Getting married? Having a romantic getaway? Of maybe you’ve simply hit the jackpot and want to celebrate it in a hotel room with a window or balcony overlooking the centrepiece of Venice, the Grand Canal.

While Venice hotel rooms overlooking the Grand Canal are generally more expensive than rooms facing streets or side canals, it’s a once in a lifetime experience, especially if you’re a fan of things Venetian – the food, arts and culture or simply the atmosphere and spirit of La Serennissima.

We’ve researched the best and most popular Grand Canal view hotels, and include in our judgement the quality of the actual view you’ll get – a clear, 180 degree view without obstructions. Here are our recommendations:

Four and five star hotels with a view over the Grand Canal

• Our research shows that the five star  Hotel Bauer Il Palazzo in the Cannaregio East district not only has a guest rating in the top five of all five star Grand Canal facing hotels, but is in our view the most authentic of Venicetian style in architecture and interior style. It’s really the epitome of sophisticated Venetian decor and style… no wonder the phrase ‘one of the best hotels in the world’ appears in many guest reviews. It’s not cheap though – if the price weighs on your pocket then the Hotel Gritti Palace is an excellent alternative, in the same league with equally impressive views of the Grand Canal.

• To say that the four star  Hotel Savoia & Jolanda has a view of the Grand Canal to die for is an understatement. Plus it’s less than 100m from St Mark’s Square, so you have a central location as well. It’s not the most highest rated four star hotel in our scoring – it comes in a respectable third place), but most certainly has the best view.

Two and three star hotels

• Locanda Ovidius is a hotel decorated in the classical Venetian style, located about 100m from the scenic Rialto Bridge. You’ll wake up each morning to the gentle hubbub of boat traffic on the Grand Canal while after sunset you’ll look out over the canal, sipping a glass of red wine.
• Apart from the fact that the Antiche Figure Hotel has rooms overlooking the Grand Canal, it’s an easy walk away  from Venice’s Piazzale Roma bus station and parkade, as well as and Santa Lucia railway station. This means you won’t have t carry your luggage very far when you arrive – definitely a bonus in a city with more than one hundred bridges. It’s also  firmly in the top ten guest ratings for three star hotels with Grand Canal view rooms, and the quality of the hotel decor and room amenities are close to four star standard.

Warning: These hotels all have excellent, clear views of the Canal. Many hotels that advertise ‘canal view’ in fact only offer small glimpses of the Canal!

Tip: If you can’t afford the Canal rooms when you make your booking, select one of these hotels and make a booking for a non-view room. When you arrive – especially during off-season – ask for an upgrade to a Canal-facing room. We did that at the Locanda Ovidius hotel, and it worked! They upgraded us to a marvellous room with two large windows facing the Grand Canal, at no cost.

Be Sociable, Share!

•