Last year Mr A and I joined the global community of “Aman Junkies”, and as such we used Aman’s website to select a destination for a short break in May 2019. (Rather than the more usual approach of choosing a destination, then looking for a hotel).  We settled on Venice, neither of us having been there before. Aman Venice is right on the Grand Canal, in a refurbished and modified grand private palace (“Palazzo”) belonging to the Papadopoli family, who are still resident.

I booked airport transfers through the hotel, so we were met in the baggage hall by an Aman employee, who collected our bags for us and took us to a black Mercedes mini-van for a very short drive to the airport’s lagoon dock, hectic with water taxis. Other boats seemed to get out of the way to make space on the dock for the beautiful wooden cruiser which approached to collect us. Fine quality sand-coloured leather banquettes were very reminiscent of a Ferrari’s interior and part of the roof at the stern had been retracted to allow us to relax in mild but part-cloudy weather as we sailed off to the island city nick-named La Serenissima.  It was a perfect arrival, but it came at a price (like most things in Venice): €375 for the half hour journey!  I later discovered that we were just in a standard water taxi, not the Aman boat, and we could reduce the price a little by hiring a water taxi directly. But the price reduction is negligible and I don’t know how you would connect between the airport terminal and the dock.

The water taxi made it onto the Grand Canal, and just 200m from the Rialto bridge we came alongside Palazzo Papadopoli, the home of Aman Venice.

We received a warm welcome in the impressive lobby before being taken on a short tour of the facilities and then to our room. I had booked a “Palazzo Bedroom” at €1400++/night. It was one of their least expensive rooms and came without room frescos or neorenaissance features, which suited me fine; I favour the clean modern Aman style above rococo.

The bedroom room was easily the smallest we’ve had in an Aman property, but it was perfectly adequate. We were on the ground floor, with windows looking onto their back garden. As well as a large comfortable bed there was a writing desk, a small sitting area with cocktail table, and a credenza containing a free mini-bar (no spirits) and snacks. We had a Bang & Olufsen TV and telephones. Decor was largely white, and a brownish colour, as you can see in the photos. It was very pleasant.

What surprised and delighted us was that the bathroom was the same size as the bedroom, which gave us lots of space to cleanse and to dress. We had twin wash basins, a free-standing bathtub and a roomy toilet-come-wetroom.

Toiletries were luxurious, fluffy white towels plentiful, and the bathrobes were the softest ever (I enquired about buying one, but the €180 charge put me off).  Venice isn’t an ‘accessible’ city and Aman Venice is hardly accessible from the water, but I think our bedroom might be sold as an accessible room, because once inside it’s step free.

We noticed some ‘weights’ hanging from the ceiling in the bathroom. Mr A pulled one and a loud alarm went off and then we got a phone call asking if we were OK!  A nice touch, but it would be better if there was some sort of notice or warning about the alarm cords.

 

 

 

We were also confused by a 5 foot tall white glass structure in the bathroom, but we were later told that it is a heater.  We didn’t turn it on, but it was rather cold during our stay – Venice was having its worst May for 50 years.  We found that we had to ask Reception to make our aircon warmer, as it can’t be controlled from inside the room.

Aside from the chilliness the only aspect of the room which didn’t impress was that there were no tea or coffee making facilities.  But after I questioned this fact they brought a capsule espresso machine to our room, for our use over the rest of our stay.

The most impressively decorated and furnished rooms in this and any Palazzo are on a floor called the “Piano Nobile”, and this is where you find the restaurant and the bar, plus some antique-laden ante-rooms.

We took breakfast in the most magnificently appointed room overlooking the Grand Canal. Frescos, stucco work and lots of gold paint – wow!  And the food was pretty good too; no buffet, everything a la carte (and they serve breakfast up to 12 noon).

Of course we checked out the bar on the piano nobile during our stay, and found another room opulently decorated with frescos and expensive wall hangings.  We paid €50 for two Negronis in the bar; expensive even for Venice, but our drinks came with olives, nuts and nibbles.

Next to what I’ve called the ‘breakfast room’ is the restaurant, “Arva”, though one can eat in both rooms, but Arva’s tables and chairs are a more appropriate height for dining. We had an excellent diner there, which I’ve reviewed separately here.

Uniquely for Venice, Aman Venice has a back and a front garden. When the weather’s good enough you can take breakfast in the front garden, overlooking the Grand Canal.

At the top of the hotel is a small roof terrace from where you can gaze wistfully across the terracotta rooftops of the city.  That’s what we did whilst drinking the bottle of Aman Prosecco which had been placed in our room when we had arrived.

Aman Venice is located in the San Polo district, just 5 minutes walk along narrow cobbled streets from the famous Rialto bridge. That’s where we also found a good selection of “Bacardi”; local bars selling “cicchetti”, the Venetian version of tapas and also Rialto market with its stalls of fresh ripe vegetables and interesting seafood (which one isn’t allowed to photograph).  From Rialto bridge we walked to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) in less than 30 minutes.  Crowds of tourists in the narrow streets are a greater impediment than the distance, but I would commend you to walk along the well-signposted alleyways to soak up the best of the atmosphere, and to avoid the eye-wateringly expensive water taxis!

Even as early as May Venice is very busy with tourists. Americans arrive in their thousands every day on cruise ships or on one of the half dozen direct flights from the USA each day. But Aman Venice was hushed and relaxed, making us feel like we were amongst a very privileged few visitors in the city.

I truly regret forgetting to visit the hotel spa.

Aman Venice is a lovely hotel with great service and a great location.  The exclusivity comes at a price, but you just have to accept that Venice is an expensive city to visit. I score my visit 8.5/10 which is not as good as I’ve scored the other Aman hotels I’ve visited in the past year.