Private Gondola Ride: Explore Venice with a Local Guide

Confirmation emphasizes that you must arrive 1/4 hour in advance. But it was the guide who was late. I wanted to ask the gondoliers but they were not aware of the booking of my excursion and angry about this situation. The guide arrived 5 minutes late (so we had already waited 20 min), seemed to get out of bed and really not delighted to be there. She didn’t even apologize. The atmosphere during the gondola tour was clearly not great, despite a high price! Do not book a gondola ride in advance. It’s much better to look at what the many providers offer on the spot and negotiate directly with them.

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!

We booked this gondola ride as a couple and had completely different expectations. We booked us a 60-minute ride, a single gondola with a German-language explanation. We thought the gondolier was telling us something during the ride. In fact, the gondolier did not say a word and a so-called German-speaking tour guide got on board. So we were no longer alone in the gondola. We had already read the bit she had to say about Venice in the cover text of our guide. Nor has she always really understood or been able to answer our questions in concrete terms. Then the journey ended after just under 45 minutes. When asked about the reduced time by a quarter, we were told that there was still another appointment. Afterwards I contacted the tour operator. The answer was very unsatisfactory. They say the tour guide didn't realize the trip was shorter than booked. In addition, we were referred to a completely foreign contact (without exact contact details) to discuss the matter further. A pro rata refund of the high price was refused. Our conclusion: Next time you visit Venice, go directly to one of the gondola stations not located directly at the main attractions and book a single gondola for one hour by arrangement. Costs less than half of our experience and is certainly a nicer experience as a couple.

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.