Hotel Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel, Venice vs Belmond Copacabana Palace

The case for the Cipriani starts with the pool. It's the largest in Venice, set inside gardens people describe as immaculate, and it turns a city built entirely of stone and canals into somewhere you can actually spend a lazy afternoon. Add the private boat that gets you into San Marco in about ten minutes and back out again before the crowds peak, and you have a genuine strategy for doing Venice without Venice wearing you down. The breakfast terrace earns its reputation too, right down to the trained hawk that keeps pigeons off the tables while you eat.

The trade-offs are real and worth pricing in before you book. Restaurant costs run well ahead of what the food and service deliver, by more than one account, and the poolside restaurant in particular has drawn complaints about slow, inattentive waitstaff and a strict dress code enforced without much grace. One long-time family flagged a genuinely ugly encounter with the pool bar manager and event security that soured a tradition spanning three generations. Rooms have improved a great deal with the recent renovation, but at least one guest found the air conditioning couldn't keep up on a hot night, which is not a small thing at these prices. The new Dior spa, opened this year, is the freshest addition and by early accounts a legitimate reason to book, though it's too new for a real track record.

None of this cancels the pull of the place. This is for people who want a resort that happens to be in Venice rather than a city hotel with a view of it, and who'd rather deal with occasional restaurant friction than give up the pool, the gardens, and that boat ride. Couples and honeymooners get the most out of it; families with young kids may find Airelles or a quieter alternative fits better. Book it for the grounds, the pool, and that breakfast terrace.

The case for booking the Copacabana Palace hasn't changed since 1923: Joseph Gire's Art Deco building, a private stretch of Copacabana Beach, and a pool team that keeps its head at full Carnival capacity, sunbeds cleared and water topped up without anyone chasing it. Front desk and concierge get named constantly and specifically. One guest's server, Edson, made soothing tea for a mother's cough and mint tea for her daughter after a service issue; another traveller had Anderson Azevedo, head of the hotel's Les Clefs d'Or concierges, talk them through something genuinely stressful with what they called real calm. That's the level of staff this hotel keeps producing.

Breakfast and the in-house restaurants are the real weak spot, and it's not one bad morning: cold cuts, underripe fruit in a country full of good fruit, a bowl of chicken soup with what one guest called crunchy potatoes. A four-star kitchen on a five-star bill, as one traveller put it. There's also a construction wrinkle right now. A new pool wing and five-floor wellness expansion mean a temporary gym by the tennis courts, and some recent guests found the noise reached the pool deck and a few rooms, though others staying the same months noticed nothing at all. New rooms are expected by late 2026, so this is a tax on the stay now, not a permanent one. Frequent weddings and conferences add another layer some guests weren't warned about, including one wedding with music running to midnight.

Book it for the building, the beach, and staff who still remember your name on a fifth visit; skip the restaurants for anything beyond convenience and check what's on the events calendar before you book. On the history and the location, nothing else in Rio is close.