Two grande dames sit almost side by side on the Grand Canal, both facing Santa Maria della Salute, both minutes from St Mark's. Book the larger, brighter St Regis for space, terraces, and butler service; book the intimate, antique-filled Gritti for old-world romance in a former doge's palace.
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Few luxury choices in Venice are as close-run as this one. The St. Regis Venice and The Gritti Palace are near neighbours on the San Marco bank of the Grand Canal, each looking across the water to the domed church of Santa Maria della Salute, each a short walk from St Mark's Square. You can stay at one and stroll to the other for a drink. Location, the usual decider, barely separates them.
What separates them is character and scale. The St. Regis is the larger and more recently reinvented hotel, brighter and more contemporary inside, with butler service and a generous share of rooms opening onto private canal terraces. The Gritti is the smaller and the older soul, a sixteenth-century doge's palace of just 82 rooms, layered with antiques and Venetian silks, the more romantic and more intimate of the pair.
Below, the case for each, with honest trade-offs and the family angle, then a clear verdict on which to book and when.
| The St. Regis Venice | The Gritti Palace | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Larger; around 170 rooms and suites across five restored palazzi | Intimate; 61 rooms and 21 suites, 82 in all |
| Lineage | Opened 1895 as the Grand Hotel Britannia; St Regis since 2019 | Gothic palace of 1475; Doge Andrea Gritti's residence from 1525 |
| Style | Bright, contemporary, art-filled; many private terraces | Antique-filled, traditional, deeply Venetian |
| Service | St Regis butler service for every room | Personal, old-world, long-tenured staff |
| Dining | Large canal-front bar and restaurant terrace, sociable | Club del Doge and Riva Lounge, romantic canal-side tables |
| Best for | Space, light, service depth, families, terraces | Romance, history, intimacy, a once-in-a-lifetime room |
What you get: The larger and brighter of the two, with butler service, commissioned contemporary art, more suites, and the highest share of rooms with private canal terraces.
For travellers who want space and light, the St. Regis is the easier yes. Its 2019 restoration knitted five seventeenth-century palaces into one bright, art-filled hotel of roughly 170 rooms, which is generous by Venetian standards, and a good number open onto private terraces over the canal. The signature St Regis butler service comes with every room and is genuinely useful with luggage, restaurant bookings, and the small frictions of a city built on water, which is also why it tends to be the smoother choice for families. The canal-front bar and terrace is one of the liveliest sociable spots on this stretch of water. Travel + Leisure readers placed it among the top three hotels in Venice in their 2025 awards.
Honest trade-off: The contemporary restoration means it has less of the time-worn, museum-like patina that some travellers come to Venice expecting, and at this address rates sit firmly at the top of the market. Who this isn't for: guests who want to sleep inside centuries of antiques rather than a bright modern reinvention will prefer the Gritti.
Weighted: Service 25%, Rooms 20%, Romance / Value / Food 15% each, Location 10%. Scores are HotelsForKings editorial judgments of the hotel's luxury offer, not guest review averages.
What you get: The smaller, older, more romantic hotel, a former doge's palace of 82 rooms layered with antiques and Rubelli silks, with one of the most celebrated canal-side terraces in the city.
The Gritti's advantage is its soul. The palace took its Gothic shape in 1475 and became the residence of Doge Andrea Gritti in 1525, and the hotel still feels like a private Venetian house of art and antiques rather than a chain flagship. With just 82 rooms it stays intimate, its signature suites named for the writers who loved it, Ernest Hemingway, Somerset Maugham, and John Ruskin; Hemingway worked here while writing Across the River and Into the Trees. The Club del Doge restaurant and the Riva Lounge terrace are among the most romantic places to eat over the water in Venice, a reason to book even for non-guests.
Honest trade-off: Intimacy comes with less space, fewer rooms to choose from, and an antique-rich atmosphere that suits couples more than energetic young children. Who this isn't for: families wanting room to spread out, or travellers who prefer a brighter, more modern interior, are better served by the St Regis.
Weighted: Service 25%, Rooms 20%, Romance / Value / Food 15% each, Location 10%. Scores are HotelsForKings editorial judgments of the hotel's luxury offer, not guest review averages.
If you want space, light, butler service, a private terrace, and the easier stay with children, book The St. Regis Venice; its restored palazzi give you the most generous rooms on this part of the canal and a service depth that smooths a complicated city.
If you want romance, history, and the feel of sleeping inside a Venetian palace, book The Gritti Palace; for couples and for anyone who came to Venice for the past rather than the present, its 82 antique-filled rooms and its terrace on the water are hard to better. Service and space favour the St Regis; soul and romance favour the Gritti.
Both sit on the Grand Canal facing Santa Maria della Salute, a few minutes from St Mark's Square, so the choice is about character rather than location. The St. Regis Venice is the larger and brighter of the two, with around 170 rooms across five restored palazzi, St Regis butler service, and more suites with private terraces. The Gritti Palace is smaller and more historic, a 1525 doge's palace of just 82 antique-filled rooms. Choose the St Regis for space, light, and service depth; choose the Gritti for intimacy and old-world romance.
The St. Regis Venice is the easier family stay. It is the larger hotel, with more rooms, more suites, and the St Regis butler service that can quietly smooth the logistics of travelling with children. The Gritti Palace is intimate and antique-filled, which is part of its charm but makes it feel more like an adults' hotel where younger children need close supervision. Neither is a resort with a kids' club or pool, so families wanting those should look to a Lido or lagoon property instead.
The Gritti Palace is the older institution. Its building took its Gothic form in 1475 and became the residence of Doge Andrea Gritti in 1525, and it has been a celebrated hotel for generations, immortalised by Ernest Hemingway in Across the River and Into the Trees. The St. Regis Venice opened as the Grand Hotel Britannia in 1895 and joined the St Regis brand in 2019 after a two-year restoration that combined five seventeenth-century palaces, so it is the more recently reinvented of the two.
Both face the same stretch of water, but they read differently. The St. Regis Venice feels brighter and more contemporary, its roughly 170 rooms and suites filled with commissioned art, and a larger share come with private terraces over the canal. The Gritti Palace is smaller and more traditional, its 82 rooms layered with antiques and Rubelli silks, and its signature suites named for Hemingway, Somerset Maugham, and John Ruskin. For a modern terrace room, the St Regis; for a museum-like, deeply Venetian room, the Gritti.
Both put dining right on the water. The Gritti Palace's Club del Doge and its Riva Lounge terrace are among the most romantic canal-side tables in Venice and a destination in their own right. The St. Regis Venice answers with a large canal-front bar and restaurant terrace that is livelier and better suited to groups. For a quiet, candlelit dinner over the water choose the Gritti; for a sociable aperitivo with a wide terrace choose the St Regis.
Yes. The two hotels are close neighbours on the same San Marco bank of the Grand Canal, both facing the church of Santa Maria della Salute and both a walk of roughly five to ten minutes from St Mark's Square. You can arrive at either by water taxi from the airport or by vaporetto, and it is easy to visit one for a drink while staying at the other, which makes choosing between their two famous canal-side terraces less final than it sounds.
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