Private Gondola Ride: Explore Venice With A Local Guide

The ride wasn’t what I expected. I booked a grand canal ride for my sister and I and your pick up and drop off point is the only place on the grand canal that you see. We spent most of our 30min ride stuck in traffic jams in the small canals and waterways of Venice. Spending more time waiting in a que to get going again. Definitely not worth the £125 that we paid for the experience. We had booked before we got to Venice but could have got it cheaper if we had waited till we got here. The gondolas are EVERYWHERE!! Was still nice to say we’ve done it though.

We never have a bad word to say in any review but we were disappointed. We arrived 15 mins early, as requested, to meet our guide - the guide wasn't there (although she did arrive at the end of our tour to say hi). We had read the reviews and were really looking forward to the gondola ride. A lot of time spent turning the gondola round as opposed to actually going anywhere - appreciate there is other traffic - the tour was very short and we didn't really see much at all. We felt this was extremely expensive at £276. I was proposing to my partner and so not only did this experience not make the trip special, it actually detracted from it. Sorry!

We booked for a private tour, we reached late due to delayed flight and hence on the way we called the local tousist office for possibility to reschedule, she said it is possible onsite to reschedule but when we went there. The onsite guy told me it is not possible to reschedule for a private tour. Our money will not be refunded or reused for a new ride. Still, we booked with another tourism group, but after going through the ride, we felt like waste of money and time. If you have already been to water-based rides, then this experience is not worth it. They take you out of smaller cannel route and then return you back in no time.

What was supposed to be the highlight of our Venice visit was the most disappointing! I guess the most memorable experience was when the guide was the first one off the gondola and left! No goodbye, no thank you - obviously no tip! The second most memorable experience was when she made no attempt to find us upon arrival as she stood eating a candy bar. Thirdly, our impression was that we were going on a PRIVATE tour and the gondolier would be giving any tour needed, not a total stranger with absolutely no personality who invaded our privacy and talked about various people who died in a house and how Venice was built when she wasn’t speaking Italian with the gondolier who we had no interaction with at all. Don’t waste your money on this tour - opt for a $90 30-minute experience and call it a day. Ours was a colossal waste of money!

If you want a romantic trip as a couple, this is not the way. If you want a gondola ride with a knowledgeable guide to teach you about the history of the city and gondola rides. This is the way.

Terrible. Paid for an hour. It was hot so we decided 40 minutes would be fine. In total he returned us after 15 minutes. NO GUIDE. And rude . My husband asked if he could sing happy birthday to me and he responded “I’m not a clown”. When I spoke to lady in office, she didn’t refund for time that was cut short.

This is a Venice essential, and taking the trip with a guide is sooooo much better than alone with the gondolier or with musicians. Our guide was excellent. The trip was both fun and interesting.

The gondolier was talking on his cell phone the entire time, and our tour guide had a cold personality, was impersonal, and all about business. When our ride was over, the guide got off first and fled with only saying goodbye to one person in our party due to the rest of them being still in the boat.Our gondola ride was also cut short by 15 minutes without explanation, even when we paid for an hour. Definitely not worth the price, I travel often and I’m not shy about paying good money for a quality private tour. This tour was barely enjoyable.

This is a complete scam!!! Do not waste your money or time!! We paid $450 for a one hour guided gondola ride and they shortened it to only 30 minutes at the start! Appalling. So, then, we actually paid $450 for 30 minutes! The going rate is 90 euros for 30 minutes. So that’s some terrible math. A total ripoff and scam. We are not the first to be ripped off on this tour. TripAdvisor, this tour should be removed ASAP! Look at the many other terrible reviews, and others have mentioned it was only 30 minutes. It’s a tactic. I really wish I had read the reviews before purchasing. At the very least TripAdvisor should have reimbursed for 1/2, which they refused, and it was a total pain to work with them on it. Ruined our first day in Venice. We will be taking this up with our credit card company for a refund, rest assured. Do not purchase this tour! The travel company TripAdvisor uses for this gets away with murder, cutting the trip in half and keeping the money! You are better off going to a gondola station (St Mark’s square between the two columns for example) and paying for a ride there. Beware of this tour. The guide didn’t add much either.

The gondala ride was fine but our tour guide was useless. She spent most of the time talking to the gondola driver and only a few minutes talking to us. She definitely did not want to be there and it showed from the first minute we met her.

Rubbish and a rip off. Paid £361 for an hour long gondola ride. Received a half hearted tour guide who really couldn’t be bothered and 30 minutes. Avoid

Fantastic experience on Valentines Day ! Our guide and gondolier were so friendly and was an amazing time...even the weather was great ! Thank you so much x

Sylvia is very knowledgeable and informative about the city as she is a native born Venetian. Highly recommend fir your gondola ride.

