Londra Palace Venezia

At Londra Palace Venezia, the first luxury is not the chandelier, the linen or the discreet smile at reception. It is the fact that you open the curtains and Venice is simply there, in full performance. The hotel stands on Riva degli Schiavoni, with San Giorgio Maggiore across the water and San Marco a few minutes away. Yes, the promenade outside can be busy. Venice does not do empty stage sets. But from the right room, or from a table on the terrace, the lagoon quickly wins the argument.

The address goes back to 1853, when the Babini family took over the Hôtel d’Angleterre et Beau Rivage. Its long façade later earned it the nickname of the hotel with 100 windows, which sounds like marketing until you stand in front of it and start counting. The guest book adds proper theatre. Tchaikovsky stayed here in 1877 while working on his Fourth Symphony. Jules Verne arrived incognito in 1884, a plan reportedly spoiled by a welcome with candles and fireworks. Venice, one suspects, has never been the ideal city for people hoping to pass unnoticed.

Today the hotel has 53 rooms and suites. The best ones face the lagoon, some with balconies or terraces, and those are the rooms to book if the budget allows it. Inside, expect comfort and polish rather than untouched palazzo poetry. There are Murano chandeliers, terrazzo floors, pastel sofas, patterned wallpapers, Art Deco curves and, in some rooms, handsome old ceilings and columns. It can feel a little decorative at times, more refreshed classic hotel than aristocratic time capsule. But the proportions are generous, the bathrooms unusually spacious for Venice, and the service has that old hotel confidence that never needs to explain itself.

LPV Ristorante & Bistrot completes the picture with seafood, Venetian flavours and one of the most enviable terraces in the city. Londra Palace is Venice with a front row seat, a few excellent stories and a view that does most of the seducing before you have even unpacked.