The Grand Canal is the main waterway in Venice (about 4 km long). The Grand Canal has an inverted "S" shape and divides the city into two parts, each of which groups together three districts. The width of the Grand Canal varies from 30 to 70 meters and its maximum depth is 5 meters. The Grand Canal is crossed by four bridges, the oldest is that of Rialto (1591). The other three bridges over the Grand Canal are those of the Scalzi, the Accademia and finally the Constitution Bridge, the latter designed by the architect Calatrava (inauguration 11 September 2008). Follow the course of this famous canal to discover the secrets of a unique city.
The Rialto Bridge is the oldest of the four bridges of the Grand Canal. It is famous for both its architecture and its history. For years it was the fulcrum of Venice's economy. The name "Rialto" comes from "Rivus altus", which in Italian means "deep canal", indicating that it is a flood-free area. The structure of the bridge is similar to the previous ones, collapsed twice and burned on various occasions, and consists of two inclined ramps joined by a portico in the centre. Crossing the Rialto Bridge you will reach the Rialto Market, a colorful place where fruit and vegetables are sold. The Market has ancient origins and has been held in this place since 1097.
San Marco is one of the most fascinating squares in the world, so much so that Napoleon Bonaparte called it "the most beautiful hall in Europe". It was built in the 9th century and paved in 1177, 100 years after its construction. Piazza San Marco is the lowest area of Venice and, therefore, it is the first area to flood with high water. In these cases, the municipality of Venice installs walkways to allow the regular transit of pedestrians. If you are lucky (or unlucky, depending on your tastes), you will be able to see the square full of water. The most important buildings in the square are the Basilica of San Marco, the Palazzo Ducale, the Correr Museum, the Campanile and the Clock Tower.
Originally this building was supposed to be an extension of the Doge's Palace. The first construction of the Basilica of San Marco began in the year 828 and ended in the year 832 to house the body of the Apostle Saint Mark brought from Alexandria as protector of the city. The construction of the current basilica began in 1063 in Byzantine style to represent the power of the prosperous Venetian Republic. This basilica was built respecting the model of two basilicas of the ancient imperial city of Byzantium with a central plan in the shape of a Greek cross, five large domes and a particular blend of ancient and oriental art. The result is a splendid and successful combination of styles.
The Ducal Palace was probably built between the 10th and 11th centuries on the basis of a central fortified nucleus. The first renovation was carried out in the 12th century with Doge Sebastiano Ziani who transformed the fortress into an elegant palace. Between 1339 and 1342 during the reign of Bartolomeo Gradenigo, the palace began to take on its current form. Doge Francesco Foscari extended the palace in 1424 until it reached the Basilica of San Marco. In the early 17th century, the architect Antonio Contin added the New Prisons across the canal, connecting them to the palace with the Bridge of Sighs, where the inmates passed on their way to the new prisons. In 1797, after the fall of the Republic of Venice, the palace was adapted to house the administrative offices.
The Campanile of San Marco is one of the symbols of the city of Venice. Venetians affectionately call him "El parón de casa" (The master of the house). At 98.6 meters high, it is one of the tallest bell towers in Italy. It stands majestically in Piazza San Marco in front of the basilica. Simple in shape, it consists of a fluted brick barrel, having a side of 12 meters and approximately 50 meters high, above which is the arched belfry. The bell tower is in turn surmounted by a die, on whose faces two walking lions and the female figures of Venice (Justice) are alternately depicted. Everything is completed by the pyramid-shaped spire, on top of which, mounted on a rotating platform to function as a weather vane, is the golden statue of the archangel Gabriel. The base of the building is embellished, on the side facing the basilica, by Sansovino's Loggia.
The Bridge of Sighs is located in the historic center of Venice, right behind Piazza San Marco, it is the only bridge in the city that is completely closed. Nowadays it is also known as the "lovers' bridge": legend says that to declare eternal love, you must kiss under the bridge during a gondola ride. The true history of the Bridge, however, is very different: the fact that it connected the Palazzo Ducale and the Palazzo delle Prigioni is no coincidence! In fact, it served as a security passage to move prisoners from the Court to the Prisons and vice versa.
