Grand Canal Shared Gondola Ride with Commentary

A Gondola Ride on the Grand Canal

The Grand Canal curves for almost four kilometres through Venice in a reversed S, lined with some 170 palaces built by merchant families between the 13th and 18th centuries. From a gondola you see their water gates and mooring poles as they were meant to be seen, at water level, and pass sights such as the Gritti Palace, the white dome of Santa Maria della Salute, built after the plague of 1630, and the triangular Punta della Dogana.

Is a gondola ride in Venice worth it? For most visitors it is the one experience they do not want to miss, and a shared gondola ride is the easiest way to enjoy it without hiring a whole boat. Up to five passengers share each gondola, seats are balanced by the gondolier, and the ride lasts about 30 minutes.

The Hidden Canals near La Fenice

Before reaching the Grand Canal, the gondola slips through narrow rii behind the San Marco district, where motor boats rarely pass and the only sound is the oar. You glide under small bridges and past the back of La Fenice, the opera house that opened in 1792, burned twice and was rebuilt each time, most recently reopening in 2003.

These quiet waterways are where gondolas make most sense, as the boats were designed for them: about eleven metres long, flat-bottomed and slightly asymmetric so that one gondolier can steer with a single oar. The route ends with a view across St Mark's Basin towards the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, one of the classic sights of a Venice gondola tour.

The Gondola Gallery and Virtual-Reality Experience

The experience begins with a 20-minute introduction inside a Venetian palace, where a small gallery shows how a gondola is built from several types of wood and around 280 separate pieces, and why every gondola has been painted black since the 16th century. You can see a hand-carved forcola, the walnut oarlock, and step into a recreated felze, the cabin that once kept noble passengers out of sight.

A short virtual-reality film then takes you along the Grand Canal as it looked centuries ago. There is Wi-Fi at the meeting point so you can download the app with the commentary before boarding; bring your own headphones, as they are not supplied.

Ca' Rezzonico, the Museum of 18th-Century Venice

On the default option you also receive a ticket to Ca' Rezzonico, a grand palace on the Grand Canal in Dorsoduro. Begun by Baldassare Longhena in the 17th century and completed in the 1750s, it now houses the museum of 18th-century Venice, the city of Casanova, Canaletto and Tiepolo, with a vast ballroom, ceiling frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo and period furniture.

The palace visit is self-guided and takes about an hour; plan to go on your own after the gondola ride. For how to get to Ca' Rezzonico, take the vaporetto to the stop of the same name or walk across the Accademia bridge. Like many civic museums it has a weekly closing day, so check the day before you go.