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The Venice Film Festival Guide

Excursiv · Guides · Culture & Arts

The Venice Film Festival Guide

Where

Lido di Venezia, Italy

When

2. 12 September 2026

Read

9 min read

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The Week

The Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica di Venezia runs from 2 to 12 September 2026 on the Lido di Venezia. It is the world's oldest film festival, founded in 1932 under La Biennale di Venezia, and it remains the most serious of the three great European festivals. Cannes has the Croisette. Berlin has the Berlinale's rigour. Venice has the lagoon at dusk, a red carpet set against Belle Époque architecture, and a jury room whose decisions have launched more Oscar campaigns than any other festival on the calendar. The correct way to attend is to arrive by private water taxi, stay either on the Lido or in the city proper, and understand that the festival's social life and its cinematic programme are two entirely separate things, each with its own hierarchy and its own rules.

Marco Polo to the Lido. By Private Launch.

Ch. 01The Arrival

Marco Polo to the Lido. By Private Launch.

Venice Marco Polo Airport sits on the mainland shore of the lagoon, approximately twenty minutes from the Lido by private water launch. The Alilaguna public boat takes approximately fifty minutes to the Lido via the Orange line, which runs direct from the airport without stopping at San Marco. The private launch takes twenty minutes directly from the airport dock to the hotel of your choosing, whether on the Lido or in the city. This is not an indulgence at the Venice Film Festival. It is the only transfer that does not require negotiating the vaporetto system with luggage in September heat. Book the launch at least a week in advance. The city fills completely for the festival and same-day availability disappears by August.

Reserve

Private Water Launch Transfer

Marco Polo Airport · Direct to Lido or Venice

From €180 one way

Reserve →
Hotel Excelsior. The Festival's Spiritual Home.

Ch. 02The Stay on the Lido

Hotel Excelsior. The Festival's Spiritual Home.

The Hotel Excelsior on the Lungomare Marconi opened in 1908 in the Moorish Revival style and has been the social centre of the Venice Film Festival since the first edition in 1932. It stands steps from the Palazzo del Cinema. Stars arrive at its private dock by water taxi. The terrace bar facing the lagoon is where the significant conversations happen during the opening days of the festival. It is the only five-star hotel on the Lido itself. Rooms book out in March at the latest for the September edition.

Reserve

Hotel Excelsior Venice Lido Resort

Lungomare Marconi 41 · Lido di Venezia

From €600/night during festival

Reserve →
Aman Venice. Discretion on the Grand Canal.

Ch. 03The Stay in Venice

Aman Venice. Discretion on the Grand Canal.

For those who prefer to experience the festival from the city rather than the Lido, the Aman Venice occupies Palazzo Papadopoli on the Grand Canal, a sixteenth-century palazzo with twenty-four suites. The hotel provides private launch service to the Lido for screenings and events, which adds fifteen minutes to each journey but removes the guest entirely from the frenzy of the Excelsior dock. George and Amal Clooney chose it for their wedding in 2014. The Gritti Palace on the Campo Santa Maria del Giglio and the Belmond Hotel Cipriani on the island of Giudecca offer the same principle: the festival at a considered distance, on terms you set yourself.

Reserve

Aman Venice

Palazzo Papadopoli · Grand Canal · 24 Suites

From €2,500/night

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The Sala Grande. A Gala Premiere.

Ch. 04The Red Carpet

The Sala Grande. A Gala Premiere.

The Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi holds the official competition screenings and the gala premieres that define each evening of the festival. The Sala Grande is where the red carpet arrives. Evening gala screenings require a ticket and formal attire. A ticket to a gala premiere does not grant red carpet access. The red carpet route is controlled by the festival and accessible only by industry accreditation, invitation from a production, or a properly arranged hospitality package. Tickets for public screenings go on sale online in mid-August and sell out within hours. Book through an accredited hospitality provider who holds pre-allocated seats for the major competition screenings.

Reserve

Venice Film Festival · Gala Screening Package

Palazzo del Cinema · Sala Grande · Competition

From €350pp · Via accredited providers

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After the Premiere. Harry's Bar.

Ch. 05The Dinner

After the Premiere. Harry's Bar.

Harry's Bar on the Calle Vallaresso, founded by Giuseppe Cipriani in 1931 and the birthplace of the Bellini cocktail, remains the most historically weighted restaurant dinner available in Venice. The Bellini, white peach purée and Prosecco, was created here in 1948 and has been served in the same way since. A table at Harry's Bar after a Sala Grande premiere is an arrangement that the city and the festival have been sustaining for nine decades. Reserve one week in advance during festival period. The bar fills from ten in the evening and the kitchen runs late.

Reserve

Harry's Bar

Calle Vallaresso 1323 · San Marco · Venice

Dinner from €120pp

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The Leone d'Oro. The Closing Ceremony.

Ch. 06The Golden Lion

The Leone d'Oro. The Closing Ceremony.

The Golden Lion for Best Film, the Leone d'Oro, is awarded at the closing ceremony on the final Saturday of the festival, 12 September 2026. The award is presented by the Jury President and the festival director Alberto Barbera and is the oldest prize in international cinema. Films that win or receive jury attention in Venice enter the awards season conversation immediately and Oscar campaigns typically begin within days of the announcement. The 82nd edition in 2025 awarded the Golden Lion to Father Mother Sister Brother by Jim Jarmusch. Attending the closing ceremony requires industry accreditation, a production invitation, or a premium hospitality package arranged in advance.

Reserve

Venice Film Festival · Closing Ceremony

Palazzo del Cinema · 12 September 2026

Via accredited hospitality provider

Reserve →

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