Biking The Lido in the Venice Lagoon

Six years ago I sprinted from the ferry stop to the festival grounds for the Venice Film Festival, held each year on The Lido in the Venice Lagoon. After the movie, I got right back on the ferry and sailed the short ride back across to Piazza San Marco. And I hadn’t given The Lido much thought since…until InterContinental Hotel Group rewarded me with 25,000 IHG Rewards Club points and I decided to redeem them for a Venice Lido bike tour.

Biking around Lido. Poveglia, which the Venetians believe is haunted, looms in the Lagoon.

The Lido Bike Tour

The Lido is easily reached from Piazza San Marco on the vaporetto (water bus) and is home to Venice’s closest beach. In it’s heyday, the beach resort island rivaled the resorts of the French Rivera and attracted Hollywood stars and royalty alike. The Lido is still attracting the stars, particularly each year in August and September when it rolls out the red carpet for star-studded movie premiers at the Venice Film Festival.

The tens of thousands of tourists that flood Venice’s tiny streets every day hardly give The Lido a thought, visiting the Lagoon’s most popular tourist haunts like Murano and Burano instead.

Even I had been living in the area for over six years and had never thought about spending a day exploring The Lido. I didn’t hesitate when I saw that I could redeem my IHG Rewards points for a new experience in my own backyard.

The bike ride takes you on an easy 16 kilometer ride around the island and is led by Marco and Daniela, a local husband and wife team knowledgeable about The Lido and The Lagoon.

The original Doge’s Palace is on Lido

I had a great morning discovering the villages and sights of The Lido. I was surprised to learn that even the Doge originally called The Lido home before it moved to Piazza San Marco on Venice.

Take a look at my experience review on the IHG Rewards Club website to see more of my photos from the beautiful island.

The most exclusive stretch of sand is in front of the Hotel des Bains. These cabanas rent for a cool €8000 for the season or €150 for the day.

IHG Rewards

With nearly 5000 hotels around the world, it’s easy to earn IHG Rewards points for hotel stays around the world. But hotel stays aren’t the only way to earn points – you can earn from IHG partners like Avis and Budget when you rent a car, from Ground Link when you book airport transfers, and more.

Not only can you earn points in a number of ways, you can also redeem points for a whole lot more than just reward hotel stays. There are loads of experiences, dinners and more that you can use your points for to make a trip extra special.

An IHG Rewards concierge called me to set up my experience. Claudia was terrific! She verified my contact details, time and date I wanted to go on my biking tour, and arranged everything. I had an email confirmation from her in about 24 hours and she even checked in to ensure I knew where to meet for my tour. When thunderstorms threatened, my experience was easily rescheduled for another sunny day later in the week at my request.

Know Before You Go

I was awarded 25,000 IHG Rewards Club points to redeem for an experience of my choice and compensated for my experience review and photos on the IHG Rewards Club website. However, Luxe Adventure Traveler maintains full editorial control of the content published on this site. As always, all thoughts, opinions, and enthusiasm for travel are entirely our own. This article contains affiliate links. When you shop on Amazon or book on Viator through our affiliate sites, we earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.