Here's How You Can Luxuriate Venice Without the Crowds

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By [Mary Holland](https://robbreport.com/author/mary-holland/) [More from Mary Holland](https://robbreport.com/author/mary-holland/)

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After a long day zigzagging through [Venice](https://robbreport.com/tag/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](https://robbreport.com/travel/hotels/orient-express-hotel-venice-opens-1237729281/), 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](https://robbreport.com/travel/destinations/lists/hottest-luxury-travel-destinations-1238562708/). In fact, Venice would benefit from [fewer people knowing about it](https://robbreport.com/lifestyle/news/jeff-bezos-relocates-venice-wedding-1236845586/). 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.

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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](https://robbreport.com/tag/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](https://robbreport.com/tag/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](https://robbreport.com/tag/orient-express/) opened its doors in Cannaregio. Across the Giudecca Canal on the island of Giudecca, French group [Airelles](https://airelles.com/en/destination/venice) 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](https://robbreport.com/travel/hotels/locanda-cipriani-hotel-reopening-1238467099/), 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](https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-26/isle-take-it), 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.”