More about: The 5 Best Gondola Rides in Venice
Venice is made up of 150 canals and 455 bridges that flow into the majestic Grand Canal. Many of these small canals can only be seen from gondolas, originally designed as a means of transport and now an icon of romance.
1. 30-minute gondola ride through the canals of Venice
Discover the magic of Venice with a 30-minute gondola ride. This unique experience will allow you to explore the city from the water, revealing its most picturesque and charming corners.
Climb aboard an authentic Venetian gondola, where an experienced gondolier will guide you through the city's most intimate canals and iconic landmarks. Immerse yourself in the romantic atmosphere and serenity that only Venice can offer.
What you will see
- Rialto Bridge. An iconic stone bridge crossing the Grand Canal, famous for its beauty and for being one of the most photographed spots in the city.
- Grand Canal. Venice's main "avenue", lined with impressive palaces and historic buildings that reflect the splendour of bygone eras.
- Campo Manin. A charming Venetian square dominated by a statue in honour of Daniele Manin, ideal for soaking up the typical atmosphere of the city.
2. Gondola ride through the canals with a walking tour of the city
With this tour, you'll tick off two must-dos in Venice: exploring its streets on foot accompanied by a local guide who will explain the fascinating history of this incredible city, and taking a 30-minute gondola ride across the Grand Canal and other waterways through smaller neighbourhoods, such as Fenice.
This tour is very convenient because, for a little more than the usual price, you get a gondola ride that includes a guided walking tour of Venice. You will start the walking tour near the impressive St. Mark's Square, exploring the surrounding area while learning about the history of the city known as 'La Serenissima'.
What you will see
on foot
- La Fenice Theatre. In its day, the Fenice Theatre was one of the seven main theatres in Venice and is now the only opera house in the Italian city.
- Rialto Bridge. It is the most famous, oldest and most visited of the four bridges that cross Venice's Grand Canal, with more than two million tourists crossing it every year.
- Contarini del Bovolo Palace. Very close to the Rialto Bridge stands this small 15th-century palace, famous for its spectacular and picturesque external spiral staircase.
What you will see
from the gondola
- Grand Canal
- Rialto Bridge
- Piazza San Marco
- Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute
- La Fenice Theatre
- Basilica of Saints John and Paul
- Campo Santa Maria Formosa
- Venetoinside
- Gondola Basin
- House of Marco Polo
3. Gondola ride through the canals with serenade on board
Want to make your trip even more iconic and romantic? Give some of the limelight to the person responsible for making the magic happen: the gondolier. On this trip, you can enjoy a pleasant ride along Venice's Grand Canal, seeing some of the impressive buildings and monuments that line its banks while a gondolier sings classic Italian serenades.
What you'll see
- Grand Canal. Known as 'the most beautiful road in the world', the Grand Canal is the largest in Venice. Its 4 kilometres stretch across the city in an S-shape and is criss-crossed by all the waterways that circulate around it. From here you can see impressive palaces such as the 18th-century Palazzo Grassi and the city's most famous, the Ca' d'Oro, a Gothic palace named after the gold that originally adorned it.
- Peggy Guggenheim Collection. This building houses one of the world's most important art collections, which began when Peggy Guggenheim of New York arrived in Venice in 1949. From your gondola, you can see the beautiful terrace where Guggenheim herself used to sunbathe while enjoying the views over the Grand Canal.
- Palazzo Gritti Badoer. This majestic palace owes its name to its former owners, the powerful Venetian Gritti family. Its most notable member was the Doge of Venice during the Renaissance, Andrea Gritti, who led the Venetian armies against the League of Cambrai, which sought to halt Venice's expansionist ambitions in France.
4. Gondola ride with city tour and entrance to St. Mark's Basilica
With this gondola ride with guided city tour and entrance to St. Mark's, you will fulfil three dreams in one: ride a gondola through the picturesque canals of Venice, explore the streets and passageways of the city with commentary from a professional guide, and take a guided tour with skip-the-line access to one of Venice's biggest attractions, St. Mark's Basilica.
