Hidden Venice: Five Special Places to Stay by Fiona Duncan
Featured Hotel in Venice
Bauer Hotel
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Venice is full of romance and full of secrets. There are plain churches in dusty squares that shelter masterpieces of Venetian art; crumbling palazzi encasing wildly rich interiors; high walls that hide lush private gardens; rooftop terraces with birds' eye views and tiny neighbourhood restaurants that serve the city's best food.
And there are hotels, just a few - tucked away, mostly small and inexpensive - that have a certain something that sets them apart. It may be a garden or a tranquil, flower-filled courtyard, a frescoed ceiling, a private rooftop terrace or an entrancing view that makes them special, but whatever it is, they make the best boltholes for a few enchanted days in La Serenissima.
1. Ca Maria Adele: For more than a touch of decadence (and after all, Venice was nothing if not decadent) book the Sala Noir, with its purple walls and vast black chandelier, in this 16thcentury palazzo across a canal from Santa Maria della Salute. Or opt for one of the four other 'concept' rooms, including the lovely Oriental room, with delicate Chinese fabrics and antiques, the blood-red Doge's Room, the Moor's Room or the creamy white Fireside Room.
Other rooms, nine in all, are traditionally decorated and well-equipped, with plasma TVs and smart bathrooms. No. 332 has fabulous views over Salute and a heavily beamed ceiling. Downstairs in the lovely breakfast room, there's a stunning photograph of the world's largest chandelier, made by the grandfather of the hotel's owners, two brothers from Murano.
2. Al Ponte Mocenigo: Two things especially have ensured that this newcomer has become a hit. One: it's right by the San Stae vaporetto, with no bridges over which to lug the luggage. And two: its setting behind a wrought iron gate and pretty courtyard (where breakfast is served in summer) is charming.
Two Venetian friends, Walter and Sandro, spent much time looking for the right place to convert, and with this old beamed house behind Palazzo Mocenigo they've chosen well. In the diminutive lobby there's just space for a bar and breakfast area, while upstairs the bedrooms are resolutely traditional (damask, Murano glass, gilt) but also stylish, smart and comfortable, with excellent bathrooms. A cosy bolthole, offering value for money.
3. Ca Pisani: If finding romance amongst the pseudo-Baroque gilt-and-cherub flounces of most Venetian hotel bedrooms is impossible for you, then Ca'Pisani, built in the shell of a 16th century deep-pink palazzo, might hit the spot. Art Deco meets cool minimalism one of the city's few design hotels, with individual period pieces, including beds, much use of silver, intricate woodwork, Italian Futurist artwork and futurist bathrooms, too.
The overall effect, however, is warm, not cool. Best are the corner rooms with two windows, such as No. 16. The location, between Accademia and the sunny Zattere, with tables and chairs set on the pavement outside and a basement restaurant, is excellent.
4. Ca della Corte: In a tranquil, canalside location, yet close to Piazzale Roma, this is a private family-owed palazzo, with nine rooms for guests (plus self-catering apartments nearby) which are let out along hotel lines, with a simple breakfast served in the rooms. You will be greeted with great warmth and one of the distinct advantages of staying here is the help and advice offered at reception.
Try for a suite, particularly the gracious yet affordable Piano suite (with grand piano); the Marco Polo Suite, Blue Suite and Stucci are also recommended. There's a small communal roof terrace that you'll probably have to yourselves, and next door a building, under the same ownership, in which you can have a party or even marry.
5. Bauer il Palazzo: Rooms and suites are lovely, whether clothed in regal red or duck egg blue silk, but if you have about a small fortune to spare you'll gravitate effortlessly to one of the two Royal Suites (or both if you like: they adjoin) on the piano nobile. With entrancing views from their balconies, they are frothy, elaborately stuccoed confections in pastel shades of green and pink, with chipped stone floors, vast, glittering Murano glass chandeliers and marble bathrooms that are slithers of sheer glamour. At the top of the building: a discreet spa (book the rooftop Jacuzzi just for yourselves) and a spacious roof terrace for breakfast.
Five Tips for Romance in Venice
1. Arrive in style: take the Orient Express from London, arriving in Venice at sunset and transferring to a water taxi or gondola right outside the station to waft you to the water gate of your hotel.
2. Stick your map and guidebook in your pocket and get to know Venice by getting lost. The city's greatest romantic charms are in its backwaters and its hidden surprises; and wherever you go you can be sure that you won't come across a single ugly site.
3. Forget a daytime gondola ride with all the other tourists. Instead negotiate with a gondolieri for a midnight ride, perhaps after a candlelit dinner on the terrace at Pisis, on the Grand Canal.
4. Alternatively, head after dinner for Piazza San Marco, eloquently described by Napoleon as Europe's grandest drawing room. At Florian's and Quadri the cafe orchestras play on towards midnight, even if there's just a smattering of people left in the square, some of them waltzing to the music.
5. When Venice becomes too much, take a boat trip and explore the mysterious, often misty lagoon and its island - Torcello, Burano and Sant'Erasmo to name but three. Lunch in colourful Chioggia, with its amazing fish market, is highly recommended.
Copyright The Hotel Guru
See our full selection of luxury hotels in Venice.
To find out more about eating and drinking in the city, check out Lee Marshall's pick of twenty of the best restaurants in Venice. Or, alternatively, read more travel writing about Italy.