The Lido is no longer the glamorous bolthole of Hollywood starlets and European aristocracy that it once was, but its groomed beaches, scattering of art nouveau buildings and summering Venetians sipping prosecco beneath candy-striped awnings make it an interesting diversion on a hot day. However, the presence of cars and suburban sprawl can be jarring after the lost-in-time nature of central Venice, and in winter even fading glamour is in short supply.

The Lido became a fashionable seaside resort around the late 19th century, and its more glorious days are depicted (in admittedly melancholy fashion) in Thomas Mann's novel Death in Venice.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Blue Moon

Named after a glamorous nightclub that once stood on the beach, the Blue Moon serves the spiaggia comunale (public beach) at the northern end of the Lido…

3. Grand Hotel des Bains

0.12 MILES

This vast belle époque hotel once epitomised Lido glamour, but it's been boarded up since 2016 – an oversized symbol of the beach resort's fall from…

4. Grande Albergo Ausonia & Hungaria

0.27 MILES

The Lido's take on art nouveau reaches an over-the-top apotheosis in this garish 1907 hotel, decorated with wreath-bearing cherubs and tiles in a…

5. Antico Cimitero Israelitico

0.71 MILES

This overgrown graveyard was Venice’s main Jewish cemetery from 1386 until the 18th century. Tombstones range in design from Venetian Gothic to distinctly…

6. Palazzo del Cinema

0.75 MILES

Eugenio Miozzi’s angular, Rationalist ‘Palace of Cinema’ was in keeping with the ambitious modernism of the early 1930s, when business tycoon and Fascist…

7. Monastero di San Lazzaro degli Armeni

0.78 MILES

Tours of this historic island monastery are usually conducted by its multilingual Armenian monks, who amply demonstrate the institution’s reputation for…

8. Museo del Manicomio

1.08 MILES

As well as a poignant collection of patients' before-and-after photos, this small museum contains the full paraphernalia of psychiatric treatment of the…