St. Mark's Basilica
Since its construction in 832, St. Mark's Basilica has been the most important religious temple in Venice. You will learn this during the guided tour included in this package, where you will discover that this church was built to house the supposed relics of St. Mark the Evangelist stolen from Alexandria.
Located in St. Mark's Square, this temple with a Latin cross plan and five domes houses more than 4,000 square metres of mosaics, important works by famous Venetian painters and 500 columns from the 3rd century in its gilded interiors. Don't miss its Byzantine treasure trove of gold and silver from the sacking of Constantinople and its important Pala d'Oro, an altarpiece made of precious stones by medieval goldsmiths.
Piazza San Marco
St. Mark's Basilica is located, as one would expect, in St. Mark's Square, one of the most famous squares in the world and the centre of the city and social life in Venice since it was founded in the 9th century. From here you can admire many historic buildings and monuments, such as the Doge's Palace, the columns of St. Mark and St. Theodore, the Campanile Tower and the Torre dell'Orologio, a wonderful astronomical clock.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Formosa
This church, dating from 1492 and designed by the Renaissance architect Mauro Codussi, was built on the site of a 7th-century temple which, according to tradition, was one of the eight churches founded by St. Magnus, Bishop of Oderzo.
Gondola itinerary
- Grand Canal
- Piazza San Marco
- Basilica di San Marco
- La Fenice Theatre
- Basilica of Saints John and Paul
- Church of Santa Maria Formosa
5. Gondola ride and admission to St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace
This is the most comprehensive package, combining a gondola ride with tickets to the Basilica and the Doge's Palace so you don't miss any of the city's must-see attractions. With this tour, you will cross the Grand Canal and its most charming tributaries on a gondola ride and enjoy skip-the-line access to St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace with a guided tour, as well as other magnificent palaces around St. Mark's Square.
You will also have access to an audio guide with a digital map of the five districts of Venice and information on more than 200 points of interest so you can explore the city on foot at your own pace.
Doge's Palace
The Doge's Palace, in St. Mark's Square, is one of the symbols of Venice and the former seat of political power in the city, evolving from a fortified castle in the 9th century and residence of the doges to a prison of the Republic. From its halls of power, up to 120 doges (dukes) controlled the destiny of Venice for almost a century.
Both its exterior and interior are spectacular, with marvellous rooms filled with hundreds of masterpieces by Titian, Tintoretto and Bellini, among others. Across its famous 17th-century Baroque Bridge of Sighs, those condemned to death embarked on the final stretch of their lives as they gazed out of its windows for the last time at the Venetian Lagoon.
Basilica di San Marco
This is the only tour in which, in addition to a guided tour of St. Mark's Basilica, you can enjoy part of the tour comfortably seated in the middle of the Basilica.
Grand Canal
During your gondola ride along the Grand Canal, you will see Mozart's House, La Fenice Theatre, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Punta della Dogana, the Accademia Bridge and the Rialto Bridge, among palaces that will leave you speechless. For me, this is undoubtedly the best part of the tour, as it will help you appreciate Venice from a different perspective.
About the prices of gondola rides
A gondola ride through Venice is not the cheapest activity in the world, but it is an experience that, in my opinion, you have to do once in your life. There are supposed to be 'official' prices for gondola rides through the canals of Venice, but the reality is that it is very difficult to know whether the gondoliers who constantly call out to you from their moorings to hire their services are charging you the real price or whether they are 'pirate' gondoliers.
The average price for a standard 40-minute gondola ride through the canals of Venice is £80 per ride, regardless of the number of people travelling, with a maximum capacity of six passengers. Bear in mind that in the evening, from 7 p.m. onwards, prices rise to €100 per trip.
That's why I think it's a good idea to book the service in advance or even combine it with another activity to make it more cost-effective.
You can find more information in this post, where I explain how much it costs to take a gondola ride in Venice.
Other interesting activities in Venice
Are you dying to take a gondola ride in Venice? If you liked this activity, I'm sure you'd also like to visit the charming islands of Murano and Burano. Here's a link to my guide so you can plan your visit. 4 Best Day Trips to Murano and Burano from Venice so you can plan your visit.