Venice - 5 Tips Before Start Searching For A Gondola by Marian Jubany

One of the most famous and enjoyable activity in Venice is to take a tour on a gondola. Every person who travels to Venice must take a tour on a gondola across Venice channels. But before start searching for a gondola you must know:

There are 2 types of gondolas.

There are lovely gondolas, very well decorated and cared, with nice seats and sometimes with flowers. And there are the ones which are more simple, not as lovely as the other ones. Usually the price is higher when renting the first type of them.

There are two types of tours/promenades.

The ones with serenata and the ones without it. It’s commonly said that some “gondolieri” sing a serenata while they promenade you. But this is not really true since they will increase the price if you wish a tour with serenata. If you want a tour with serenate, the best option is to book a tour in the tourism office, where they’ll give you information of the special tours on gondola.

You must haggle. Finding a good price takes time.

In general, making a tour on a gondola is expensive. But you must search a lot and ask different “gondolieri” how much is a tour. A tour of 50 minutes on the lovely gondolas costs an average of 100 € and of 30 minutes 60 €. For the more simple ones, the promenade costs an average of 80 € for 50 minutes.

The prices are higher at night.

As it is getting dark, the “gondolieri” increase their prices. Although making the tour at night can be an excellent option if you are a couple, because of the romanticism and all that, it’s better to make the tour in the afternoon, before eight o’clock, since the prices are more reasonable.

Sharing the gondola with other people is cheaper.

If you don’t mind sharing the tour with other people, it could be a nice option in order to pay less for the tour. There can be up to 6 people on the same gondola!

Have a nice tour!