Venice Tours: Gondolas, Glass-Blowing & Getting Gloriously Lost

The City on the Water

Venice is built on 118 small islands connected by 400 bridges and 170 canals. It has no cars, no bikes, and no logical street numbering. It is also one of the most beautiful cities ever built and deserves at least two days.

Essential Venice Tours

Doge's Palace & St Mark's Basilica

The Doge's Palace (1340) is one of the world's great Gothic buildings: the Grand Council Chamber with Tintoretto's enormous canvas, the Bridge of Sighs, and the dungeons where Casanova was once held. Combine with St Mark's Basilica next door — 8,000 m² of Byzantine mosaics. Skip-the-line for both is essential.

Grand Canal Gondola or Traghetto

A private gondola (€80–120 for 30 minutes) is uniquely magical at sunset. A traghetto (shared gondola crossing the Grand Canal, €2) is the authentic local version. A vaporetto down the full Grand Canal from the station to St Mark's takes 35 minutes and is the best value transport in Venice.

Murano & Burano Island Hop

A half-day boat tour visits Murano (glassblowers since 1291 — demonstration included) and the intensely colourful fishing island of Burano (lace-making tradition, the most photographed street in Italy).

Hidden Venice

Secret Itineraries Tour (Doge's Palace) — Accesses rooms closed to regular visitors: the Chancellery, the torture rooms, where Casanova was imprisoned. Limited to 25 people. Book weeks in advance.

Venice by Night Walking Tour — After 7pm, when day-trippers have returned to their mainland hotels, Venice becomes quiet, softly lit, genuinely atmospheric.

Day Trips

Verona (70 min by train) — Romeo and Juliet's city has a 1st-century Roman amphitheatre still used for summer opera, and Juliet's balcony.

Prosecco Road — The rolling hills northeast of Venice are the world's best Prosecco production area. A vineyard tour visits 3 producers with a long lunch.