A favourite during the film festival, the Cipriani is the only luxury hotel we recommend during the hot summer months when the city fills with tourists and the canals begin to smell. Set in its own private 3 acre oasis, across the lagoon from St Marks it has hardly changed since Giuseppe Cipriani (founder of Harry's Bar) opened its doors in 1952.
The 16th century villa has a vast olympic sized swimming pool, tennis courts and even a small vineyard. There are 105 rooms, varying from cosy doubles overlooking the pool to the most recent arrival, Palazzo Vendramin whose seven suites comes with their own butler and unbeatable views over Piazza San Marco. All rooms have the same understated luxurious feel and laid back elegance that have attracted the rich and famous from US presidents to Hollywood stars for the past fifty years. We feel however that some of the rooms could do with an update.
Guests who do want to mix with the riff-raff and pigeons in St Marks, can use the hotel's charming wooden motor launch that ferries guests to and from at any hour of the day. Dinner in Cips, the hotels "informal" restaurant with a floating pontoon overlooking the city's skyline has the same deceptively simple approach, local dishes from the wood fired pizza oven are combined with an excellent team of waiters and legendary wine list. We prefer Cips to the pannelled dining room of the more formal hotel restaurant which is old fashioned and a little stuffy.
The hotel is not only one of the best hotels in Venice but one of the best in the world and we could not recommend it more highly.
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