Venice, gondola ride to Doge's palace in 30min from Grand Canal

Sounds like a terrible idea. I have often seen groups on gondolas on the Grand Canal bouncing around from all the boat traffic on the Grand Canal, even though it is a no-wake zone. If you have never been to Venice, you have no idea how much boat traffic there is. Not just the vaporetti, but everything in Venice gets delivered by boat, and all the garbage gets hauled away by boat.

Another thing, the gondoliers work out of a specific station and generally are not available for one-way rides. If you want to take a gondola ride, stick to the back canals which are more serene.

If you want to tour the Grand Canal, just hop on the No 1 vaporetto. Download Rick's audio guide, https://podcasts.ricksteves.com/audio-tours/venice-grand-canal.mp3

Interesting. I didn't get realize that the gondola ride is a point A to point A ride. I didn't see it mentioned in the book. So you're saying that the gondola ride is a 20-30 minute brief tour of Venice waters around a route at the gondoler's discretion? So the site that I presented, is that the map of all the stations to catch the gondola so that it's a serene ride?

Sam is correct, your gondolier will return you to where you started. The one time I did a gondola ride, the wind was too strong and we didn’t go on the grand canal as planned. But, that’s okay because you can easily see the entire grand canal from the vaporetto. You can get more up close and personal to some of the buildings when you cruise the side canals. I got some nice photos of very old doors, lots of littles bridges, and a good look at the damage the rising water is doing. Bobbing around in the middle of the grand canal, dodging boats, would not be as interesting.

the only way you can have a point to point gondola ride on the Grand Canal is to stand up with up to about 10 or 12 folks on a Traghetto with a Gondolier at bow and stern to cross the Grand Canal.

There are only a few spots where that is possible, my memory is that a very helpful one is from around Mercato Rialto to Ca' d'Oro. (checking the detail below I find that I was correct). I have ridden Traghetti dozens of times but always before covid. I am old and sometimes the memory plays tricks - that's why I check my advice which is usually given simply from memory.

The tourist fare on a Traghetto is 2€ per ride now.

Details at (among others) https://www.venicewelcome.com/info/public_transportation/gondola-traghetto-across-the-grand-canal..htm

The best time to do a gondola ride is at dusk when traffic on the Grand Canal (don't avoid it) is lighter and the lights on the canal-front restaurants and bars are on.

If you want to drop some money on a private ride of the Grand Canal in style I'd get a water taxi and ride looking out.

If you don't want to pay for the entire length of the train station to San Marco you could get one at the Rialto Bridge stop and take the ride to PSM. It's not going to be that much more than a gondola ride and I think larger motorized transport is more appropriate for the Grand Canal. Water taxi fares are just like regular taxis with a base price and then charge per minute.

As other's have said if you want to splurge on a gondola find an further away stand and ask for the quiet "backstreet" tour. Away from everyone your experience will not be that different than it was hundreds of years ago - which is one of the things Venice does best.

As mentioned the traghetto is the 2e gondola experience. The longest and most interesting is the crossing from just past PSM towards Campo della Salute.

My $.02, Venice is amazing, have a great time,
=Tod

Thanks to everyone who replied. Now that I know this is a point A to point A ride, I don't necessariliy need to explore the Grand Canal. It seems from Nigel's post then that there are multiple gondola companies. Some of them offer gondola rides with stations on the Grand Canal. Others offer them at other locations throughout the city. That's why there are conflicting accounts and maps of where the gondola stations are. Is that correct?

It sounds like you misunderstand Nigel’s post. He is speaking of the traghetti, which are larger, wider boats used to ferry people directly across the Grand Canal in areas where there is no bridge nearby. You hand the boatman a 2 euro coin and step in. Traditionally people rode standing up for the short (less than 5 minutes) ride; these days they make tourists sit down for safety. At least they did when I rode the one from the Rialto Market to Ca’ d’Oro. They are a simple and practical means of transport, not for sightseeing.

Gondolas, by contrast, are not transport but entertainment, like an amusement park ride. At least they are now. They are not operated by competing companies; each gondolier is a licensed professional who owns his own gondola and works for himself. They have a guild that controls and regulates their activities, and they all strictly follow those regulations and traditions. I do not know how they come by their traditional locations, but they keep to those. The guild is a closed system and very difficult for a woman to enter; for a long time there was only one female gondolier, Giorgia Boscolo, but more recent articles (which I can’t find again) indicate there may be a few more.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jun/29/venice-female-gondolier-patriarchy-canal

We once observed a dispute between 2 gondoliers while enjoying a canal side aperitif on a side canal. The police were called to settle the matter and one had to pick up his chair and carry it away in his gondola.

https://m.independent.ie/life/travel/travel-news/this-is-what-it-takes-for-a-gondolier-to-work-in-venice-and-they-can-earn-up-to-150000-a-year/a1858232629.html

Other than booking a water taxi for a ride down the Grand Canal, or taking a crowded vaporetto from Rialto to the San Marco area, I can find only one way to get a gondola ride from one point to another along the Grand Canal. Row Venice, an organization that offers rowing lessons to the public, also offers “Row the Grand Canale” lessons on evenings and Sundays when the commercial boats traffic is down. According to the website, one can arrange to be dropped at a restaurant at the end of the lesson, rather than return to the starting point.

https://rowvenice.org/rv-grand-canal/

But it is very expensive, and I believe it is still a “lesson”, in that at least one person in the group must participate in the rowing. They also operate a Cichetto tour in the evenings, but do not mention the possibility of a restaurant drop-off for this one.

https://rowvenice.org/rv-cichetto-row/

Thank you for your reply Lola. At this point, I am no longer looking a point A to point B gondola ride. I just want to find a 30 minute 80euro gondola ride after I am done touring St. Mark's Basilica, before I head to the Academia. Without knowing where the back water canal gondola stations are, I didn't want to waste time looking for them. From https://www.tripsavvy.com/gondola-rides-in-venice-1548042, the "Where to Go on a Gondola Ride" suggests that they are ubiquitious.
Cheers!

There are gondola stations all over the city. I don't know if there is a complete guide somewhere but all the lists are a bit different. I don't know if it's editing the lists down for the most likely spots for tourists or if the people posting have a vested interest is steering you to one company over another. But almost anywhere you want to explore there is someone who will take you there.

If you want none Grand Canal stations with shorter lines and quieter areas:
There is a station in Campo di Ghetto Nuovo in old Jewish quarter in the much quieter NW corner of the city.
In Campo Santa Maria Formosa about 10 minutes north of San Marco but in a much quieter area there is stand.
Campo San Barnaba near the the Accademia bridge is just off the Grand Canal but is in a quieter area as well.

It seemed to me that as you walk through the city there were gondola stations in many areas, but obviously the ones around San Marco were the largest and busiest.

Good luck,
=Tod

Thanks for confirming that the gondola stations are easy to find, Todd. I'll probably look for something in between St. Mark's Basilica and the Academia bridge.

Make it a good one,
Wallace

There is a gondola station behind the northwest corner of Piazza San Marco in the Bacino Orseolo, in front of the Hard Rock Cafe.

Thanks Sam! That solves the problem!

Save travels,
Wallace