Venice Lido Beach

The Venice Lido (Lido di Venezia) is a slender, 11-kilometre barrier island separating the Venetian Lagoon from the open Adriatic Sea, and it offers something central Venice cannot: long sandy beaches, fresh sea air, cars, bicycles, and room to breathe. Reached in around 10 to 15 minutes by vaporetto from St. Mark's, the Lido was the fashionable seaside resort of early-20th-century Europe, and its broad avenues are still lined with elegant Liberty-style (Art Nouveau) villas and grand hotels, most famously the Hotel Excelsior and the Hotel des Bains immortalised in Thomas Mann's 'Death in Venice'. Each year in late August and early September the island hosts the Venice International Film Festival, the world's oldest, centred on the Palazzo del Cinema, when stars and crowds descend. The beaches themselves range from private beach clubs (stabilimenti) with serried rows of cabins, loungers, and umbrellas, where a day's hire commonly starts around 20 euros, to free public stretches such as the Spiaggia Comunale at the island's southern end and the wilder Alberoni dunes nature area. Visitors swim, sunbathe, stroll the seafront, and rent bicycles to explore the flat island, including the old fort and the lagoon-side waterfront. The Lido fills a half-day to a full beach day and makes a relaxing contrast to sightseeing in historic Venice. The beach season runs roughly May to September, with the establishments operating in the warm months; July and August are busiest, while June and September offer warm sea with fewer crowds. Out of season the island is quiet and largely residential. As an easy escape from the crowds of central Venice in Italy's Veneto region, the Lido pairs a beach day with a dose of faded Belle Époque glamour.