Best Hotels in Venice Italy: Grand Canal, Carnival & Floating City (2026)
Belmond Hotel Cipriani's suites on Giudecca Island with St. Mark's Basin views, Gritti Palace's Grand Canal rooms in a 15th-century Doge's palace, and Aman Venice's suites in a 16th-century Palazzo Papadopoli — the best hotels in Venice for 2026.
Venice, Italy: The World’s Most Famous Floating City on the Grand Canal
Venice is an extraordinary floating city built across 118 islands and connected by roughly 400 bridges. Its Grand Canal, a 3.8-kilometer S-curve lined with palaces, is the city’s main thoroughfare, traveled by the gondola — a boat built with an asymmetric hull unique to Venice. Each February the city gives itself over to Carnival, weeks of masquerade festivities. Just offshore, the island of Murano has been home to Venetian glassblowing since 1291, when the furnaces were moved there over fears they would set fire to the crowded city center. Low tides regularly send water — acqua alta — flooding into squares and walkways, with sirens sounding across the city to warn residents. In 1987, UNESCO added the Venetian lagoon to its list of World Heritage Sites.
The Venice Hotels
Gritti Palace Venice — Grand Canal 15th-Century Doge Palace Luxury Suite
Price: €600–5,000/night | Location: Campo Santa Maria del Giglio 2467, 30124 Venice, Italy
The Gritti Palace occupies a 15th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal, named for Doge Andrea Gritti, who owned it in 1525. Its restaurant, Club del Doge, has a terrace looking out over the canal, and the hotel counts Ernest Hemingway among its regular past guests.
Belmond Hotel Cipriani Venice — Giudecca Island St. Mark’s Basin Luxury Suite
Price: €800–6,000/night | Location: Giudecca 10, 30133 Venice, Italy
The Belmond Hotel Cipriani sits on the secluded Giudecca Island, reached from St. Mark’s by the hotel’s own private boat launch. It has Venice’s only Olympic-sized swimming pool, and its restaurant, Cip’s Club, sits directly on the Giudecca waterfront.
FAQ
When is the best time to visit Venice? The most pleasant time to visit is during the shoulder seasons of April–June and September–October, before the summer crowds arrive. Carnival takes over the city each February with weeks of masquerade festivities. July and August bring heavy day-tripper traffic — Venice draws roughly 30 million visitors a year, a volume of overtourism that has put strain on the UNESCO-listed city. The Venice Biennale, the world’s oldest contemporary art exhibition, was founded in 1895 and remains a major draw for art and architecture visitors year-round.
Why is Venice sinking and what is MOSE doing about it? Venice is sinking at a rate of about 2mm per year through natural subsidence, a problem compounded by climate change and rising Adriatic sea levels. To hold back flooding, the MOSE barrier system — 78 mobile flood gates — became operational in 2021. The city’s worst recorded flood struck on November 4, 1966, when the tide reached 194cm, still the highest acqua alta on record.