Gondola Ride ...Best times ?

It's really up to you. The prices go up at dusk and into the evening as that's the time that is most popular.

We did our gondola ride in the late morning. At first I was disappointed because I wanted to do it at sunset but it was very foggy every night we were there and at night the canals are jam packed with gondolas. Our gondolier suggested some back canals over the more populated ones near the Piazza San Marco and the Bridge of Sighs. This was perfect - we never encountered another gondola until we reached the main canal. It was very romantic even at 11a to fee like you were alone on the canals. Later in the day we saw gondolas lined up one after each other and we were glad we took the ride at a quieter time.

Patrick,

We took a gondola ride early afternoon. We took it from Piazza Santa Maria Fromosa and it was beautiful and less expensive. Rick recommended it in one of his books.

I think what it comes down to is what you want to get out of the experience. A sunset or nighttime ride would be best for say, romantic reasons. But if your priority is to like, get a good picture of yourself on the gondola, or of the buildings upclose, a morning or afternoon ride would be best (also if you're looking for a cheaper price). I ended up doing one at about 7 or 8 pm (in the summer). It was a great experience, but afterwards I'd wished I'd gone earlier, as it quickly got dark and I only got about 10 minutes worth of photos. Good luck, whatever you decide!

I totally agree with Jenny, night is a fantastic time for a gondola ride, (particularly if you are with a significant other) but you lose out on picture taking. But you can take the vaparetto up the Grand Canal during the day, and get good pictures that way.

We took our gondola ride at sunset. The memories are priceless and my pictures all turned out great!!!! We also took the vaporetto around the island. Lots of fun and inexpensive.

If you want to take pictures, definitely during the day. Gondolas are more expensive at night!!

I don't remember the time of day but I do remember it was the most relaxing part of our first trip to Venice. The look on my face in the photo says it all (bliss). Like an earlier poster we moved away from the main areas and found a gondalier who seemed reasonably priced. We missed out on taking a ride this last trip and my 7 year old is still bitter:)Our mission next time is to make it happen. I think I would choose an early evening time (5-6pm) to avoid some of the congestion but still get the shadowy contrasts.