Recommended Hotels
Where to stay close to all the gay bars.
Our top 4 selections with the best rates.
Venice Carnival is home to the largest and most famous Masked Ball. The Event has existed since the middle Ages, well before it beaame a pre-lenten Catholic festival. Carnival or Carnevale as it is known locally became an outlet for all things prohibited.
Today, party starts ten days before martedì grasso (Shrove Tuesday).St Mark’s Square is the fulcrum of Carnival activities, and that’s where you’ll find the most extraordinary costumes – many hoping for a chance in the best costume competition
The Volo dell’Angelo (“flight of the angel”), when a beauty pageant winner gets to ride a zip-wire from the campanile in St Mark’s square.
The search for the year’s best costume is the chance to strut your finery on the stage erected in St Mark’s square. A day’s best and a festival finest competition run side-by-side, with twice-a-day heats, from February the grand finale for the festival best is not to be missed. Don’t just be a tourist! At least grab yourself an authentic mask (not one made in Asia). You can also rent spectacular costumes from many of the local boutiques.
Many of the hotels and venues will host elaborate masked balls. These events are quite expensive and will be quite mixed. Topping the pile is the annual Gran Ballo della Cavalchina, a wild – and wildly expensive – extravaganza inside La Fenice opera house.
GETTING AROUND & GAY VENICE
The city is approximately 3 miles wide with the major sights concentrated in the neighborhoods of San Polo, across the Grand Canal from the train station; Dorsoduro a little further south; and San Marco to Dorsoduro’s west, again across the Grand Canal. But don’t worry, everyone gets lost. It is almost impossible to get to your destination in a straight line as Venice is riddled with dead ends and twisted passageways.
For nightlife, most gay visitors head off the island to Mestre, Venice’s mainland half, or nearby Padova (half an hour away) to party. Its worth nothing that Padova is also home to some of the loveliest wandering streets, gelato, and art in Italy.
Here are the Hotels we recommend that keep you close to all the action,
Pesaro Palace, Hotel Abbazia, Hotel Antico Doge, UNA Hotel Venezia
Where to stay close to all the gay bars.
Our top 4 selections with the best rates.
Ai Mori d’Oriente is where our editors stay
Its charming & close to the activities.
For further information and advice on
Venice Carnival visit The Website
Grand Opening of the Venice Carnival 2016- Official Video
Step into an apartment with a touch of old-world elegance. A vibrant and refined space, the living room is complete with crown moldings, sumptuous antique furnishings, and striped wall paper that offsets a gallery wall above the sofa.
Discover this luxuriously restored 16th century mansion that will make you fully experience the quintessence of a magical Venice. Located on the noble floor of the building and overlooking the Rio di San Fosca the apartment is named after ancient craft worked gold.
Hear gondoliers serenading with arias and watch them effortlessly propelling their craft along the winding canal below. After a delicious soak in the Jacuzzi, take time to admire the many Venetian-themed artworks in the apartment
Take a seat on a tufted sofa in a mint green-accented room steeped in vintage sophistication. Decompress on a deck patio overlooking the Grand Canal. Be energized in this enchanting space with wood beam ceilings and black marble flourishes
Although most of the gay scene is centered in the mainland, its hard to beat a hotel in the Cannaregio district for an authentic taste of Venetian life.
15th-century building on the Grand Canal,offering Venetian-style rooms with free Wi-Fi.
Set near the Grand Canal in the peaceful Cannaregio district of Venice, UNA Hotel Venezia is 5-minute to the Rialto Bridge
Set in a restored monastery, Hotel Abbazia is in the quiet Cannaregio district of Venice.
12th century building now a 3 star hotel just 300 metres from Rialto Bridge with elegant rooms.