Venice is a special place. It deserves a special hotel. If there's one destination in your European vacation plans you're willing to splurge on, make it Venice, and make it a top Venice hotel.
1. Gritti Palace
If you've got the Euros, you might as well stay where diplomats and movie stars book, the Gritti Palace, a luxury choice inside a 16th-century Doge's Palace in Campo Santa Maria del Giglio on the Grand Canal. Ernest Hemingway liked it. Step out onto the dining terrace in the Evening, and even if you're sending yourself to the poorhouse, at least for one night you can say you've arrived.
2. Hotel Ai Mori D'Oriente
The Hotel Ai Mori D'Oriente ranks high with IgoUgo folks--an exotic three star hotel in a Venetian palace built in the 1500 on the Canale Della Sensa, near the Rialto bridge. Fairly reasonably priced3. Accademia Villa Maravegie
The folks at Yahoo travel call this a "perfect find." The early-15th-century villa was once the Russian Embassy, mot to mention the residence of Katharine Hepburn in the movie Summertime. The well-gardened Dorsoduro hideaway near St. Mark's has garnered a Fodor's Choice award. Moderate prices.4. Abbazia Hotel
Need a place near the train station? Why not stay in "a converted abbey of the barefooted Carmelite Friars of Venice. It has an astounding lobby that was, at one time, the monk’s dining room and includes a raised pulpit from which scriptures were read during meal time. We also notice a beautiful garden and breakfast site that we can see from our window." - Ed Hahn IgoUgo Review Moderate.5. Luna Hotel Baglioni
The Baglioni is the oldest hotel in Venice, starting operations in 1474, restored in 1992. Near Piazza San Marco. 109 rooms and suites. Frommers says, "'deluxe' rooms are richly carpeted, with ornate stucco around the wall fabrics, Murano chandeliers and sconces, watercolors and prints, and double sinks with golden fixtures set in the marble bathrooms."6. Grand Hotel Dei Dogi
Stay in a former convent, which became the French embassy, and is now a 68 room luxury hotel in Venetian style. Located in a quiet residential neighborhood. Well received by major guides like Frommers and Fodors, as well as this IgoUgo user.7. Locanda Vivaldi Hotel
Bask in the history of Antonio Vivaldi' s House. The Locanda Vivaldi features 28 rooms overlooking St Mark's basin, a few minutes walk to Piazza S. Marco. Guardian Travel recommends "It is worth paying a supplement for a room with the ultimate view of St Mark's." Travel Intelligence says, "enter the hotel from a small wharf, ask the "Gritti" bar tender for your favourite drink and taste it on the amenity of the small garden."