Romantic gondola ride in Venice

A gondola ride is one of the most romantic experiences in Venice.

You should treat yourself to this once in your life. You’ll be thrilled. Everyone who has taken this ride raves about it afterward. It’s not exactly cheap, but everyone has €90.00 to spare once in a lifetime.

We often receive emails asking if we have a gondola voucher for relatives or work colleagues. It’s supposed to be a birthday present or something similar. Yes, of course that’s possible. For these customers, a gondola ride often can’t be expensive enough: it’s supposed to be a „truly valuable gift.“ Of course, that’s possible. We often think to ourselves: You should treat yourself to this pleasure sometime.

Maximum gondola capacity

The maximum number of people allowed in a gondola is five. More than that is NOT permitted. The only exception is a baby sitting on the parent’s lap. We regret to say no to all customers who ask us whether we could make an exception just for them, because there are six of them. Initially, we forwarded these emailed questions to the gondoliers. But after many years of receiving the same rejection, we now pass this rejection directly on to the customers.

If you book your gondola ride online in advance through Venedig.shop , you will receive a written guarantee that only the people you specify in your reservation will be in your gondola. You will NOT have to share your gondola with any additional guests. That is the whole point of a private gondola ride.

If you book music and singers, the number of available places will of course be reduced accordingly.

The official prices – you shouldn’t pay more

The official online price for a gondola ride is €113.00 per gondola. This online price is NOT negotiable with the gondoliers. This fixed online price is valid throughout the year.

Only with an online reservation do you receive a written guarantee from the gondolier that only the people you specify will be in the gondola. This guarantees that NO strangers will be riding with you in the gondola. And, in fact, this is the strongest selling point for booking a gondola online.

Please note the usual market economy rule: supply and demand determine the price. Demand is higher in the late afternoon and at sunset, so you should expect a higher price of €120 per gondola.

Extremely high demand: The late afternoon

Spring and autumn are the two peak seasons in Venice. Gondolas are particularly popular in the afternoon and at dusk. You can use this to your advantage:
it’s enough if a gondola in front of or behind you has a musician and singer on board.

His “O siole mio” resonates far through the narrow canals, so that you too can benefit from it.

The cheapest option: gondola ride for 2 euros

Here’s a quick tip on how to enjoy a gondola ride without spending a lot of money. Venetians themselves often use them, as they often save a long detour on foot, as there are very few bridges over the Grand Canal. Larger „multi-person gondolas“ cross the canal at several points. A single crossing costs only €2.00 per person. As you can see in the picture, there are two gondoliers at work transporting the passengers.

Pure romance: With music and singers

If you book music and a singer, the gondola ride becomes a particularly romantic experience. The singer (on the left in the picture) will, of course, stand up to sing. You will hear around 4-5 songs over the entire ride (which lasts several minutes). Usually it is only entire tour groups who book a gondola with a musician and singer in several gondolas one behind the other. Maybe you’ll be lucky and a gondola with a singer will be directly in front of or behind you. An experience like this cannot be topped here in Venice. All the pedestrians crossing a bridge and hear the singer stop until the gondola has passed. No one wants to miss that. This picture is from the time when only 6 people were allowed per gondola.

Lots going on! What now?

Especially during peak season (spring, summer, and fall), the crowds at the gondola stations are so great that they often simply send the gondoliers on their way. The large cruise ships that dock near Venice daily register hundreds of gondola customers from all over the world. If this swarm of customers arrives at the gondoliers just before you, you, as an individual customer, have little chance of getting a gondola on-site. Online customers are naturally given priority.

Quiet little canals.

Most of the route runs through small, quiet canals, typical of Venice. And so you don’t have to buy a pig in a poke, we’ve written a guide especially for our gondola customers, detailing the route and highlighting the sights along the way. The gondolier will explain a lot, but he’s not always in a good mood. And his Italian and English can sometimes be difficult to understand.

The online price list of the Gondoliers

Daily rate 90.00 Euro – Private service of an entire gondola with a guarantee that only you are in the gondola.

Evening rate 120.00 Euro – private service of an entire gondola from 6:30 p.m. – only you are in the gondola.

