Venice

Venice is the city that should not exist: palaces rising from the lagoon, a Grand Canal lined with a thousand years of wealth and art, and no cars at all. Its luxury lies in arrival by water, in quiet campi away from the crowds, and in grand hotels that still look out over San Marco and the Giudecca.

Venice was built on wooden piles driven into the mud of a lagoon, and for a thousand years it was the capital of a maritime republic whose trade reached Constantinople and the Levant. The city is divided into six sestieri — San Marco, Castello, Cannaregio, Dorsoduro, San Polo and Santa Croce — and the Grand Canal winds through them in a reversed S, lined with palaces from the Byzantine to the Baroque.

Around Piazza San Marco stand the basilica, the Doge’s Palace and the Campanile; across the water lie the Giudecca and the island of San Giorgio Maggiore with Palladio’s church. The Accademia, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Punta della Dogana span six centuries of art, and further out the lagoon islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello each keep their own character.

Spring and autumn are the best seasons. From April to June the light is clear and the evenings long; the Biennale, alternating between art and architecture, opens each spring and runs until November. Late summer brings the Venice Film Festival on the Lido at the turn of August and September, and the Regata Storica on the Grand Canal on the first Sunday of September.

High summer is hot and crowded, and the city now charges day visitors an access fee on its busiest days. Winter is the most atmospheric season: mist over the lagoon, empty campi, the occasional acqua alta, and Carnival in February, with masked balls in the palaces. November and January are the quietest months, when the city feels most like its own.

Venice’s grand hotels occupy palazzi on the Grand Canal or islands of their own. The Gritti Palace, a fifteenth-century palazzo that was once a doge’s residence, faces Santa Maria della Salute; Aman Venice fills Palazzo Papadopoli near the Rialto; Belmond Hotel Cipriani looks back at San Marco from the tip of the Giudecca; and JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa takes a whole island in the lagoon, reached by private launch.

LVXVRY books The Gritti Palace, a Luxury Collection hotel, and JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa through Marriott STARS & Luminous — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges the programme attaches to the stay. For Aman Venice and Belmond Hotel Cipriani, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay directly, including arrival by water taxi.