Excellent tour of Venice with a guide who knew the area extremely well. Learned a LOT about the history of Venice and a few towns along the way. The guide made sure I got everything I wanted from Venice. We covered everything I wanted in a day trip and even got to experience some of the local food. Truly an unforgettable experience. Wouldn’t have done it any other way.
Sam is a great tour guide! He quickly understood the type of information I was interested in and had some really interesting knowledge. Asking to stop and look in a store didn’t seem to bother him as he waited patiently. It felt like a friend versus tour guide which made it a little more fun for me. I’d absolutely use him for a Venice tour. I did a private tour if this helps.
It is a lot of riding on the train for just a few hours in Venice. It is overwhelming to try and see it all. I wish we had spent a couple days instead of a few hours. Beautiful city, great guide, just too much to see and do. Skip the gondola ride unless you are a romantic couple. Nicholas was our guide the whole day, he found us food and drink and was knowlegable about the sights we saw.
Tour was great, Julianna did a fantastic job showing us around, brought us to a good restaurant, let us shop when we wanted, and took pics of us. We would recommend her.
Monica was wonderful. The tour was well organized with an interesting overview of Venezia. Monica even recommended a place we should stay for lunch. She went above and beyond to accommodate our departure from Venice to Rome, which was delayed due to bad weather and an elevator brake down in the St Mark’s Bell Tower.
It is a long day, but worth it. Our tour guide was informative, friendly and helpful. If you haven't seen Venice and are looking for an overview, this is a great trip!
Excellent service. Juliana our guide was superb. She took care of us . Best tour guide ever.
Definitely recommend this tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable with everything. She gave us plenty of time to see things, take pictures and ask questions. Highly recommend this tour.
There are not enough words to describe our trip except to say this was the most beautiful trip and tour. Was calm and no stress. Our tour guide, Sam was knowledgeable, accommodating, professional and polite. The train trip was awesome and the driver that picked us up was polite and on time!!!
Juliana was great! The plans were seamless, she showed us all the highlights, and left us plenty of time to explore and personalize the experience.
An exceptional 5+ star experience in Venice! Juliana was the perfect guide, engaging, attentive, and wonderfully informative. Her passion, kindness, and attention to every detail made the entire experience seamless and memorable. She has a special way of connecting with her guests and bringing Venice to life. We couldn’t have asked for a better guide. Highly recommended!
We had a fantastic experience. Our guide, Monica, had all the logistical details of the trip covered with plenty of time built in for anything we needed. From our first meeting at our hotel to the end of our trip, it was completely organized. Monica was very hospitable and very well informed. She was able to tell us the history of what we were seeing as well as give us a glimpse of the Italian culture. I would 100% recommend her as a guide and would request her in the future.
We had the BEST customer experience from.Monika who took us all around Venice and provided all the history .She was so patient and provided her recommendations w.r.t food and places to visit.Very good service by Monika.
Our tour guide was exceptional. Very knowledgeable about Venice; very courteous; and was helpful to us the entirety of what was a long, but very enjoyable travel day to and from Venice. Would highly recommend her to anyone interested in this excursion!!
We would give this a 10 if we could because of Juliana. She was a delightful person and we truly enjoyed her company. Juliana was throughly knowledgeable on the history of Venice.
It exceeded all our expectations! Our tour guide, Monika was exceptional. She went out of her way to assure a memorable experience.
Mr Serverio was excellent guide with good knowledge and professionalism. We got to know background history of Venice
I am a senior with mobility issues, so climbing stairs is a problem for me. Joseph, my guide, helped me avoid steps, and assisted me when I needed it. He made Venice an enjoyable experience for me. I wish he was available for my other tours.