Departure : 6:30 PM, 7:00 PM, 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM

Duration one hour

190.00 Euro per gondola – Extra long gondola ride lasting 1 hour

Start at exactly 6:00 PM – only summer season (April to October)
Start from 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM and from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM winter season (November to March)

Duration one hour in the evening

€245.00 – Extra-long gondola ride lasting 1 hour in the evening.
Departure at 7:00 PM – summer season only (April to October).
Departure at 6:00 PM – winter season (November to March).
Departure at 6:30 PM – winter season (November to March).
Departure at 7:00 PM – winter season (November to March).

Music and singers

180.00 Euro surcharge – Gondola ride with musicians and singers in your gondola (daytime)
205.00 Euro surcharge – Gondola ride with musicians and singers in your gondola (evening)

Note : Small dogs are allowed free of charge. The gondolier will decide on the size on site.

The gondoliers’ promises for the gondola ride

Only the people you specify will be in the gondola. This security is the true purpose of an online reservation. Over the years, gondoliers have always kept this promise under all circumstances. So you can be absolutely certain that there will be NO strangers in the gondola with you.

The gondola ride takes approximately 30 minutes and follows the route described here. It starts and ends in the center: Bacino Orseolo.

Depending on your preference, you can start the tour either in the morning between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. or in the afternoon between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. During the winter months of November, December, January, February, and March, the tour runs from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. You are not tied to a fixed time; you can choose your own time. The time you choose will be shown on the voucher you receive. There is a lunch break from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The gondoliers give priority to all customers who present a voucher purchased online: you do NOT have to wait.

Online Price Note

You’ve read this sentence here many times. But because it’s important and applies exactly here, let me repeat it: Everything of special value in Venice also has a slightly higher price .

You know that Venice gets a lot of visitors at certain times of the year. As with other destinations, city breaks are particularly popular in spring and fall. And everyone comes on weekends: Friday to Sunday, or during public holidays.

What’s special about Venice is that even in the summer, millions of visitors from the Adriatic Sea come to this beautiful city. And these summer tourists prefer to come when the sky is cloudy. When the sun is shining, they prefer to stay on a beach holiday on the Adriatic.

So you never know exactly how large the crowds will be in advance. It’s possible, though unlikely, that here in Venice, in front of St. Mark’s Basilica, at the Campanile, or at the gondola stations, you’ll realize, „Oops, you’re in luck: There’s NOT much going on today.“ But it’s also possible, and this is the much more likely scenario, that you’ll be politely but firmly turned away: The entire day is fully booked. No free gondola available.

This is, of course, very annoying. Sometimes we receive emails with insults: arrogant, fed up, inflexible, etc.

In short: There’s a price for a private gondola ride if you spontaneously book one on-site. It’s €90.00.

If you want the security of having a free gondola waiting for you and book online with the gondoliers, you’ll have to pay €113.00 per gondola. The decision is yours.

The price list on site

This price list is displayed at ALL gondola stations here in Venice. As of July 2025

Right in the center of St. Mark’s Square: Bacino Orseolo

We at Venedig.shop recommend a gondola tour through the heart of Venice’s old town. It’s right behind St. Mark’s Square. It’s easy to reach. The Bacino Orseolo stop is where the tour starts and ends, lasting approximately 30 minutes. This is the standard duration for all tours here. Pictured here is a photo taken during a lunch break at Bacino Orseolo.

The tour through the historic center of Venice

The gondola ride follows the route marked in red here. The tour begins just behind St. Mark’s Square, at the Bacino Orseolo, initially navigating through typical, quiet, and romantic canals, then flows into the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge and returns to the Bacino Orseolo (St. Mark’s Square). The daytime ride (9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) takes approximately 30 minutes, according to the gondolier.
Lunch break at the Bacino Orseolo is from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

A particularly beautiful tour through the old town of Venice

The tour starts in the heart of Venice, right at St. Mark’s Square. You won’t have to walk far to get to the pier. The tour, with its many sights, takes you through the typically romantic Venetian canals and also through the Grand Canal, past the Rialto Bridge. Our customers repeatedly tell us that it’s a particularly beautiful tour.

Bad weather – what now?

The gondolas run year-round, whatever the weather. Even when it rains.

It can happen (although rarely) that bad weather is forecast for the exact time you plan to take the gondola. No problem: Go to the gondoliers in good time with your voucher and reschedule your ride. This always works without a hitch. Guaranteed!

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