Here’s How You Can Luxuriate Venice Without the Crowds

After a long day zigzagging through Venice’s narrow streets, elbowing your way past crowds at every turn, arriving back in the historic Cannaregio district is a relief. No, a reward. Once you’re past the Strada Nova, the main pedestrian artery that runs through the neighborhood, the crowds begin to thin. By the time you step into the lobby of the Orient Express Venezia, with its stone floors, velvet sofas, and soaring ceilings, the hordes are a distant memory. Out back, the sun-dappled courtyard feels like a sanctuary—striped banquettes line walls of greenery, and fringed umbrellas shade the tables.No one needs to be told about Venice. In fact, Venice would benefit from fewer people knowing about it. As a destination, it is as appealing as it is off-putting. Those who’ve been know how shockingly beautiful it is. The journey from the airport by sleek wooden motorboat must be one of the most spectacular transfers in the world. Whizzing across the lagoon, then slowing as you near the island of Venice, cruising under arched bridges and past grand pink- and apricot-colored palazzos that plunge straight into the water. But step onto land, especially in high season (June through September), and you’re almost immediately mowed down by tourists. Selfie sticks dangle off every bridge, and tour groups shuffle behind guides waving flags. The romance is almost immediately lost. Still, this is Venice, a city so singular and beautiful it’s very hard to resist. “Venice will always be Venice,” says Fulvio De Bonis, CEO and founder of Italy-based travel company Imago Artis. “It’s one of those places our clients want to come back to again and again… there really is no other city in the world like it.” As visitor numbers continue to climb (Venice logged nearly 5.9 million tourist arrivals in 2024, its highest ever and 2.5 percent up on 2023), some hotels are opening up in quieter corners of the city. “We are seeing more luxury hotels looking at neighborhoods such as Cannaregio, which gives them the opportunity to offer something a little different—and, importantly, to become a starting point for discovering other parts of the city and the lagoon,” says De Bonis. The gardens at Locanda Cipriani offer views of the Church of Santa Fosca, built in the 11th and 12th centuries on Torcello island. Simon Tchoukriel Over the past few months, there’ve been several new openings, away from the crowds of St. Mark’s, in quieter corners of the city and on islands across the lagoon. In May, the Orient Express opened its doors in Cannaregio. Across the Giudecca Canal on the island of Giudecca, French group Airelles has opened its first hotel outside France, in a 16th-century palace that’s a five-minute boat ride from St. Mark’s. On Torcello island, about six miles northeast of central Venice just beyond Burano, the Cipriani family reopened Locanda Cipriani, an historic inn that first opened in 1947, after a two-year restoration. All of these are unlocking parts of the city that many daytrippers never venture to. Some locals are frustrated as private islands and historic buildings are bought up, squeezing residents out. But De Bonis notes that if these new hotels expose visitors to sites beyond the hot spots, that could be a good thing. “I don’t think the answer is to avoid [Venice]. Rather, we should embrace it in the right way,” he says. They can also add value to some crumbling infrastructure. “There is also a positive side to restoring and preserving some of Venice’s beautiful historic palazzi, giving them a new life while protecting an important part of the city’s heritage.” The dazzling Orient Express Venezia has landed on several “best luxury hotel” lists since opening, including ours. Giulio Ghirardi The Orient Express Venezia is one such example. Set in the 15-century Palazzo Donà Giovannelli, the hotel reopened this spring after an eight-year restoration by architect and interior designer Aline Asmar d’Amman, known for leading the art direction of the Hôtel de Crillon’s reopening in Paris and for developing Karl Lagerfeld’s marble furniture collection. She kept the original frescoes, pillars, and mosaic floors, and added touches inspired by the famous train’s carriages, such as the Wagon Bar, a small art-deco room designed to look like a train carriage, seating just 20 guests. It feels like a quintessential Italian palazzo, with glitzy chandeliers dangling from the beamed ceilings, intricate tapestries and plinths topped with sculptures. The entrance is a quiet and cavernous space with a magnificent spiral staircase made of stone with wrought iron railings. Step out onto the street in the morning and you won’t be fighting for your breakfast—it’s just a quiet alleyway and locals going about their day. Arrive to the hotel by boat from the train station or airport and glide up an empty canal to the water entrance where a grand, rosy Gothic building rises out of the water. A quiet canal entrance for the Orient Express Venezia. Orient Express Venezia The attractions that make Venice so loved aren’t that far away: the Rialto Bridge is a mere 15-minute walk. There’s plenty to explore within Cannaregio, which has its own rich history. Once home to Gothic palaces and artisans’ workshops, in 1516 it became the site of the city’s ghetto, where Venice’s Jewish community was confined. Today it’s the city’s most populated district (with locals), and one of its most residential. Though you may need to slog through crowds to get to the iconic Peggy Guggenheim Museum or newly opened Fondazione Dries Van Noten, there’s no need to do so to find a good meal. A five-minute walk from the hotel is the Rio della Misericordia, a historic canal lined with buzzy restaurants and bars. It’s a great setting for a perfect evening. Start at Vino Vero, a laid-back natural wine bar framed by a green awning. Order a glass of chenin and a few cicchetti, Venice’s answer to tapas (slices of baguette topped with mortadella, artichoke or pâté), then find a seat by the water. If the tables are full, perch on the edge of the fondamenta, legs dangling over the canal, and watch the locals come and go, some of them by boat. For dinner, head one canal over to Anice Stellato, run by chef Mattia Cantonetti. The cooking is hyper-local, built around ingredients from the lagoon: a zucchini salad, pasta with tomato and mussels, as well as fried sardines. As the sun sinks, the brick and terracotta façades glow. Afterwards, wander the neighborhood’s empty alleys, under windows strung with laundry, down to the ferry stop, where you can watch the lagoon turn pink with hardly anyone else around.