From Kendall Jenner to the Clooneys: This is Where the A-list Stays for the Venice Film Festival

Inside the celeb-approved Venetian stays that offer glamour and privacy in equal measure.Getty ImagesFor over 80 years now the Venice International Film Festival has attracted the world's most glamorous and famous crowd. In the 1950s, it saw Brigitte Bardot pose for paparazzi while sitting on grass, and Elizabeth Taylor take a dip in the lido at Hotel Excelsior Venice. Fast forward to today and it's just as star-studded, with the 83rd Venice International Film Festival hosting an array of actors, supermodels and musicians, from Laura Dern to Robert Pattinson, Irina Shayk and Liam Gallagher.Much of the red carpet action takes place at Hotel Excelsior Venice, which has hosted the main event since 1932. Notably, following a three-year closure, the hotel reopened last year (2025), to reveal a grand renovation and thus many of this year's attendees – Kate Mara, Claire Foy, Maggie Gyllenhaal – have also chosen to stay in the boldly striped suites.It's not the only top hotel in Venice that is known to host film festival attendees. The A-listers that prefer something more private often book into one of the 24 opulent rooms within Aman Venice – not only do the Clooneys love to stay here, they also married in the Palazzo Papadopoli location in 2014. To be even further removed and escape the flashes of paparazzi, Hotel Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel, Venice sits on the eastern tip of the Giudecca island. Its peaceful location has been a long- time favourite for the world's most famous stars, with previous guests including Sophia Loren, Cary Grant, and more recently Jennifer Lawrence and Lady Gaga.Hotel Excelsior VeniceA-list guests: Claire Foy, Kate MaraPart palace-landmark hotel, part seaside resort and beach club, and an important backdrop and partner for one of the most famous and historic film festivals in the world, the grand old lady Excelsior Lido strides into her second centenary emanating an enduring aura of exuberant glamour. The sense of optimism and confidence of the Belle Epoque is given full artistic license in this fantastical architectural turreted and be-domed confection. Upon arrival, a ceremonial crimson carpet leads you towards reception, past portraits of the stars who have strode on this ‘catwalk’ before you. It is a fabulous, unforgettable piece of theatre. To celebrate the turning of its centenary, a major renovation of all 198 bedrooms followed a three-year closure. The top two floors are perennially in demand because they have balconies either overlooking the lagoon and Venice in the distance, or the jade coloured Adriatic horizon that faces sunrise. These floors channel Orientalist exoticism: all deep jewel-toned wallpaper, wicker, and faux bamboo. With easy access to all the best that Venice has to offer, only a 15-minute transfer by complimentary shuttle, it is also where, conversely, Venetians retreat from the heat and crowds of summer, perfectly positioned as it is on the jade-colored shallow waters of the Adriatic. Catherine FairweatherRead Full ReviewThe Venice Venice HotelA-list guests: Selena Gomez, Jonathan BaileyThe 13th-century Ca’ Da Mosto had stood neglected on the Grand Canal for decades when Alessandro Gallo and Francesca Rinaldo, modern merchants of Venice and founders of the wildly successful fashion brand Golden Goose, set about restoring the property to its former glory with a six-year restoration. The result, which opened in 2022, would have impressed Lord Byron on one of his many amorous visits to Venice: candlelit staircases, luxurious draperies, tall Gothic windows overlooking the Grand Canal, stone passageways, spacious suites soothed by reflected light and the lap of water on stone outside the window – the sense of Venice as one of the world’s sexiest destinations. Art is part of the hotel’s DNA. Rooms showcase stunning contemporary pieces. Look for the work of artists of the Italian Arte Povera movement like Gilberto Zorio and Jannis Kounellis. On the quayside is Souvenir by Fabio Viale, a re-creation of Michelangelo’s Pieta with the Madonna and the limp Christ figure hauntingly separated. —Stanley SmithRead Full ReviewAman VeniceA-list guests: George and Amal Clooney, Kylie JennerAman is best known for its ultra-minimal Asian beach hotels. So when it opened in Venice (a