The actual gondola ride around the canals was a nice experience but the tour guide did not really contribute to the experience and obstructed it. She sat very close to one of our family members to the point that she had to be asked to move because the person could not face forward due to the tour guide's close proximity. She also blocked our view forward in the gondola. The information she provided was very limited and of poor quality, she did not provide meaningful information about Venice or the canals. By the time we had this tour, we had participated of several other tours in Rome and Florence with tour guides that were very knowledgeable about the history and architecture of the sites they were showing us and we were expecting our guide in Venice to also provide knowledgeable and insightful information about Venice, however, she only gave us a few bullet points, which she repeated throughout the ride.

Very pleased with our guide. Easy to find. We loved having the hour to go through all the canals, seeing the beauty of Venice.

Our guide was lovely . Very pleasant and informative. Answered all our questions but also let us relax and enjoy .

Our guide was very pleasant and kind. But there was no plan on what we would see and so we just seem to wander along worth occasional references to a site most often after already passing it. Guide did not show up prepared. It ended at 45 mins not even the full hour. Far too expensive for what we experienced. Very disappointed.

this is way too much money for a simple ride with a guide, who knows less than us. we recommend to book this gondoliere via a good hotel spontaneously!!!

Guide is a local and she was wonderful answering our 11 y/o daughters questions. We went off the Grand Canal into a couple smaller quieter canals which we very peaceful.

What a wonderful gondola ride with a wonderful guide! Our guide was so knowledgeable and fun. She had such passion for Venice and sharing Venice with us. It was a fantastic experience!

Clementina was an excellent, knowledgeable guide with interesting stories and insights. Very lovely, peaceful tour with a very skilled gondolier. Highly recommended.

We should have just taken a Gondola with the gondolier providing the commentary for half the price. They know as much, if not more. Don’t waste your money.

Our experience in Venice with our private gondola tour exceeded our expectations! I would highly recommend doing this. Our guide, Sylvia, was so wonderful and informative! We learned so many interesting facts we would never have learned if we did a gondola ride without a guide.

We loved our hour on the gondola. Our guide was terrific. We had a very short time in Venice, and this was our only real tour, and she gave us a very good overview in just an hour. And she was friendly and fun.

Love that this gondola ride is 1 hour instead of 30 minutes like the other ones. It's nice having a guide to point out what we are passing and tell some history about it. What I did not like was that the guide got on the boat with a bag full of books that she started asking us to look at while she talked about Venice history. After a while of listening to this I asked her to put the books away and just tell us about the things we were looking at. She was very nice about this and put the books away. On a different trip my daughter had the same experience and felt that the books and history lessons really took away from their enjoyment of the gondola ride.

Unfortunately we had a 2 hour delay from jfk and then an hour wait with kids thorough customs upon arriving vencie- we tried to reschedule the gondola ride (not refund) and they would not allow...

all Gondola rides I thought were expensive. maybe cheaper if more of us took the ride I'm not sure will have to inquire before you ride so many to choose from all up an down the canal

We took this tour this past summer and it was an amazing way to further explore the Venice canals. What an enchanting city. Don't be surprised to be rushed off the gondola at the end of the tour. The locals in Venice are not the friendliest people on earth!

<p>Enjoyed the extra time in Gondola vs. other ride options but a little disappointed in where the Gondola went, mainly on Grand Canal vs. smaller channels. Personal guide was good but not sure this was worth the price charged.</p>

<p>If this tour had been a quarter the price 100 instead of 400, I would give this tour 4 stars max. But...given that A It barely lasted an hour, B our gondolier was an absolute smart-mouth, and C our tour guide while very nice was pretty checked out, I can't give it more than 2 stars. If you're looking for a private gondola ride, just book one by itself without the guide. You're probably still going to get an arrogant, smart-mouth gondolier, but at least you'll be paying a LOT less than what this tour charges.</p>

We got lost on our way to the meeting point (the directions provided were not very clear), so we showed up late. Admittedly that was our fault that we were late, but we called the number and they were not able to accommodate any alternatives, so that was $400 down the drain. When we walked away, we walked by another gondola stand that was doing private rides for 80 Euro for 30 min and we were able to hop right in and get a private ride for 2 people. It wasn't for as long but it was SO much less expensive than this. I would not recommend pre-booking this as there are gondola stands everywhere in Venice. To me this booking seemed like a tourist trap.

Our guide was fantastic! Told us so much about all the family homes and the history of Venice. She answered all our questions and the gondola ride was on a less busy route compared to the stands near the station for example. Would definitely recommend!

A group of six of us shared one Gondola we paid 20 euro each it was a rip off .Didn't see much only smelly canals only took about 20 - 25 mins at the end of trip there was a hat for tips think we paid enough.

the one hour gondola ride was amazing. We had a private guide who was friendly and knowledgeble of the Venetian culture and lifestyle. The gondolier, Matias, was frindly and also contributed to the experience. Worth every cent and highly recommended with a private guide.

