Where to Stay in Venice Italy: St. Regis Venice Review

The floating city of Venice, Italy is made up of over one hundred little islands connected by more than 400 bridges and shaped by the canals these bridges cross. The city is full of beautiful architecture and a lot of history. Many of these beautiful historic buildings have been converted into luxury hotels. Possibly the most recently renovated of these luxury hotels in Venice is the brand new St. Regis Venice, which opened in September 2019. This full review of our two night stay at the St. Regis Venice will help you decide where to stay in Venice Italy so that you can plan your full Italy Itinerary!

Getting to the St. Regis Venice

During our trip through Italy, we traveled exclusively by train thanks to our Eurail global pass. So we took the train from Interlaken to Venice Santa Lucia station where we caught a private water taxi to the St. Regis. The cheapest option would to hop on one of Venice’s shared water taxis and take it to the San Marco stop which is only about a 7-minute walk to the St. Regis. If you take a private water taxi from the train station or the airport, you will be dropped off right at the St. Regis’s private dock. The cost of the private water taxi to/from the train station is about 70 Euros each way. From the airport, a private water taxi costs about 110 euros each way

Where to Stay in Venice: St. Regis Location

When deciding where to stay in Venice location is very important. There are no cars in Venice, so you will be walking pretty much everywhere. The St. Regis Venice has an amazing location just 5 minutes from the biggest attraction in Venice, St. Mark’s Square. Within a short 3 minute walk from St. Mark’s Square you can get to many of Venice’s most visited spots including Doge’s Palace, The Bridge of Sighs, The Campanile, and of course, the Grand Canal. Want my google map’s overlay showing you all of the best spots in Venice? Just enter your email below!

St. Regis Venice Venetian Suite

After checking in to the St. Regis Venice we were escorted up to our room a Venetian Suite with views of the courtyard, Canal, and the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. The room was cozy with nice modern touches. Our suite consisted of a small living space with a huge TV and a separate bedroom and bathroom. We also had two small balconies that looked out on the courtyard and canal. When choosing where to stay in Venice I really wanted to be able to see the canal from our room, so I’m happy I chose this suite at the St. Regis Venice.

Dining at the St. Regis Venice

Taking the train from Interlaken to Venice ended up taking most of our day, so we didn’t arrive in Venice until about 7:45 PM. After our 15 minute taxi to the hotel and a quick check-in process we were ready to eat, so we went down to Gio’s, the signature restaurant at the St. Regis Venice. I had a traditional starter, pasta, and entree and by far my favorite course was the duck ragu orecchiette, oh and can’t forget the bottomless wine!

The next morning we went to the buffet in Gio’s for breakfast, and I must say I wasn’t very impressed with the selection. While the spread was typical of all of the other luxury hotels we stayed at on this trip, the big difference was the price tag, 55 Euros per person for fruit, pastries, and eggs is a bit much even for the St. Regis. Breakfast was included at most hotels we stayed at on this trip and would be here if you book using your AMEX Platinum through their Fine Hotels and Resorts program.

Service at the St. Regis Venice

For the most part, the service was fantastic. During our dinner at Gio’s, the staff was very attentive and made sure our wine glasses were never less than half full. The same for the aperitivos we had on the terrace one evening. The evening before we were leaving for Florence I called and asked our St. Regis butler if I could have my shoes polished, I made sure to ask that they would be ready first thing in the morning because we were going to St. Mark’s square to try and get some photos without loads of people in them. I hung them in the bag on the door and to my unfortunate surprise there they were the next morning without being polished. Other than that one little thing the service at the St. Regis Venice was fantastic.

Booking a Room at the St. Regis Venice

If you have an American Express Platinum card, I would recommend booking through the Fine Hotels & Resorts program, that way you get the complimentary breakfast and a room upgrade upon arrival if available. Otherwise, the best option is booking directly with Marriott. If you have a stockpile of Marriott Bonvoy points (Chase Ultimate Rewards and AMEX Membership Rewards points are also transferrable to Marriott). If you find non-peak dates available each night will cost 70,000 Marriott points. For peak travel dates it will run between 80,000 and 100,000 points per night. You can check prices and availability for the St. Regis Venice here.

Final Impressions of the St. Regis Venice

If you’re trying to decide where to stay in Venice and want a luxury Venice hotel with its location as your priority number 1, then the St. Regis Venice is perfect. It is a recently re-opened location, so they still may be working some of the kinks out, but overall we really enjoyed our two nights at the St. Regis Venice. If the St. Regis is booked, or you want to compare other luxury options I’d recommend checking out The Gritti Palace or Hotel Danieli.

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