Hotel Pensione Accademia ★★

A common room in the Pensione Hotel Accademia, Venice

The elegant Hotel Pensione Accademia in Venice.

The classy villa hotel overlooking two canals where Hepburn filmed Summertime

A room at the Hotel Pensione Accademia, Venice

The gardens at the Hotel Pensione Accademia, Venice

This classy Olde Worlde hotel in the 17th-century Villa Maravege is beloved by Venice regulars.

You'll have to reserve far in advance to get any room here, let alone one overlooking the tiny triangular breakfast garden, which is snuggled into the confluence of two canals.

The hotel is fitted with period antiques in first floor "superior" rooms, and the atmosphere is decidedly old-fashioned and elegant (Katherine Hepburn's character lived here in the movie Summertime).

Formally and appropriately called the Villa Maravege ("Villa of Wonders"), it was built as a patrician villa in the 1600s and used as the Russian Consulate until the 1930s.

Its outdoor landscaping—the Venetian rarities of a flowering patio on the small Rio San Trovaso that spills into the Grand Canal and the grassy formal rose garden behind—and interior details (original pavement, wood-beamed and decoratively painted ceilings) still create the impression of being a privileged guest in an aristocratic Venetian home from another era.

Though the official price sheet puts the cost of classic rooms at €145–€290 and superior doubles at a steep €180–€340, the actual rates can dip as low as €110 standard (€155 superior) if you book online, with last-minute Web deals on their site, during slow periods, and for longer stays (three or more nights).

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Details, tips, & links

Details

Hotel Pensione Accademia - Villa Maravege ★★
Fondamenta Bollani 1058 (Dorsoduro) -Sstep off the vaporetto, and turn right down Calle Gambara, which doglegs first left and then right. It becomes Calle Corfu, which ends at a side canal; walk left for a few feet to cross over the bridge, then head to the right back up toward the Grand Canal and the hotel.
Vaporetto: Accademia
tel. +39-041-521-0188
www.pensioneaccademia.it
€€€

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Nearby sights, dining, hotels

Sights nearby
★★★ Accademia Galleries (museum)
★★ Peggy Guggenheim (museum)
★ Santa Maria della Salute (church)
★ Squero di San Trovaso (gondola workshop)

Where to eat nearby
★★ Trattoria Ai Cugnai (meal)
★★★ Enoteca Cantinone Già Schiavi (snack)

More Hotels nearby
RR Hotel Galleria (moderate)

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Lodging links

Lodging tips

If you're looking for a hotel near a particular sight, just go to that sight's page and, in the sidebar on the right, you'll see a list of all the nearby hotels (with "Reid Recommends" choices preceded by a little RR icon: ).
The Venice hotel tax: As of 2011, Venice began charging a Visitor Tax. This is the city's doing, and it is not a scam (just annoying). All charges are per person, per night, for all guests over the age of 10, and the tax is charged for stays of up to 10 days. (There are discounts: Dec-Jan, 30%; Kids aged 10-16, 50%; Stays on the Lido or other outer islands, 20%; Stays in Mestre or elsewhere on the mainland, 20%.)

The cost breakdown is insanely complicated (varies with official clasification and rating cateogry), but general as of 2014:
- Hotels: €1 pppn (per person per night) per star rating. (So a couple [2 people] staying three nights [2 x 3 = 6] in a four-star hotel [6 x €4 = €24] would pay an extra €24.
- B&Bs: €3 pppn flat
- Apartments, residences, rental rooms: €1.50–€2.50 pppn
- Hostels/religious housing and agriturismi: €2 pppn
- Camping: €0.10–€0.40 pppn
Some hotels have folded the fee into their quoted rates; most properties tack it on as an extra when you check out. Just be prepared.
Book ahead in summer and during Carnevale: Venice is way more popular than the number of beds it has, so while in the dead of winter you can often show up and find a good place to crash easily, the best rooms (and the best-value hotels) are booked well in advance for the summer months and the two weeks prior to Ash Wednesday (when Venice breaks out the fancy dress and masks for its famed Carnevale celebrations).

Same goes (though less so, and more at the chic and high end hotels) during the Venice Biennale art festival and the Venice Film Festival.
Pay extra for A/C in summer: No matter what kind of lodging you pick, if it's summer (a) try to get a room with air-conditioning and (b) even if you can't (or you can but have a hankering for some fresh air) resist the urge to open the windows to your room.

Venice is, I believe, the primary breeding ground for the mosquito population of Southern Europe, and precious few Italian hoteliers have discovered that newfangled invention called window screens. Keep the windows shut, or prepare to be bitten.

(Also, carry some bug spray for those romantic canalside dinners outside. Trust me.)
Avoid Mestre: Any hotels with an address in "Venezia-Mestre" is actually in the dull, modern, industrial suburb at the mainland end of the bridge over to the real, ancient Venice you came all this way to see. Do not stay in Mestre! You'll spend more time and money commuting each day in an out of Venice proper than you will save.