Venice
Palaces standing in the water along the Grand Canal, St Mark's gold under five domes, glass and lace on the outer islands, and a water-taxi dock beside the private terminal.
- Arrival
- Venice Marco Polo · VCE
- To the city
- About 30 minutes by water taxi
- Private jets
- Terminal with its own water-taxi dock
- Best time
- May to October
The city
A city that moves by water.
The historic centre has no cars, only canals, bridges and alleys. The Grand Canal curves through the centre from the station to St Mark's, and across the lagoon lie Giudecca, the Lido, Murano and Burano. Come by boat and you see the city first from the water.
From May to October the days run from 21 to 28 °C, and the lagoon is warm enough for the Lido beaches from June to September. The Biennale opens in May at the Giardini and the Arsenale, the Film Festival comes to the Lido in September, and Carnival fills the winter calendar.
Arriving
Land at Tessera, finish by boat.
Marco Polo sits on the mainland edge of the lagoon and handles every kind of flight. The last leg into Venice is on the water.
- Munich 45 min
- Geneva 1 h 00
- Marrakech 3 h 20
- Lagos 6 h 00
- Singapore 13 h 15 long-range jet
When to go
May to October.
Winters are damp, summers warm and humid. From May to October the days run from 18 to 28 °C; rain comes in every month, rarely for long, and November is the wettest.
- 6° J 58 10°
- 9° F 57 9°
- 12° M 62 10°
- 17° A 71 13°
- 21° M 71 18°
- 25° J 84 22°
- 28° J 64 25°
- 27° A 83 25°
- 24° S 71 22°
- 18° O 74 19°
- 12° N 90 15°
- 7° D 69 12°
What to see and do
Days in and around Venice.
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Landmark
St Mark's Basilica
Gold mosaics under five domes at the end of the square, with the Doge's Palace beside it.
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Landmark
The Grand Canal
Palaces on both banks from the station to the Salute, best seen from a boat in the evening.
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Landmark
Murano and Burano
Glass furnaces on one island, painted fishermen's houses on the other, out across the northern lagoon.
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Culture
Gallerie dell'Accademia
Venetian painting from the 14th to the 18th century, Bellini, Giorgione's Tempest, Titian and Tintoretto among it, hangs in the former Scuola della Carità.
Official site -
Culture
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Peggy Guggenheim's own collection of Cubist, Surrealist and abstract art fills her former home, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal.
Official site -
Culture
Scuola Grande di San Rocco
Tintoretto spent more than twenty years, from 1564, painting the canvases that cover the walls and ceilings of this confraternity house.
Official site -
Opera & music
Teatro La Fenice
Venice's opera house stages opera and ballet through the year; the 2026 to 2027 season opens with Fedora on 13 November.
Official site -
Culture
La Biennale di Venezia
Each May the Giardini and the Arsenale open for the Biennale, given to art in even years and to architecture in odd years, until late November.
Official site -
Culture
Torcello Cathedral
Founded in 639 and rebuilt in the 11th century, Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello keeps a vast Byzantine mosaic of the Last Judgement.
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Golf
Circolo Golf Venezia
Laid out in 1928 on the dunes at Alberoni on the Lido, this 18 hole links has an old Venetian fort in the middle of the course.
Official site
On the calendar
A date to plan around.
Dates as published by the organisers. Runways, hotels and slots fill early around these weeks: the sooner we know, the more choice you have.
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8 May – 21 Nov 2027
Art
Venice Architecture Biennale
The 20th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, with pre-opening on 6 and 7 May.
Giardini and Arsenale
In 6 months
Where to stay
On the Grand Canal and across the water.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Aman Venice Twenty-four rooms in a restored Renaissance palazzo on the Grand Canal, with the spa in the building next door.
- Hotel Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel Gardens on Giudecca, a heated saltwater pool and the starred Oro; a seasonal hotel, reopening on 1 June 2027.
