If you're planning a trip to Venice, 3 pieces of advice: Avoid going in peak season, make use of the Vaporetto network and stay at this hotel.

The location is excellent. It's on the canal that the bridge of sighs crosses, and yes, if you're in a balcony room you can see the bridge (which has recently emerged from under advertising hoarding thankfully) as well as the rather pleasant canal and building oppositei. I say on, I mean on, the hotel has it's own jetty - if you arrive by water taxi, you literally step off onto the jetty and into reception. If you're arriving by ferry or vaporetto, you're very close to the major stops at St Mark's square - you can plan your route to avoid having to drag luggage over bridges, which is very handy.

Reception is small, but the staff were all very helpful. They're more than willing to offer help and advice for specific attractions and speak great English. You can either eat breakfast in a full buffet at the sister hotel which is nearby, or do what we did and have breakfast served in your room. Fill in your card with what you'd like and pick a time slot and it's brought by trolley. No extra charge for this and a lovely assortment of contenental plus elements, plus you can pay extra for cooked items (not necessary to be honest.) Didn't try the room service, but I believe there is a limited service on offer using the kitchen from the nearby (and it's about 50 yards away) sister hotel. On the subject of food, our room had a very basic mini bar, but no tea/coffee making facilities (hey, do you really want to drink instant coffee in Venice though? But thought I'd mention to make people aware.)

As for the rooms, gorgeous. The balcony room we stayed in seems to be the one from the hotel website's picture gallery and yes, it does look like that! We're talking high ceilings, beams, fabric wallcoverings, 4 poster bed etc for that "Room with a view" or Downton Abbey feel. One slight note of caution, a couple of bits of furniture were a little worn and the aircon/heating control was a little twitchy, but as with all my reviews, please put this in the context of the location. I think that a guidebook has the best phrase when it refers to the feel of Venice as being "elegant decay" This is not in a bad way, we're talking (for Venice) very old buildings that aren't all in the best condition and for the hotel, maybe slightly threadbare arms on one of the chairs. This doesn't matter really, as it's all part of the Venice abience, and I dread to think how much this place would cost if it were fully refitted in the same style. You do get a comfy bed, one of the nicest fold down sofa beds I've ever seen, wonderful surroundings and a springling of mod cons - a/c, trouser press, room safe etc. Think there was wifi in the hotel, but didn't bother connecting. TV is a nice flatscreen, but limited English channels, sprinking of French, German and Russian, but (unsurprisingly) mainly Italian. CNN is on channel 902 if you really need to stay in touch with events, but better to chill out reading in the room or simply stroll around. I'll link some pics when I get a moment (assuming TA lets you link pics after submitting reviews now.)

So, a highly recommended elegant hotel that we'd go back to without reservations. 5th star only withheld for the couple of slight niggles with the room and price, but if you read my reviews in general, 5 stars are few and far between.

Re Venice in general, it gets very busy in peak season, especially when the cruise ships are in, so worth going in the slightly cooler periods - the views are just as good, but it feels less crowded. Do a bit of research and book online for discounts and extras. Buy your museum pass and vaporetto pass online, print out at home/pick up at airport and get discounts. You can also book slightly off piste things like the "secrets" tour of the Doges palace, which has to be arranged in advance and gives you access to areas the public normally don't get to see.

As ever, please feel free to get in touch for more info, but if you want a convenient location and lovely surroundings as a little splash out, look no further.