Venice by boat: The Grand Canal
Discovering Venice by boat is a unique experience: A boat tour down the Grand Canal and through the smaller canals.
The Venetian “Canalasso” (Grand Canal) is the main “street” in Venice. It was once the main residential area for Noblemen and seat of the most important commercial activities. Moving along its banks you will be enchanted by the extraordinary sequence of palaces and churches overlooking the water.
This boat tour is our most popular tour. People enjoy getting around the Venetian canals by private boat (taxi). The boats are very modern and comfortable and according to the weather you can sit inside or outside.
Option 1: Gran Canal and smaller canals
This tour starts in Saint Mark’s square, where your private guide will meet you, and together you’ll make your way to the taxi ranks to find your boat. From the dock in Saint Mark’s square it is possible to see the point where the Gran Canal flows inside Saint Mark’s basin, and to admire the imposing baroque ‘Salute Church’. The view of the church from the Grand Canal is unique and amazing. Travelling down the Grand Canal, you’ll admire the Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque palaces, and observe typical engine and Venetian rowing boats as well as the water-bus (vaporetto) stops. You’ll reach the Rialto bridge just in the central part of the Gran Canal, and from there, the boat will then take you in the labyrinth of small Venetian canals from where you can have a different and special experience of Venice.
Option 2: Gran Canal and Murano island
This Tour starts in Saint Mark’s square, where your private guide will meet you, and together you’ll make your way to your water taxi. From the dock in St. Mark’s you’ll reach the northern part of Venice, passing through some of the very picturesque canals. Leaving Venice behind, you will carry on to the
northern part of the lagoon as far as Murano Island. You will pass by San Michele Island, the current cemetery, which used to be the location of a very important Benedictine monastery. When you reach Murano, with its typical lighthouse, you’ll go through its main canal (the Murano Grand Canal) admiring beautiful palaces and the astonishing back part of San Donato’s cathedral. Then you will go back to Venice where you will reach St. Mark’s Square via the main and most monumental canal: the Grand Canal, considered to be the main road of Venice. Please note: you can choose to visit an artistic glass factory on Murano island with a blowing glass demonstration.
