Venice Gondola Ride
 

Are there any preferred itineraries or routes for a "standard" gondola ride?<BR><BR>In other words, do we have a choice (or do they all make the same route, like a Disney ride)and if yes, what advice would you suggest in ensuring a "nice" ride , in addition to the price haggling (time of day, sights, length of ride, serenade, etc.?).<BR><BR>Thanks in advance.

Hi JC. The most popular route is to be picked up at St. Marks Square and go up the Grand Canal, seeing all the famous bridges and land marks. However you can take gondolas through many little side alleyways etc. As I am sure you know, gondolas are expensive, but heck your in Venice. We ended up paying about 70 bucks (including tip) roughly.. for about a 55 minute ride which was just absolutely wonderful.. (we had a few glasses of wine before we took off) we had a wonderful gondolier who sang to us, took our photo, put on his hat etc. a perfect gondola trip in otherwords. We ended up lstarting the ride just as the sun was setting late in the day and it was magical. Honestly we didn't haggle for the price, we were in Venice it was part of the magic. We also went out for a nice dinner and had some more drinks and wanted to take a night time gondola ride which was just fantastic.. but shorter.. very romantic.

WE took our gondola ride from S. Marc's and did that same route. Ours was for 35 minutes or so, and he charged us $70. Other gondola drivers though told us it would be $90, so we felt like ours was a good deal. At first I didn't want to do it, but my husband insisted...and I'm so glad that we did. It was beautiful at night--quiet, peaceful, romantic. Our gondola guy was also wonderful, he stopped many times to take pictures of us with our camera and was very friendly. I strongly recommend the evening ride, although it's a bit more expensive.

Is it possible to actually take a few short trips also? Sounds like one could power through the Grand Canal route in about 15-20 minutes, the rest of the time being stops for photo ops and such.<BR><BR>It would be nice to be able to do some short "cruises" in addition to a full-blown ride.

70 bucks for 55 minutes?<BR>I paid 120 euros for an hour (around 8pm)<BR>They must have seen me coming.<BR>But at least I didn't tip!

Melissa, we were there in 1999, so maybe the prices have gone up. We had to pay in Lira, so it was like 60 gazillion lira... my husband did the calculations and it did come to about 70.. plus about 15 for the tip. Also we were there in March and there were very few other people about, I can imagine they raise the prices during the peek seasons.

The sad thing is I probably would have tipped if I had known that I was supposed to. I guess you have to tip just about everyone these days. I should have known.

jc,<BR><BR>we were quoted 100 euro...told him that was too much for 40 minutes so he lowered it to 90 euro. this seems to be the going rate. the gondolier then hopes for a tip to make it an even 100 euro. <BR><BR>you could probably pay less. consider if you want other riders or just two of you. also the price depends on location and time of day. <BR><BR>try to go after the cruise ships are gone. you should not have to wait in line. a long line means you will pay more and the canal will be crowded. <BR><BR>have fun,<BR><BR>jim

Gondoliers are a rip off! Who does so little menial work (they hardly break a sweat) for so much money? They should belong to the same category as CEOs. It's us stupid tourists who are willing to pay such exorbitant rates that keep prices so high. In any other place we would be charged $5.

I think we also paid $70 for a family of 5. We started off in front of the Doge's Palace and went thru the alleyways.....partly because my sister made the gondolier help her run an errand! it is certainly a once in a lifetime experience.

Hi All<BR><BR>Sorry to butt into the thread, but I have a quick question. I am spending New Year in Venice and gwould love to get an evening ride on a gondola. What time will the sun set? I would like to book it for the perfect time. Also, how 'freezing!' will it be?<BR><BR>Many thanks, and sorry JC!<BR><BR>Sonia

We rented a water taxi for a 1 hour tour instead of the gondola.<BR><BR>We were 5 adults and 2 children. We were charged $75.00 and we went to a lot of places when we didn't even see a gondola. It was wonderful and I would recommend this to anyone. The taxi picked us up right at our hotel and dropped us off at San Marco.<BR><BR>Melissa - there is an extra charge for gondola rides at night.

Can you imagine how much these guys make ?<BR>$70 x say 10 rides per day =$700 per week. <BR>Say for 5 days a week x 52 weeks = $182,000.00 a year !!!!!!! <BR>That's with ONLY working<BR>5 days per week!!!!!

Topping for Lee

topping again

Thanks to the thundering hordes of Japanese day-trippers descending on Venice everyday, the price of a gondola ride had gone thru the roof. They line up 30 deep at the goldolier stations waving their EURO and their cameras. The price of a gondola ride is now pretty much fixed at 80 EURO for 45 minutes daytime and 150 EURO for evening. Unlike our past three thrips to Venice, the goldoliers do not have to approach tourists at the bridges hustling business. Why would they when there are lines of Japanese waiting for them on their return, willing to pay whatever to ride? <BR>

We were in Venice over Christmas. We paid 80 Euros for 50 minutes. We picked up the Gondola right outside of the Hotel Bauer.

In November 24 through December 1, 2002. <BR><BR>60 Euro for 45 min. off the Accademia Bridge. Venice was empty during this time. <BR><BR>We looked around and picked up four extra passengers and split the cost, repeating this a couple more times. <BR><BR>Gondola rides are fun. The motor boat could be another ideal, but for us, nothing beats the quite sloshing along in a narrow canal on a Gondola.<BR><BR>Weekends are best because there are much less delivery boat to contend with. <BR>