The provided guide was late to the train meeting point, did not discuss an agenda for the day while on the train, our train tickets were not together because the company planners were too lazy to manually pick them, they scheduled us to come back after 14 hours instead of 16 leaving no time to enjoy any of the sites. The guide did not offer for us to take the water taxi to the St. Mark square as he felt we would not see enough of Venice if we did not walk through. He never considered the needs of his customers. We ended up buying train tickets together for a later return making it a 16-hour day as planned and asking the guide to go on his own. We then got skip the line tickets and were able to see the Doge but missed the Basilica and a gondola ride because the guide had his own agenda - hope you do this trip on your own and have a better outcome than we did! We asked for a refund but we were denied.
Our tour guide for the day was so personable and friendly and we really enjoyed the opportunity to meet her on this day trip; however, this tour was not what we had expected based on the description. First of all, we were the only couple in this tour...so no small group at all. For some people this would be ideal if you required lots of individual attention throughout the day, but we did not need this much attention and would have really enjoyed some time to look through a couple of shops on our own without our guide with us the entire time. And once St. Mark's Square and a few other places were pointed out to us, we really would have preferred time to explore or at least walk around this area a little bit on our own. We also did not need the guide to ride on the train to/back from Venice for the approx. 4 hour ride each way with us (total of almost 8 hours). We had paid more for the first-class train tickets option and were disappointed to find that we did not sit near each other on the 4-hour ride back to Rome. We would understand if this was a last-minute booking, but this trip was booked months in advance. We had expected that we would have seats by each other. Again, the guide was extremely courteous and also helped us find a gondola ride at the end of the day. This would have been more romantic if the guide wasn't on the gondola with us and we could have enjoyed this on our own (especially since we returned to the exact location). This was not the small group tour we were expecting based on the description. This might be perfect for another couple/family, but we wish someone had left a review like this so we would have known what to actually expect. We felt like it was extremely overpriced only to have someone literally walk around with us for a few hours (nothing else was included). We booked several guided tours during our time in Italy and I'm sorry to say this was our least favorite which is a shame because Venice is such a beautiful place to visit!
Great tour of Venice! This tour does involve a 3 1/2 hour train ride from Rome to Venice and vice versa. We were escorted the entire way from pick up at the hotel to drop off at the end of the tour. Our Guide was Guiliani and he also accompanied us on the train. In Venice, we walked through the streets and Guiliani explained the history of Venice. We also took a gondola ride (not included in price of the tour) and were impressed with the skill of the gondoliers. Lunch (own expense) was good and afterwards we went to a glass blowing demonstration. Our last stop was St Marks square and St Mark's Basilica. We were able to bypass the long line with our tour guide. St Marks is beautiful and well worth the visit. We returned to the train station by water taxi along the Grand Canal. Guiliani was a great guide; he gave us great information about Venice and the sights and made sure that we were able to see and do everything in Venice that we wanted. This was a long day but really memorable. My only advice would be to bring something to read on the long train ride. For us since it was October much of the train ride was in darkness (so hard to see the countryside).
Best tour we had on our 22 day cruise and vacation. Very patient, let us change our tour to make sure we rode the Gondola. We were an older group, he walked slow and kept checking on us to make sure we stayed with him. The train ride and city is awesome, a must see. It was nice being picked up and dropped off at the hotel, that early in the morning and late at night. Wish there were more stars!!!
I had a wonderful time doing this day trip. Venice was amazing, and so was my guide Irene. It was worth every penny for me. I would do a trip with this company again next time I am in Italy.
<p>Roberto was out Tour Guide and he was fantastic!! within minutes we were part of his family and he was with ours! The small group consisted on my wife and I and Roberto. Roberto showed us everything and took us to places that he felt we would enjoy - and we certainly did!! We had lunch at Pasta To Go and if you are in Venice you must have lunch there. It is off the main street but worth it's wait in gold!! This tour is a must take and Roberto is a master at making you feel fantastic !!</p>
<p>Andrew took us on the train. The train is very relaxing. Great way to travel. I wished the tours we took were by train. Andrew went into great detail about Venice. We were able to enjoy a gondola ride on our own. Great trip</p>
Excellent. Amazing trip and guide
Monday through Friday 9 am to 7 pm EST
Reach us by phone
Reach us by email