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Venice, as seen at speed on the way to the airport. Exactly as much of it as we planned to see.
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The best hotel in Venice is the one that isn’t in Venice.
How do you end three weeks of overeating in Paris, overpaying in Athens and being thoroughly spoiled on the Explora II? The ship decides for you: it drops you in Venice, with one night before the flight home.
Let’s be honest about Venice, because somebody should be. It’s an architectural marvel. Everyone should see it at least once. It’s a monument to a city’s stubborn refusal to give up, despite the tides doing their best for a few centuries. And it is, overall, not our favorite place in Italy. For some people, Venice is la dolce vita. For us, it’s ho-hum. Been there, done that. Twice.
We appreciate Venice. We just didn’t want to spend another night in an overpriced room exactly five bridges and 264 steps from the nearest dock. (We counted. We were carrying suitcases. You count.) We wanted something different.
When you’ve done Venice, stop doing it. Look at it instead.
Trust us? Check out our Venice Wander Map.
*As always, no commissions from our links. We encourage booking early and direct. These maps are always a work in progress, and are curated from all past trips and current research.
These pins also power ai-tinerary, our invite-only itinerary tool. Same stamps, same opinions.
Our favorite way to arrive anywhere: without touching a bridge.
The Explora II docks at Fusina, on the mainland side of the lagoon. Most passengers head for the airport or wrestle their luggage into the historic center. We booked a private water taxi straight from the pier to the hotel’s own dock. Bags in the boat, friends in the boat, champagne-grade grins in the boat, and a fast, wet, grinning ride across the lagoon.
Is a private water taxi expensive? Yes. Is it cheaper than a chiropractor after you’ve dragged two suitcases over five bridges? Also yes. Split between friends, it stops being a splurge and starts being a public service.
JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa, Isola delle Rose. Five star-staches, unanimous.
Despite She-Stache’s bomb of a hotel choice in Paris (we’re still hearing about it), she knocked this one out of the park. She dragged the whole group to the JW Marriott Venice, the one on its own private island in the lagoon. One member of our party had to be dragged kicking and screaming. We won’t say who. They know who they are. By checkout, the entire group — kicker and screamer included — gave the one-night stay five star-staches.
It starts with the James Bond entrance: you arrive by boat, step off at the hotel’s own dock, and walk up through the gardens like you’re there to meet a villain with a cat. The grounds are beautifully manicured and made for roaming, and for spontaneous picnics on the lawn, which is exactly how we spent our afternoon. The accommodations were lovely. So were the pool, the spa and the olive grove. But the thing that really sets it apart is space: room to breathe, room to wander, and nobody’s elbow in your ribs, with Venice’s skyline laid out across the water.
Then there’s the lobby bar. Our crew declared the bartender’s Sazerac the best they’ve ever had. That is saying something. Trust us, this crew has done the research.
The flaws, because there are always flaws. You are not in Venice. That’s the point for us, but if you want the city itself, you’re on the hotel shuttle boat’s schedule or paying for a water taxi each way. For a first-timer, this is the wrong hotel. And the restaurant food was good, not great; with a lobby bar this strong, the kitchen has something to live up to.
Total transparency: we received a FAM rate, which is travel-agent speak for a deeply discounted room — sometimes 50% or more. We’re telling you because that’s what we do. We would also go back at the rack rate in a heartbeat, if only to watch the hordes battle for a lagoon-view café table from the comfort of our own little slice of heaven across the water.
Our entire Venice sightseeing itinerary, completed in twenty minutes.
The next morning, we took a water taxi to the airport and asked the driver to take the scenic route: past the Doge’s Palace, the Campanile and Piazza San Marco from the water, then threading through a few back canals before heading out across the lagoon. Venice, at 9:30 a.m., before the crowds had finished breakfast, from the best seat in the city.
Did we “see” Venice? Not the way a first-timer should. Did we enjoy Venice more than we did on the trip where we walked every bridge? A little bit, yes.
From the trips where we actually went in.
If it’s your first time and you want to be in the city, stay somewhere that doesn’t require you to haul luggage over bridges. The AC Hotel near Piazzale Roma has a car drop-off at the door and saves you five bridges with your bags. Unglamorous. Brilliant. Full story in our mobility brag.
Both are excellent, and both are for the ultra wealthy or the seriously committed points hoarder. Everyone else: go for a drink on the Grand Canal terrace at sunset. You get the view and the room for the price of a cocktail. A pricey cocktail. Still cheaper than the room.
Instead of a gondola ride where someone else does the work and charges you for the privilege, learn to row Venetian-style yourself, standing up, in a traditional boat, with a local instructor. It’s harder than it looks, funnier than you’d expect, and you’ll see the canals from water level. A Mustache-Do.
Take the vaporetto one stop across the water. Go for the views, stay for the Palladio church, then ride the lift up the bell tower. The view back at San Marco is better than the one from San Marco’s own Campanile, and the line is a fraction of the length.
Seafood and pizza, casual, good, and priced like a neighborhood restaurant rather than a canal-view tourist trap. That’s rarer in Venice than it should be.
Italy’s oldest café, pouring since 1720, and every bit the tourist trap you’d expect. The service was below standard and the bill adds a music surcharge whenever the orchestra is playing. The coffee, annoyingly, is good. Go once, sit outside, accept the cost as an admission ticket, and don’t go twice.
Peggy loved Venice. Did Venice love her back? Debatable. Either way, her modern art collection in her old palazzo on the Grand Canal is one of the best small museums in Italy, and the terrace garden is the quietest spot on the canal.
For repeat offenders only.
This is not a Venice guide. It’s a permission slip. If you’ve already done the bridges, the queues and the overpriced coffee, you’re allowed to skip them. Stay on an island across the lagoon, picnic on a lawn, order the Sazerac, and see San Marco from a boat on your way out of town.
It was the right ending to a long, indulgent trip: one hotel mistake in Paris, one padded water bill in Athens, fourteen nights of being spoiled at sea, and a final night that asked absolutely nothing of us. We got the FAM rate, and we’d pay full price anyway. That’s the highest compliment we know how to give.
Been there? Done that? Book the island. Take the boat. Drag the reluctant one. Order the Sazerac.
No kick-backs for links. Ever.
JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa
Private island, James Bond boat entrance, picnic lawns, the best Sazerac our crew has ever had. Five star-staches.
Find it on the map →
Official: Marriott booking page →
AC Hotel Venezia
First visit, luggage, parents? Stay here and skip five bridges.
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Official site →
The Gritti Palace
Go for a drink on the terrace. Leave the suite to the shipping heirs.
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Official site →
The St. Regis Venice
Same advice. Sunset drink, Grand Canal view.
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Official site →
Row Venice
Row the canals yourself, Venetian-style. A Mustache-Do.
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Official site →
San Giorgio Maggiore
One vaporetto stop. Better view, shorter line, Palladio church.
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Official site →
Rio Novo
Casual seafood and pizza. Good, and priced like it.
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Caffè Florian
Tourist trap, poor service, good coffee. Once.
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Official site →
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Modern art, Grand Canal palazzo, quiet garden.
Find it on the map →
Official: Peggy Guggenheim Collection →