Venice Gondolas and Vaporettos

Gondola rides are expensive if taken by 2. In company w as many as 4 others, they bcome almost reasonable. Whether you should get a pass for vaporetti depends on how often you plan to use them. They are the fastest way around Venice and for some places, the only way.

You could see if you can share a gondola ride with someone else to save money. Vaparettos are water buses and you can by passes for them. There are water Taxis and they are expensive. There are gondolas called traghettos that cross the Grand Canal for about 1/2 a Euro. They are the cheap way to experience a short gondola ride.

We are a family of 5.
I hear the Gondolas have a price fix.
Are we talking $100 for a ride? How long is the ride?

As the sun begins to set into the evening, expect 100Euro ($155) for a 35-40 minute gondola ride. You can share the cost with up to 5 people. We did this last year and it was 100Euro. Fortunately, we found 3 others to share. At 20Euro each, it wasn't all that bad.

As they say if you have to ask the price is probably too high. I think this saying was written specifically for gondolas. It's expensive but completely irreplaceable. I would suggest that you go away from the main canals on the early side of evening. The cruise ships are gone and evening romantics aren't out yet. Count on 100 Euros and you will probably be pleasantly suprised. The second question speaking to water taxis, we bought a pass and found it reasonable as we were travelling to Murano and Burano and had a small kid with us. It really depends on how much you want to taxi. Venice is so walkable you may find it easier to walk than wait for the boat.

Best on back canals or on the Grand Canal?
Ride not cost.

A side canal will be a better gondola ride. Everything on the Grand Canal you can enjoy from a vaporetto. The Grand Canal is main street so there will be alot of traffic. The cost is worth the experience.

It is expensive but worth it. We took a gondola ride in the side canals about 7:00 p.m. for 50 minutes. The guy asked 130 euros. I said too much and we settled on 100 euros. It was wonderful and something I'll remember forever.

We took a gondola ride about a week ago, prices varied depending on location and time of day from 60 - 150 euros. The 60 was at high tide, out of the centre near to the santa marria church and didnt include any of the major sites. The 150 would have been from San Marco or the Rialto and included more major sites.

I would say ask prices and tour details as you go along until you find a tour you want for a price you like and with a gondolier you like (ours was really friendly but we spoke to some who were rude and refused to give us many details about what we'd see and how long it would last). Watch out for high tide as it means that the gondolas can't go through many of the small canals, meaning a shorter tour. Some gondoliers told us about this and offered discounts, others we met minutes later did not say anything about it. We also found that when we started to walk away we'd often be offered a 20 euro discount.

Hope that helps, we definately thought it was worth the expense. We didnt bother with the water bus or taxis at all, since we enjoyed wandering the streets.

we just returned and paid 120 euro for 4 people for 45-50 minutes..the gentleman was a 5th generation gondalier and took us on the side canals and shared much info..it was priceless...jo

Got it: Low tide, side canals, set my deal and walk away for a Discount.

We took a gondola ride in April, there were 4 of us, mid-afternoon and we were able to get it for 60 euro. The gondolier spoke excellent english, took us down the small canals and shared a lot of info as we went. Our ride lasted 40-45 minutes...a great deal we thought. I do believe that it is necessary to get away from St. Marks area in order to get lower price. I'm sure that an evening ride would be wonderful, but quite expensive. We felt our experience was fabulous and a great bargain.

Do the gondola ride at dusk. It is just too romantic. Our ride was 45 minutes, 80 euro. That was in Sept. of 2006. It sounds like prices have risen there as they have everywhere. But our philosophy has become, "it is only money". :) Don't skip it because of the price. You'll probably regret having done so, once you are back home. I also did a tour on a vaporetto. Just picked a day, bought a day pass, got on and off. It was a great way to see Venice from the water and not expensive at all.
I thought Vencie was fabulous. Enjoy every minute you are there.
Debby