Madama Garden Retreat is along the Rio de la Guerra in northern Venice’s Cannaregio neighbourhood.
Planes
International flights land into Venice’s Marco Polo Airport, which is a 30-minute drive from the Piazzale Roma, where staff can have a water taxi waiting to zoom you straight to the hotel. Private transfers from the airport (including the water taxi) are €160.
Trains
Santa Lucia station is a 15-minute vaporetto-ride from the hotel (or a 25-minute walk) with direct links to most of Italy’s hubs including Rome, Milan, and Florence. The hotel can collect you from the station from €80 one-way.
Automobiles
Wheels aren’t welcome in Venice, it’s all by water or foot here. If you’re road-tripping around Italy with an accompanying car, there’s a garage at the Piazzale Roma that you’re welcome to use.
Worth getting out of bed for
You’ll be safely bubbled from the basilica-bound crowds at Madama Garden Retreat, which puts you right in the heart of the (relatively) quieter Cannergio. Once Marco Polo’s stomping ground, though we can’t promise things looked similar in his heyday, there’re plenty of lesser-known spots worthy of wandering in and around this charming Venetian neighbourhood. Start off with a potter to the Ponte Chiodo – one of the only two bridges left in the city without any parapets – before slithering through Calle Varisco, impressively dubbed the narrowest street in Venice courtesy of its 53-centimetre width. Revel in Renaissance art at Jacopo Robusti’s 16th-century townhouse, Casa deli Tintoretto, before heading to the Church of Madonna dell’Orto, his home parish where his works still adorn the saint-worthy walls. Before you head off to explore the rest of the city, pootle past the Jewish Quarter and learn more about its cultural riches with a tour around one of its five synagogues.
Venturing beyond your locale will bring all the classics into sight (Rialto Bridge, St Mark’s Basilica, Palazzo Ducale, and the Museo Correr are worthy visits if you don’t mind big groups). A different Marco is making his own waves at the Merchant of Venice, one of the city’s most celebrated perfumeries in Campo San Fantin, which hosts mixing masterclasses at nearby Libreria Studium. If your senses are still strong, they’ve also partnered with the Palazzo Mocenigo, where the Museum of Perfume, home to six, opulent exhibition halls, tells the historic story of Venetian perfumery. Escape the city for a day after all that sightseeing and gondola gandering, and take to the wider waters for a day-trip to Murano, Burano and Torcello islands.
Local restaurants
Everything can be traced back to its roots at Venetika, an emerald-toned gem just off the Rio della Misericordia and helmed by locals Marino and Raffaele. Seafood and fried fish fill the menu here (the black octopus spaghetti is a notable favourite), and every dish has been lovingly made with ingredients that are sourced from local, independent vendors. In 1981, the Lazzaris took over a small cicchetteria along the Rio di san Felice; today, it goes by Vini da Gigio, and it’s where you’ll see their now-grown children plating traditional Venetian dishes and pairing their flavourful bites with flights of fine wines.
Local bars
Aperitivi is essential to starting an Italian evening right, and in Venice, it’s done best beside the canals. Wine is the name of the game at Al Timon, where you’ll find locals sipping rich reds and snacking on small plates waterside. For strong spritzes and a spot yet to be tainted by tourists, head to Taverna al Remer hidden by the Grand Canal.
