Venice Private Gondola Ride and Private Island Tours

A gondolier and hidden canals: choose your time afloat

The private gondolier ride starts at the Servizio Gondole station at Fondamenta Cossetti 458. Its focus is hidden canals and sights, with your own party in the gondola and a private gondolier. Choose from 30 minutes, one hour, one and a half hours or two hours. A short ride works as a single waterborne experience within a day spent walking; a longer option makes the gondola a bigger part of that day.

This is the practical choice for five friends or a family wanting the boat together. The group limit is five, compared with four on the photo package. At the €159 starting price, two people pay €79.50 each, four pay €39.75 each and five pay €31.80 each. Longer durations have their own option prices; these calculations use the starting offer.

A shared traditional gondola starts at €36 per person. Four such places total €144, against €159 for the private starting offer. For five, the shared total is €180, so the private starting price is €21 lower. Our gondola guide covers the separate city tariff and other ways to arrange a ride.

A gondola ride with a photographer

Meet in front of Caffè Florian on St. Mark's Square for the private photography package. The experience lasts one and a half hours in total, including 30 minutes in the gondola. A professional photographer, a selection of edited digital photographs and an online gallery are included. You get photographs of your party together during a Venetian gondola experience, rather than assigning one person to stay behind the camera.

Choose this for a couple who want portraits together, or a family of up to four who value photographs as much as the ride. The starting group price is €292: €146 each for two, or €73 each for four. Compared with the €159 gondolier offer, the starting total is €133 higher. That extra budget buys the photography package, with editing and gallery delivery, rather than a longer gondola ride.

Keep the full 90 minutes available in your day. The meeting place on St. Mark's Square makes this a different starting plan from the ride at Fondamenta Cossetti. Choose between them by deciding whether you want more canal time or a photographer involved in the experience.

Venice private boat tour: Murano and Burano

The four hour Murano and Burano trip begins with hotel pickup on Venice island and uses a private motorboat with a guide. You cross the lagoon to the two islands, with a glassblowing demonstration included. This is a different scale of outing: a motorboat journey and island visits in place of a short ride through city canals.

Murano brings the glassmaking element; Burano brings the colourful canal houses pictured on this page. For friends interested in craft or a family wanting a half-day outing on the water, the boat links the destinations into one guided trip. Staying on Venice island gives you the included hotel pickup as part of that plan.

The starting price is €420 for up to four people. Two pay €210 each, three pay €140 each and four pay €105 each. A couple pays the same group total as four friends, so this option makes most financial sense when you use all four places. Choose it for the private motorboat, guide and hotel departure combined.

Small-group tours: when sharing is the better choice

For two people mainly wanting a gondola ride, the traditional shared option starts at €72 total, compared with €159 privately. Its listed duration is 30 to 50 minutes and boarding assistance is included. Sharing saves €87 at those starting prices, a substantial difference for a short canal experience.

For the islands, the five hour small-group trip takes up to 22 people at €49 each. It includes return boat transport from Venice, an English-speaking guide, glass and lace demonstrations and headsets. Four people pay €196, compared with €420 for the private boat. That €224 saving makes sharing attractive when the craft demonstrations matter more than having your own boat and hotel pickup. Find it in our Murano and Burano guide.

If your priority is an introduction to the city on foot, the two hour City Highlights walk starts at Campiello dei Squilini near Ca' Foscari in Dorsoduro. It costs from €24 per person with an English-speaking guide in a small group. Our Venice tours comparison includes this outdoor alternative.