Luna Baglioni Venice - the grandest old lady of them all

A luxury hotel in Venice may cost an arm and a leg but to enjoy the city's true splendour, it is worth staying in one of the grande dames at least once in your life. As Venice's oldest hotel, the Luna Baglioni Hotel is the great, great, great grande dame of them all, as I found out on a recent visit.

Getting There
Arrive in style and take a water taxi straight to the front door from Marco Polo airport. At around €100, it’s expensive but worth it for the amazing views as you cruise along the Grand Canal. The vaporetta (water taxi), costing €13, is cheaper. It takes around 30 minutes longer as you stop off at the islands of Murano and Lido.

Location
Venice’s oldest hotel, dating back to the 12th century, is literally a hop, skip and a jump away from St Mark’s Square. You will find it tucked away in between the infamous Harry’s Bar, made famous by novelist Ernest Hemmingway, and the designer outlet Chanel.

Rooms
The rooms are palatial, bordering on ostentatious. Gold silk wall coverings, fine braided drapes, period-style furniture, hand blown Venetian chandeliers and Italian marble bathroom, with ‘his and hers’ walk-in showers, befit Venice’s oldest hotel. A very comfortable bed with crisp Egyptian sheets provided a fantastic night’s sleep.

Service
The service was discrete, warm and friendly with a personal touch that is to be expected from such a luxury hotel.

Breakfast
A splendid breakfast buffet was served in the wonderfully frescoed Salone Marco Polo. Expensive at €40 per person, it did offer smoked salmon and the creamiest bread rolls. Unfortunately, the burners had gone out on the first morning so the scrambled egg and bacon were stone cold, although this was quickly remedied.

Overall Impression
It may not be as famous as some of Venice’s ‘grande dames’ but the Luna Baglioni is an excellent choice for a special occasion or celebration, delivering on:
central location
excellent service
palatial rooms

San Marco 1243 - 30124 Venice, Italy. Tel: 0039 041 5289840
Rack rate for a double room in May costs from Euro 730 + vat.

Brighton - No Way! Restored Bandstand Saves the Day

I have just returned from a weekend in Brighton, which I found to be too crowded, too dirty with litter, too busy with tour coaches and too rowdy with T-shirted youngsters on stag and hen parties. Even more galling was that I had to book - and obviously pay out for - two nights' accommodation when all I wanted was one.

I can understand that hoteliers need to make money during the summer but with room rates starting from £80 a night at a fairly basic three-star B&B, it's a rip off. Is it no wonder that people still say that their overseas holiday is one of the last things they are willing to forgo, even in the credit crunch. When will British seaside resorts learn that visitors want value for money?

Fortunately, we managed to find pockets of olde worlde charm such as the Grade II listed Bandstand on the seafront, which reopened last Friday (July 24). Here, we relaxed over delicious croissants, fruit pastries and coffee from the ground floor cafe while a splendid jazz band bellowed out mellow sounds from above.

It has taken a sustained two-year campaign to restore the bandstand to its former glory and I must say it was a highlight of my stay.

Later we dined on excellent crab sandwiches from the Traditional Fish Smokery. Housed under the arches on the seafront, Brighton's only remaining commercial smokehouse uses oak and applewood to flavour its kippers. They also do a fabulous fish soup.

Checkout other UK resorts on http://www.kathrynliston.com/