Ride A Romantic Gondola - The Workhorse Of Venice
A fun group activity shared by friends and family members in Venice are gondola rides. These rides can also serve as romantic voyages morning, noon or night. Long rides and short ones are all common and popular options, even where the trip takes you to such places as along the Grand Canal or to out of the way locations. In the end, it comes down to the fact that when it comes to a gondola ride, your options are pretty limitless.
A gondola ride can be caught at several different locations. Letting your hotel work out the details is a popular and easy way to catch a ride because they’ll find bargains for you or they may even include a gondola ride in your package. When traveling is required to get to your embarking point, the hotel can many times arrange this for you too.
If finding places to board yourself, the main tourist areas are the best places to look. Although Venice offers a few ports, it can be hard to find them as the city is one big tourist attraction. Simply boarding at famous attractions such as the Piazzale Roma and the Doge’s Palace in Piazza San Marco are good options.
Pedestrian crossing in the secondary canals are good places to catch rides, as men offering the rides line the streets here. When handing out money, exercise caution due to con artists, although most men here are strictly making a living.
The Grand Canal stretches 2 miles long and offers some of the most spectacular sights there are. It’s the most popular place for gondola rides because sights of places like the Basilica di San Marco and the Campanile can be seen. Because of its popularity, rides along the Grand Canal tend to be higher than the other areas of Venice.
Currently, prices for gondola rides range from about $220 per hour, to $120 for about 40 minutes worth of a ride. These are the official rates of the city and are ignored by most vendors so the prices can range dramatically depending on where and when you want a ride.
Price bargaining is normal and expected, but only to a sensible limit. Due to supply and demand of more tourists than available gondolas, don’t expect vendors to lowball their fares too much. To help lower prices, consider sharing a ride with up to 6 people.
The cost is high, but well worth it. If however you feel the cost to be too much, remember that the gondoliers are there to make a living. To hassle them to lower their fairs or making them hassle you for a fair rate isn’t worth it, so consider some of the other hundreds of things to do in Venice that works for your vacation budget.
For those that do choose to ride a gondola, the experience is quite fun, whether with friends family or a loved one. A mixed romantic aspect is experienced due to thousands of people crowding the streets of the Grand Canal and watching you, being able to focus on the scenery and each other instead of the people takes some talent.
Leave a Comment