Hotel Londra Palace

Character and identity

A neoclassical palazzo set directly on the Riva degli Schiavoni, Londra Palace has been receiving guests since 1853 (Tchaikovsky wrote his Fourth Symphony from a room here in 1877). It's an intimate Relais & Châteaux property of 53 rooms and suites, decorated in proper 19th-century Venetian style: brocade-clad walls, tapestry drapes, Biedermeier antiques, and pink Carrara marble bathrooms. Public spaces lighten the mood with pale walls, wooden accents and sculpted chandeliers. Do Leoni is the destination restaurant, with terrace tables looking onto the lagoon and San Giorgio Maggiore, and the Londrabar handles aperitivi. Service is old-school in the best sense: courteous, knowledgeable, unhurried.

Who's it for

Bottom line

The pull here is location and view paired with a genuinely classic Venetian room product, at a price noticeably below the city's other top-tier names. Book a lagoon-facing room with a balcony, or the top-floor suite with its private terrace if budget allows; the rear-facing classics are pleasant but waste the setting. Drink at the rooftop, not the bar.