Private gondola tour in Venice

Picture Venice in your head and there’s only one thing that you can picture first, and that’s the canals. This place is famous for them, with over 150 weaving through the city centre connecting over 100 islands together. There’s over 26 miles of waterways to explore, in fact, and on this tour, you’ll see a portion of them from your very own gondola. Fabio, one of the gondoliers, says, “being a gondolier is so much more than operating a gondola. Over 400 hours go into getting a Gondolier license, learning the ins and outs of the canals, Venetian art and history, and our language skills have to be top of the class. You're really in the safest hands.”

If you pick the 60-minute tour, you’ll focus on the San Paolo District, home to the Carmelitani Chruch and Palazzo Zenobio – the latter’s the perfect place to get to grips with the city’s Venetia-meets-Baroque architecture. You’ll also head along the Grand Canal – Venice’s biggest waterway – and under the Degli Scalzi Bridge.

The 90-minute tour also shines the spotlight on the Rialto Bridge area of Venice, while the longest tour adds St. Mark’s Square to the itinerary, too – just so you know, the longest tour available is two hours. Before heading back to Piazzale Roma, your start and finish point, you’ll check out the Bridge of Sighs and the Basilica della Salute. The basilica, often referred to as La Salute, is one of the city’s signature sites. The whole thing, including its pretty baby-blue domes, date all the way back to 1687.