the kind of unpretentious cooking that reminds you what Venetian food is actually about when it's not performing for visitors. A locals' favourite and a genuinely welcome find. Ask what fish came in that morning and order based on the answer. There is no menu more reliable than that.
AI ARTISTI
A beloved Dorsoduro trattoria that takes its name from the artists who used to live and work in Dorsoduro area, when it was still the bohemian heart of the city. It has a loyal following built entirely on merit. Pasta handmade in-house, generous portions, and a genuinely convivial atmosphere. The kind of restaurant that feels like it belongs to the neighbourhood rather than to any guidebook.
Dorsoduro, Venice
€€
PASTICCERIA TONOLO
San Polo, Venice
€€
The best pasticceria in Venice according to most locals we've asked, (and we've asked a lot of people). Excellent tramezzini, exceptional coffee, and pastries worth making a detour for. Gets very crowded on weekend mornings, which tells you everything. During Carnival season, Tonolo makes frittelle, the traditional Venetian fried doughnuts filled with cream or raisins and pine nuts. They are extraordinary and only available for a few weeks a year. Go slightly off-peak, find a spot, and enjoy.
VINO VERO
One of the best natural wine bars in Venice. It’s a tiny, unpretentious space in Cannaregio with an exceptional and ever-changing selection of natural wines from small producers, and simple cicchetti to go to accompany them. The kind of place where you plan to stop for one glass and leave two hours later having made friends with the people next to you. Go early evening before it fills up, which it does quickly and for good reason.
Cannaregio, Venice
€€
BACARO DA LELE
A legendary Venetian bacaro near Piazzale Roma that locals have been coming to for decades. It is cash only, it opens at an hour most visitors are still asleep, and it serves tiny tramezzini and glasses of wine at prices that feel almost impossible in a city like Venice. The queue out the door in the morning is made up almost entirely of workers, students and people who simply know. It is a morning and lunchtime institution only, that closes by early afternoon so don’t plan to go for dinner.
Santa Croce, Venice
€
OSTERIA LA ZUCCA
A little osteria near the San Giacomo dell'Orio church that has been operating in the same spot since the 1990s, , slightly off the usual path and much better for it. Unusually for Venice, the menu here leans heavily on vegetables. The pumpkin flan, which gives the restaurant its name (zucca meaning pumpkin), is not to be missed. Small space, so book ahead and ask for a table outside by the water.
Santa Croce, Venice
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