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An expert guide to the best five-star hotels in Venice, including the to places to stay for Grand Canal views, gourmet dining, world-class spas, water taxis, rooftop bars, swimming pools, five-star service, historic architecture, period features and show-stopping suites.

This 15th-century palazzo occupies one of the loveliest spots on the Grand Canal, looking across to the magnificent Salute church and the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, home to the Guggenheim Museum. It has equally sumptuous interiors to match, with priceless antiques and frescoes. The hotel's intimacy and relatively small size means that the courteous and charming staff have plenty of time for you. Sumptuous bedrooms are filled with objets d’art and beautiful fabrics, and have marble-clad bathrooms. The Club de Doge restaurant has one of the most beautiful dining rooms in this or any other city. Read expert reviewFrom£738

• The most romantic Venice hotels

The Oriental-tinged Metropole is a five-star hotel on the prestigious lagoon-facing riva degli Schiavoni promenade. With collections of antique fans and crucifixes lining corridors, and a seriously tenebrous mirrored-ceiling lounge, it comes across part opium den, part Old Curiousity Shoppe. Though the 67 rooms all offer beautiful brocade soft furnishings and antiques — from 18th century pieces to Art Deco and Eastern items — each has its own very particular look and feel. A good buffet breakfast is served in the leafy garden courtyard. There’s a Michelin-starred restaurant and the Oriental bar serves excellent cocktails. Read expert reviewFrom£341

• The most characterful Venice hotels

The Clooneys opted to spend their wedding night in this 16th-century Grand Canal-side palazzo, which says it all. A trompe-l’oeil grand staircase leads up to the piano nobile (noble floor) and rococo ballroom with frescoes and Murano chandeliers. The salons have sumptuous Rubelli silk wall coverings and carved-stone fireplaces. Some rooms have Grand Canal views, and one suite has a ceiling relief painted by 18th-century Venetian painter, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Breakfast is a relaxed and hushed affair, and the restaurant serves an interesting mixture of Thai and classic Venetian. Read expert reviewFrom£850

• The best luxury hotels in Venice

If you want to stumble out of your hotel lobby straight into the labyrinth, then this probably isn’t this hotel – a Venetian classic at the eastern tip of the Giudecca island – isn’t for you. It is however a five-minute hop into the thick of things, and the hotel’s setting, with 270-degree views over the water, is spectacular. Hotel Cipriani is an oasis of breezy elegance, with huge pool, manicured gardens and luxury spa. It also has the kind of discreet professional service you’d expect in a hotel used to hosting VIPs. All rooms have private balconies, gorgeous fabrics and sumptuous bathrooms. Some come with their own butler.Read expert reviewFrom£1,011

• The best boutique hotels in Venice

With its spectacular Grand Canal frontage and classic Venetian décor, the five-star Europa & Regina is one of the grandes dames of the city’s accommodation scene. A private jetty means you can arrive in style by boat. The marbled halls with their gilt-framed mirrors, spectacular chandeliers and geometric floors are impressively grand without being forbidding. For the full Serenissima experience, opt for one of the 28 Grand Canal-facing rooms, preferably one of the fourth-floor ones with terraces and an extraordinary view. Eating on the hotel restaurant’s two-person Floating Table, projecting into the Grand Canal, is a seriously romantic experience. Read expert reviewFrom£598

• The best hotels in Venice

The hotel is Gothic outside and contemporary inside, combining style and warmth, and looks across the Grand Canal towards San Marco from the quieter, artsy Dorsoduro district. Service is generally charming, and manages to strike a good balance between friendly and professional. Suites have antique features with contemporary design – striking colours, huge mirrors and bathrooms in burnished gold leaf. Not all of them face the Grand Canal, so make sure you specify what you want when booking. The breakfast buffet is very generous, and the calmly minimalist Antinoo restaurant has canal views and a pan-Italian gourmet menu. Read expert reviewFrom£224

• The best budget hotels in Venice

Philippe Starck was responsible for the interiors of Palazzina G, which scream design. It’s relentlessly stylish and veers from darkly intimate – with Philipe Starck’s wild take on the classic Venetian chandelier – in public rooms, to clean white lines and many mirrors in the bedrooms. The stylish clientèle probably then don’t come as a surprise. The Palazzina extends through to the Grand Canal, with some suites offering sweeping views over that waterway. The standard of the mod-Med food in the on-site restaurant remains appropriately high. Read expert reviewFrom£375

• The best European city breaks

The Marriott occupies its own 40-acre island in the southern lagoon, a 20-minute boat ride from St Mark’s square. In fact, with such a wide choice of relaxation options and sporting activities on offer, guests may feel tempted to skip Venice altogether. This former Twenties sanitorium has a cool, contemporary, minimalist feel in the rooms, some of which have private gardens and pools. The luxurious spa is Venice’s largest. Yoga and meditation sessions take place in quiet corners of the landscaped gardens; there are also cooking classes and water sports. Sagra Rooftop, with its view across the lagoon, is the place to sip your evening aperitivo. Read expert reviewFrom£267

• Where to stay in Venice: hotels by district

• The world's most romantic hotels 

The San Clemente Palace – on a manicured 17 acres of private island in the southern lagoon – is an ideal pampered bolthole if intensive sightseeing in visitor-packed Venice leaves you reeling. The tree-filled island originally housed a pilgrims’ hospice in the 11th century. The accommodation these days is certainly more luxurious. There are tennis courts, a mini-golf course, a gym and in-room spa treatments. The 129 rooms and 61 suites are spacious, elegant and well appointed, and set around a series of gardens and courtyards. For the ultimate in luxury, a selections of villas have private gardens and jetties.Read expert reviewFrom£596

• 10Telegraph expert rating

  The Gritti – in an enviable spot on the lower reaches of the Grand Canal – has been a favourite w...Read expert review

• 10Telegraph expert rating

  With sweeping views across the Venetian lagoon, the 96-room Belmond Hotel Cipriani is the definit...Read expert review

• 9Telegraph expert rating

  These vibrant apartments provide guests with a relaxing experience of casual luxury in the heart ...Read expert reviewFrom£393