We had a recent trip to Venice and wanted to have a little ride on a gondola, but without spending a small fortune. So how do you get to tour Venice on a gondola without the gondolier making off with your lunch money?

Firstly, you need to suss out the situation, which means finding gondolas parked in some of the smaller waterways and not just picking the first of the 500 sitting around St. Mark’s square. If you speak Italian, better still, otherwise be firm, but polite about your enquiry.

The first question to ask is how much will a small tour cost. You also need to find out how long the gondolier intends to spend with you because let’s face it, 100 euros for half an hour is a lot of money. There are no set rates or tariffs so the gondolier will generally be a bit evasive and reluctant to be held down to a specific offer.

Generally you can refuse the first offer. We actually said we’d think about it, walked away and were subsequently followed by two or three more gondoliers, offering lower rates by 20 euros at a time. You have to reach an agreement with your gondolier as to where you’re going and how long you’ll spend.

We heard gondola tour offers from 60 to 120 euros which is a big difference, especially if there’s only two of you. Clearly, you want the 60 euros gondola offer! Don’t be fooled by the “big tour” patter, as the grand canal is not what it’s set up to be when you’re on a dinky gondola and the ferry traffic is cruising past creating waves and confusion.

The Bridge of Sighs is currently under renovation, so don’t bother too much about that, but a tour around the old part of Venice is worth it, taking in the house of Marco Polo, Casanova and other historic buildings.

The gondoliers are quite knowledgeable, so you can ask them anything, and they’ll give you a little history lesson. Otherwise, we heard from our Bed and Breakfast in Venice, that if you want to cross a canal where there’s no bridge, say, to get to the market, you can pay only 50 cents and the gondolier will take you. We didn’t try, but if anyone does, let us know if that’s really the case!

(no votes)

0 comments