Had booked gondola ride have to have 6 people in or you have to pay for whole boat if less people and want it to self. We came from a cruise so had 6 in our boat. All other staff had stripe tips on ours didn’t. Wasn’t sure if new. Didn’t speak to us. They weight distribute boat I needed to sit forward as can’t go backwards. About 5 mins in accuses us of moving and boat nearly tipped over even though no one moved couldn’t really relax after. Was only 20mins ride instead of the 30mins that was told to us. Ok to say been on one but didn’t enjoy it.

<p>Very good gondola ride - tour guide was on time and enhanced the experience of the gondola ride</p>

They take you on a couple of block circle with no discussion by gondolier. He acted bored to tears, and I don't blame him. It's bow to stern touching the adjacent boats in a line like you're on a child Disney ride. And it lasted approximately 20 minutes.

Very knowlegable about all the buildings, archetecture and historical aspects. Day way beautiful and enjoyed it very much

A 20-25 minute canal ride with a gondolier that hollers at other gondoliers in Italian while riding side-by-side with other imprisoned strangers in their gondolas was not in my mind what I call "fun". Further, the gondolier spent no time with introductions, safety instructions or on history...just the occasional directive to twist our bodies into frozen positions as to keep the boat level. However, once we approached the Grand Canal, an enthusiastic gondolier proudly pointed out the hotel that George Clooney had his wedding reception. As thought provoking as that tid-bit of info was, when the ride was over, we were hit up for a tip. My suggestion is to spend your money elsewhere in Venice.

First ride of the day (gondolas 4 all). We wove through many small canals off the beaten path. Very relaxing and steeped in the ambiance of old Venice.

We enjoyed the ride. The guides do not sing or say anything - they just take you on a ride, which is a very pleasant ride. If you are looking for singing or explanations, there are tours that do that. This isn't one of them. But it's still nice, and kind of a must do.

This was the highlight of the visit to Venice, we had a great gondolier and a tenor with a musician on board playing and singing arias from famous operas. It was truly extraordinary. An unforgettable experience.

We had a wonderful experience. Our private tour guide who explained through all the trip about the spot light of venice and he was also Super friendly to us and to our kids. We were absolutely pleased and we recommend with no doubt this private trip so you can see the best of venice in your own private gondola with no other people but just your family of the two of you.

We booked this tour as it was supposedly a must do. We found our way to Giglio where our tour started. We were a bit early and our guide finally came. He introduced himself but we forgot his name. We boarded the gondola but no one gave us instructions on the seating arrangement and we could not move after as the gondolier got mad at us. The guide ended up with the best seat! We started off and our guide started informing us. Unfortunately for him this wasn't our first tour and it was repetitive for us. We were hoping he could tell us something new as we were going into the smaller canals but it wasn't as much. The gondolier must be having a bad day. He was a bit rough, yelling and possibly cursing at other boaters or gondoliers. Hit his gondola under bridges a bit or around corners of buildings. We had to ask for photos to be taken instead of him offering. The gondolier had us back easily within 40 minutes or less. The guide told him to extend it a bit so he went across the canal a bit and came back. That took a whole 5 minutes. We were short changed 15 plus minutes. The guide said if we needed anything else as he is at our disposal for another 15 mins. We were already on land and the gondolier took off. Just a rip off.

You cant visit Venice without taking a Gondola. Although on the expensive side, (the price stated is ‘from’ and goes up too 165 euro for a 45 min ride) its an unforgettable experience.

A Gondola ride is considered a must do when you visit Venice, but it's way over priced. There is a minimum price set by the city currently at €80 for a 30 minutes ride. Our gondolier said the €80 is only a ride up and down the Grand Canal, to go in the narrow side canals is another €20 more. €100 we ended up paying for a 23 minute ride. IMHO it is extremely poor value for money. If you can, I suggest you catch one at a narrow side canal in the first place, we couldn't find one so ended up catching one on the Grand Canal, and paid for the mistake.

A must for visiors to venice, there are plenty of gondola stops andthey all advertise the same price. E80 for daytime and E100 for evening. We took our gondola from Rialto bridge and the Gondalier gave a guided tour during the trip. Really enjoyable

We loved Barbara! We learned so much about the city of Venice, and enjoyed the sites as she spent an hour showing us through the Grand Canal via gondola. We would highly recommend this tour :)

We only had one day in Venice so a private gondola ride was on our bucket list. Despite the $120 cost for two of us, we did not want to waste much time to bargain or shop around. The ride was nice and the sites were great but this private and romantic gondola ride would have been so much nicer if the pilot/guide knew more about the city and was more talkative. Instead , he was silent most of the time but would occasionally yell "Hey , look at that " when there was an interesting site ahead along the canals. Enjoyable but way below expectations.