- Airelles Palladio, Venezia The first Airelles outside France, facing St Mark's across the water, with an indoor pool and a Guerlain spa.
- The Gritti Palace The fifteenth-century home of Doge Gritti on the Grand Canal, looking across to the Salute.
- Nolinski Venezia The old Chamber of Commerce near La Fenice, dressed in Venetian glass and Art Deco lines.
- Hotel Metropole Once an orphanage where Vivaldi taught music, now family-run, with a bar in the old chapel.
- Palazzo Venart A sixteenth-century palace a few steps from the Grand Canal, home to the two-star Glam.
- Londra Palace Rooms over the lagoon and San Giorgio, the view the hotel credits with Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony.
- Orient Express Venezia Forty-seven rooms, suites and apartments in a fifteenth-century palace on the Strada Nova, with Heinz Beck in charge of the kitchen.
- Ca' di Dio A compound founded in 1272 to lodge pilgrims and Crusaders, refitted by Patricia Urquiola's studio as 66 rooms, most of them suites.
- Violino d'Oro Three historic palaces joined above Rio San Moisè and furnished by Rubelli and Venini; Il Piccolo has eight tables.
- The St. Regis Venice A hundred and twenty-four rooms and thirty-nine suites on the Grand Canal, and a bar whose drinks can be taken out into the garden.
- Baglioni Hotel Luna Newly renovated, on Calle Larga de l'Ascension, a minute on foot from Piazza San Marco.
- Ca' Sagredo Hotel A fifteenth-century palace, now a national monument, with a frescoed ballroom and a terrace restaurant, L'Alcova, looking across to the Rialto Market.
- Palazzina Grassi Philippe Starck designed all twenty-five rooms and suites, and the Krug lounge looks out over the Grand Canal.
- Sina Centurion Palace Fifty rooms near the Salute and Punta della Dogana, with tables for Antinoo's set out on the Grand Canal decking.
- JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa Nineteen buildings spread over a private island of about forty acres, with a rooftop pool and a shuttle boat to the Giardini Reali pier.
- Hotel Excelsior Venice Lido Resort Opened in 1908 to designs by Giovanni Sardi, with Moorish arches and cabanas on the Adriatic beach.
- San Clemente Palace Venice A private island of eight hectares a few minutes by boat from San Marco, in the Legend Collection of Preferred Hotels since 2026.
Where to dine
Starred tables on the canals and the islands.
From the MICHELIN Guide 2026, shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these restaurants.
- Glam Enrico Bartolini Two Michelin stars Creative €€€€ Palazzo Venart, Santa Croce
- Quadri One Michelin star Modern €€€€ Piazza San Marco
- Oro Restaurant One Michelin star Italian Contemporary €€€€ Hotel Cipriani, Giudecca
- Palais Royal Restaurant One Michelin star Creative €€€€ Nolinski Venezia, San Marco
- Local One Michelin star Contemporary €€€€ Salizzada dei Greci, Castello
- Wistèria One Michelin star Modern €€€€ Fondamenta del Forner, San Polo
- Agli Amici Dopolavoro One Michelin star Creative €€€€ Isola delle Rose
- Venissa One Michelin star Country cooking €€€€ Mazzorbo
Elsewhere in Italy
More reasons to come.
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Rome
The Colosseum, the Pantheon, and the Vatican across the Tiber.
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Milan
The Last Supper, the roof of the Duomo, and the fashion weeks.
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Florence
The Uffizi, the Duomo, and the Chianti hills to the south.
- San Marino (Republic) A republic of its own on Mount Titano, some forty minutes by road from Rimini airport.
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Como
Villas and gardens along the lake, an hour north of Milan.
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Amalfi
Positano, Ravello and the coast road, with Capri offshore.
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Porto Cervo
Yachts, the Piazzetta, and the beaches of north-east Sardinia.
- Taormina A hill town over the Ionian Sea, facing Etna.
Flying to Venice?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.