Venice conjures up the most romantic images – from late-night rendezvous hand-in-hand atop arched bridges to the enchanting rhythm of the canals as they push through to the Adriatic, helped along by the city’s most recognisable icons – the Gondoliers. Therefore it’s understandable that people want more, and while there’s only one Venice (or is there… looking at you Choggia) here are 4 cities that feel just a little bit like Venice.

Annecy, France

Annecy is one of those pretty little market villages snuggled into the Alps. The focal point of the town can be split evenly across two beautiful features: the old town whose veins are its emerald canals, and second the vast pool of translucent turquoise that is Lake Annecy, one of France’s cleanest and most beautiful lakes, at the foot of a jagged collection of mountains.

See the cover image above for the main canal in Annecy and the image below which shows the outer courtyard wall of the Palais de l’Isle and one of the canals.

Chioggia, The Lagoon’s Other Venice

Did you know that Venice has a little sister? The charming fishing village an hour along the Lagoon called Chioggia, enjoys much of the same aesthetic beauty as Venice, but (aside from the Chioggia fish festival) with none of the crowds. In Chioggia, there are ornate bridges over emerald canals, one of the oldest clock towers in the world, wonderful waterside restaurants, and idyllic lagoon views. But despite all this and only being 20km away from Venice, Chioggia remains relatively unknown.

Chioggia has some subtle differences from Venice. It’s smaller and only the old town looks this way (though there’s more than enough to see for a day or two). It’s a centre for fishing in the Veneto region and its roads are more like Roman roads — laid out on a grid pattern. But aside from that, Chioggia’s Centro Storico is like Venice in miniature.

Our favourite hotel in Chioggia is the Hotel Grande Italia, with an enviable location on the banks of the Venetian Lagoon.

To read more about Chioggia (including how to get to Chioggia from Venice) read our guide here.

Utrecht, The Netherlands

Like a little quiet version of Amsterdam, Utrecht, offers a beguiling warren of canals at its. The canals are lined with restaurants and bars, making them convivial in the evenings, and streets are quaint and sober, coloured by baskets of flowers, green vines dangling amongst assorted floral palettes comparison to Venice or its brother Amsterdam. The town’s double docks are unique to Utrecht too, with one dock level with the water forming a terrace now put to good use for restaurants and bars, and the upper level, still populated with the old warehouses and thin roads, the result of 12th-century cellars dug out towards the water.

Little Venice in Paddington, London, UK

Paddington in North London is by far one of the capital’s most scenic neighbourhoods, but few make it as far as Little Venice. There is little actual resemblance to Venice here save for the canal which leads to Camden (take a canal boat between the two), but the charm of the place is deserving of the name and new restaurant and bar openings make it a good all-round London destination.

Little Venice is a wonderful place to spend a Sunday afternoon strolling next to the water, admiring the canal boats and quaffing a pint or two in one of the local pubs. Incidentally, the name was taken on after Margery Allingham called a house overlooking the canal ‘Little Venice’ in her 1934 detective novel Death of a Ghost. The name caught on with estate agents who used the name to raise the profile of the area. It worked too as everyone from Bjork to Steven Fry owned homes here.

Colmar, France

La Petite Venise in Colmar is a unique little village adorned throughout with fairytale-like architecture, but the small area of canals that are crisscrossed with iron-railed bridges is simply stunning.

Colmar’s centre is its most beautiful aspect. It influenced Disney when creating Beauty and the Beast, and Hayao Miyazaki when he created the stunning city featured in Ghibli’s reimagining of Diana Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle.