The Grand Canal

Table of Con­tents Show

Overview:

“The most beau­ti­ful street in the world”, the famous Grand Canal breathes life into the roman­tic city of Venice, as a jour­ney along this tru­ly fan­tas­tic Canal allows you to trav­el past and through the famous build­ings from the 13th and 18th Cen­tu­ry from the heights of the Venet­ian Repub­lic that dot the banks of the canal and cli­max­es in the famous San Mar­co Square, pro­vid­ing a tru­ly unique, awe-inspir­ing and roman­tic expe­ri­ence.

In fact, the S‑shaped Grand Canal, which fol­lows the San­ta Lucia rail­road sta­tion to the Piaz­za San Mar­co and runs for 2 and a half miles also acts as an impor­tant divid­ing path­way between dis­tricts through the fish shaped city, with the famous and tru­ly lav­ish build­ings, which them­selves stand as archi­tec­tur­al won­ders and inhib­it the wealth and glo­ry of the Venet­ian Repub­lic explorable both by pub­lic boat, on foot across the four famous bridges – and per­haps most roman­ti­cal­ly by being ser­e­nad­ed in one of the many Gon­do­las that offer a unique and roman­tic way to jour­ney through this true won­der of the world.

Where:

The grand canal is hard to miss once in Venice – as it runs down the cen­tre of the city as the main water­way from San Mar­co to the train sta­tion in the heart of Venice.

Get­ting there: As the Grand Canal runs through the whole of Venice, get­ting there is as sim­ple as get­ting to Venice with most jour­neys run­ning form the Fer­rovia train sta­tion or the Piazzza­lo Roma to or from the Piaz­za San Mar­co.

In terms of arriv­ing, the best bet is to head to the train sta­tion and util­is­ing Venice’s pub­lic trans­port sys­tem known as a Vaporet­to to begin your jour­ney down the Grand Canal (be sure to get on Line 1) – this will allow you to take in the main sites of the Grand Canal list­ed below and is a sim­ple and easy way to begin explor­ing the won­der – once at the end of the jour­ney at the San Mar­co square, you can head back down the canal on the path­ways at the side on foot to take in the bridges or do a round trip by Gon­do­la.


Best time to Visit:

Unques­tion­ably you should avoid the sum­mer months if pos­si­ble – when Venice will be packed with tourists, prices will sky­rock­et and the heat will be at the max­i­mum.

Instead aim to vis­it Venice and the Grand Canal in April – May or in Sep­tem­ber – Octo­ber when the weath­er is right (flood sea­son is late Octo­ber to Jan­u­ary), but more impor­tant­ly the crowds will be reduced, and the prices will be low­er adding to a more enjoy­able Grand Canal expe­ri­ence – it’s also advised to make sure you have a vis­it in both the ear­ly morn­ing hours and in the evening when peo­ple who arrive for day trips will have gone and the crowds will again be reduced – plus you get to expe­ri­ence the beau­ti­ful Grand canal sun­ris­es and sun­sets !

Explore:

There are three great ways to expe­ri­ence the Grand Canal, on foot, by the vaporet­to and by indulging in a Gon­do­la trip along the roman­tic canal.

For those mov­ing on foot first, the best place to start is in St Marks Square and then work your way back on foot, tak­ing in the sights list­ed below on foot. The beau­ty of on foot is the abil­i­ty to zig-zag across the four famous bridges that allow you to cross the grand canal, giv­ing you mul­ti­ple unique pho­to shots and a stun­ning chance to take in panoram­ic views of this won­der. The four bridges are:

The Rial­to Bridge: The old­est bridge con­sid­ered the most charm­ing bridge in Italy, the Rial­to bridge was con­struct­ed in the 1250 orig­i­nal­ly out of wood and in the times of the great Venet­ian Repub­lic – it was orig­i­nal­ly designed to con­nect the polit­i­cal pow­ers with the banks in the San Polo area of Venice, and while halfway up the Grand Canal after a sharp bend offers a great spot to snap that ear­ly sun­rise pho­to of the won­der.

The Ponte dell’ Accad­e­mia: The bridge clos­est to St Marks square, the Accad­e­mia Bridge is the only remain­ing wood­en bridge, and as well as offer­ing stun­ning views and con­nect­ing the city of Venice has a sto­ried his­to­ry hav­ing been orig­i­nal­ly torn down in the 1930’s only to be re-built lat­er, stand­ing as both a unique site in Venice and a reminder of the city’s past.

The Ponte degli Scalzi: Trans­lat­ed as the rail­way bridge – giv­en its close­ness to the rail­way sta­tion of Venice – is also known as the bare­foot bridge and is made out of sol­id stone, con­nect­ing the the area of Cannare­gio to the area of San­ta Croce – for those spend­ing a few nights in Venice and arriv­ing by train it’s advised to stay in this region and this bridge will become a reg­u­lar cross­ing as you explore the won­der.

The Ponte del­la Cos­ti­tuzione – The most con­tro­ver­sial bridge in Venice (and prob­a­bly in Italy) the Ponte del­la Cos­ti­tuzione links the two areas of Piaz­za­le Roma with Venezia San­ta Lucia and has a

Glass and some­what slip­pery bot­tom, unfor­tu­nate­ly the bridge is hat­ed by locals, not only because it doesn’t fit in with the ele­gant archi­tec­ture of Venice, but also because it came in over bud­get and its design by the archi­tect Cala­tra­va is func­tion­al­ly flawed – push­ing the banks of the canal away from each oth­er and requir­ing con­stant main­te­nance on the bridge, so much is the hatred for the bridge that Cala­tra­va was fined $80,000 in 2019, which is prob­a­bly a lit­tle harsh.