city! In Europe!) in a palazzo (so flouncy!) it was something of a shock to die-hard Aman junkies. But, of course, the group nailed it, partnering up with proper Venetian aristos Gilberto and Bianca Arrivabene (he’s a count; she’s a princess), taking over all the family’s 16th-century Palazzo Papadopoli (one of only eight palazzo monumentali in Venice) and pairing the priceless frescos, enormous Murano chandeliers and opulent silks with trademark minimal design – low-slung B&B Italia works remarkably well against all that gilt. There are just 24 bedrooms here, all slotted into the palazzo’s original rooms so each is unique, some – the best – with all the palazzo flourishes you’d expect and Grand Canal views. Try the Alcova Tiepolo Suite to sleep beneath Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s cerub-filled frescos (like the Clooneys did on their wedding night) with walls lined in dove-grey Rubelli silks. Or the Sansovino Suite with its standout fireplace by 16th-century architect Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino. If you want the full Italian aristo experience in Venice this is as close as you can get, while not sacrificing any of the super-smart hotel slick that Aman brings to the party. Sleep under priceless frescos, drink spritzes overlooking the Grand Canal – this is a very special place in a very special city. —Fiona KerrRead Full ReviewThe Gritti Palace, a Luxury Collection HotelA-list guests: Kendall Jenner, Sydney SweeneyThe ultimate grande dame in Venice is every inch a museum of the city’s decorative history, with its silk and damask wall coverings, acres of painted stucco and precious marble, and gilded ceiling beams from which Murano chandeliers hang like elegant jellyfish. It was only in 2013 when it reopened following a $38 million revamp, that The Gritti was able to square the wow of the guest experience with the wow of its antique splendour. (In the 1940s, when Ernest Hemingway penned his Gritti-set novel Across the River and Into the Trees, it didn’t even have en-suite bathrooms). You don’t need to book the airily magnificent Somerset Maugham Royal Suite to feel that you have joined the club; a not-so-modest, entry-level Deluxe Room will do just fine. It, too, is swathed in stylish Rubelli fabrics; it too feels like Casanova might be hiding in the wardrobe. The Gritti Terrace, with its views across gondola-infested waters to the great Salute church, is one of Venice’s finest breakfast spots, and the late 2023 arrival of executive chef Alberto Fol from Hotel Danieli is a local win. At the deliciously private Bar Longhi, happiness is pulling up a stool at the inlaid marble counter, asking head barman Cristiano Luciani to fix one of his moreish wild fennel martinis and channelling your inner Peggy Guggenheim. —Lee MarshallRead Full ReviewHotel Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel, VeniceA-list guests: Irina Shayk, Lady GagaThe journey is as important as the arrival, they say, and when applied to the home and garden of earthly delights that is the Belmond Cipriani, it means something. A vintage motor launch in varnished cedar, the last word in 1970s Venetian nautical chic, awaits to whisk you from the terminal or the crowds of St. Mark’s Square to the hotel. Unlike Venice’s other luxury hotels that have been poured into existing historic palaces, fighting against a corset of strict regulations, the Cipriani was custom-built in 1958 with plenty of elbow room, on three acres of land of the Giudecca, then owned by Guinness nobility. The daughters, Honor and Brigid, were fans of Harry’s Bar, a small panelled den in the heart of Venice, and invited its owner, Giuseppe Cipriani, to think big and create a hotel in partnership with them. The result is a place that is still unrivalled for that spirit of urbane hedonism; for generous and attentive service that never genuflects; for an easy atmosphere of peace and sanctuary alongside a sense of clubhouse discretion and rarefied exclusivity. —Catherine FairweatherRead Full ReviewLauren Burvill is the senior commerce writer at Condé Nast Traveller, where she writes and commissions hotel, Airbnb, and shopping stories and reviews. Originally from Australia and now based in London, Lauren joined Condé Nast in 2018 and has since written for British Vogue, Glamour, GQ and Brides. Prior to ... Read MoreTrust us, you'll want to get lost