Fodor's Expert Review Hotel Danieli

Welcoming guests with one of the most sumptuous, quintessentially Venetian loggia-lobbies (part of the late-14th-century Palazzo Dandolo, built by the family of the doge who conquered Constantinople), this fabled monument of Venetian history retains much of its luxury luster, with marble columns here, carved archways there, and plush furniture everywhere. Guest rooms are decorated in 18th-century Venetian fashion—many contain authentic period furniture. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Danieli was the principal Venetian stopping place for literary and musical notables such as Goethe, Wagner, and George Sand; in fact, you can stay in the room where Sand and Alfred de Musset carried on their love affair in 1833–34. Best of all, if you stay in one of the lagoon-view rooms, you can delight in a most inspiring panorama: over St. Mark's basin to Palladio's San Giorgio, Longena's Salute church, and the mouth of the Grand Canal. The same view is available, plus a view of the Dolomites on a clear day, from the rooftop dining terrace.