Along­side tak­ing in the four bridges and a walk­ing tour of the grand canal, the clas­sic way of see­ing the Grand Canal is through the vaporet­to pub­lic trans­port bus which leads from the train sta­tion through the S bends all the way to the fan­tas­tic San Mar­co Square. When tak­ing this option, be sure to ride the Num­ber 1 vaporet­to (in ear­ly morn­ing or evening to avoid traf­fic) and sit up front, as the 40-minute jour­ney takes you past all the main sites of the Grand Canal and on a his­toric tour of the 13th to 18th cen­tu­ry ele­gant build­ing that dot the canal and the most beau­ti­ful street in the world.

Final­ly, as touristy and cliché as it may be, it’s rec­om­mend­ed to expe­ri­ence the Grand Canal on a 40 minute Gon­do­la ride – prefer­ably in the late evening when crowds have dis­persed, these unique and roman­tic boats can hold up to 5 peo­ple and are a great way to get up close and per­son­al with the Grand canal as a gon­do­lier wear­ing the famous stripped shirt takes you down through the sites of the Grand Canal with any one of the 500 Gon­do­las that dot the city pro­vid­ing a round trip through the won­der and the main sites list­ed below – just be warned they don’t come cheap at eighty euros a pop.


Whichev­er way you chose to explore the Grand Canal, you’re sure to come across and explore mul­ti­ple fan­tas­tic archi­tec­tur­al and roman­tic feats, list­ed below are the top 7 we’d rec­om­mend tak­ing in and spend­ing a lit­tle time explor­ing:

St. Mark’s Basil­i­ca – Sit­u­at­ed in the heart of the icon­ic san Mar­co square, St. Mark’s basil­i­ca is one of the great­est cathe­drals in Italy and the pin­na­cle of the famous st marks square – with the beau­ti­ful inte­ri­or and out­side archi­tec­ture mak­ing it a must see at the tip of the Grand Canal – while entry is free be pre­pared to queue a lit­tle to get inside.

Palaz­zo Ducale – the Palaz­zo Ducale is the sym­bol of Venice and per­haps after St Marks basil­i­ca the most recog­nis­able land­mark – with this pink and white mar­ble Renais­sance build­ing hav­ing been rebuilt after destruc­tion in 1677 fol­low­ing a fire – like the basil­i­ca it is a great place to explore at the start of your jour­ney down the great canal with the mul­ti­ple renais­sance and venet­ian art it hosts pro­vid­ing an inspi­ra­tional start to any jour­ney down the worlds most roman­tic street.

San Mar­co Plaza — While host­ing both the St. Mark’s basil­i­ca and the Palaz­zo Ducale – the San Mar­co plaza is itself a unique sight, with the large court­yard home to not just many pigeons, but some of the great­est ice cream in the world. The plaza is also the many pub­lic square of Venice and hosts fes­ti­vals, gath­er­ings and is the main site for the famous Venice Car­ni­val that takes place in Feb­ru­ary.

Basil­i­ca of San­ta Maria del­la Salute — Down on the canal the Basil­i­ca of San­ta Maria del­la Salute – or sim­ply La Salute is famous for its beau­ti­ful and exquis­ite archi­tec­ture and rep­re­sents the per­se­ver­ance of the Venice peo­ple for pulling through the pan­dem­ic in 1629 – it’s a must see on any Gon­do­la or vaporet­to trip.

Palaz­zo Grit­ti Palace Hotel – For the rich and famous the icon­ic Palaz­zo Grit­ti Palace Hotel, which dates back to 1525 is again a unique archi­tec­tur­al feat on the Grand Canal and a def­i­nite pho­to spot on any tour – it’s also worth pop­ping inside to admire the many antiques, art and to sip on some over­priced cof­fee as you take in the Grand Canal from the famous Bal­cony.

Palaz­zo Cor­ner del­la Ca’ Grande – A stun­ning archi­tec­tur­al place that again rep­re­sents anoth­er unique pho­to spot on the Grand Canal the Palaz­zo Cor­ner del­la Ca’ Grande was built in 1546 by the famous Cor­rono­do fam­i­ly and stands out as a tru­ly unique build­ing along the grand canal.

Ca’ Fos­cari – The Venice uni­ver­si­ty, while not some­where to spend hours explor­ing is one of the famous build­ings in Venice for its stun­ning and beau­ti­ful archi­tec­ture and fea­tured heav­i­ly in the film Casi­no Royale – a great pho­to spot along the won­der !


How long to stay:

3 days is a per­fect amount of time to stay at the Grand Canal and in Venice – giv­ing you a chance to explore the Canal, take a Gon­do­la ride, explore the San Mar­co square and take in the Won­der of the World.

Top Tip:

For those who don’t mind crowds and have a bit of time – com­bin­ing the Grand Canal with a trip to the Venice Car­ni­val is a once in a life­time expe­ri­ence, just make sure to book well in advance, watch your pock­ets for pick­pock­ets and be pre­pared for increased prices.

Cost:

Venice prices and the Grand canal are noto­ri­ous­ly high – but arriv­ing in April-May or Sep­tem­ber to Octo­ber can negate this. For a trip down the Canal in a vaporet­to expect to pay Eight euros – regard­less of whether you get off on one stop of jour­ney the whole way down – and a gon­do­la ride can set you back 80 euros for a half hour trip – but can be extend­ed if required – be pre­pared for price to rise in the high sea­son.

Fun Fact:

Despite it being a canal, swim­ming is strict­ly off lim­it in the Canal – so don’t bring your swim­ming trunks to Venice.

Best photo spot:

While any spot along the Grand Canal is roman­tic, an evening sun­set shot on the Rial­to Bridge, at the nar­row­est point of the canal is not to be missed as it shows a fan­tas­tic view down the won­der with the Gon­do­las in shot.

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