Fly me to lagoon: Love Venice, but loathe the summer crowds? Follow the cognoscenti to the Lido, where cinematic glamour meets a bellissima beach scene

With the Excelsior’s private Blue Flag beach, you can drift like Aschenbach from hotel room to private cabana. Here, by the soft sand and gentle child-friendly waters (water sports are available), is the best kind of beach, because these cabanas give the 21st-century guest a private wooden changing room, a bowl of water to wash sandy feet, wi-fi, a table, lots of shade, two cushioned deckchairs for reading and thinking, and best of all, two sunbeds with towelling mattresses for the kind of…