Antica Locanda Montin

The family-run Antica Locanda Montin is both a delicious restaurant and a simple inn, a throwback to the days when travelers were accustomed to dining downstairs before retiring to their upper chambers. Throw in a canal-side location in quiet Dorsoduro and you have a real charmer.

Guests of the two-star Locanda enter through the 100-year-old restaurant downstairs and if you're not pausing to dine, head up the old wooden staircase. You arrive at an expansive, dimly lit salon, where paintings cram the walls and a heavy wooden table and cozy armchairs beg for a good, serious discussion. The paintings mostly date from the 1940s and 1950s, when they were used by artistic guests to pay off their hotel and restaurant tabs.

The art continues in the 11 guest rooms, which lead off from the salon. These walls, too, are covered in canvases and furnished with antiques (along with some furniture that’s simply old). Depending on your take, rooms can feel either a bit shabby or appealingly old-fashioned. Regardless, they’re all clean and well maintained.

All but three of the rooms are air-conditioned, and two "special" rooms have small balconies overlooking the canal. And things are quiet, as there is no TV, although free Wi-Fi works throughout the property. The private bathrooms are clean, tiled in blue and white, and quite standard. One cheaper room has a shared bath in the hallway.

Breakfast is served in the restaurant for an additional charge. The restaurant is well regarded for its typical Venetian cuisine, and guests receive a 10 percent discount.

Note that the hotel does not have an elevator.