Ripped off Gondola in Venice

[GreenAir80]

Hello I want to make you all aware of this as we got totally ripped off in Venice and I want to warn you all.

We took a Gondola from outside St Mark’a Square right in front of where the two pillars are, the gondoliers run a racket there, they all have these cards where they say it’s up to €200ish euros for a Gondola ride. We took a €185 option and paid €160 for it, they refused card we walked off and then another person came and said he’ll take card.

We were taken on a max 25 minute gondola ride.

I found out after it should have been €90 and you can go on a side street and pick up a gondola
and they’ll still take you on the Grand Canal and under the Rialto bridge, I just wanted to let you all know. It was a lovely experience but tarnished.

I think you pay for the view while you drink your coffee. Even many years ago I took one look and kept walking.

@Bjorkdidit yes it is. You go in, look at the menu and leave.

TBH a lot of places in San Marco are total scams and have been for ages.

Gondola rides have always been extortionate. I lived in Italy from 1975 to 1983 and it was just the same then. I thought it was very well known that Gondola = expensive and not exactly great value for money.

Ripped off in Venice? St Marks Square gondola ride? No shit! How naive are you exactly? Also July! 🙄

Yes I know. It's a gondola ferry across the canal. Not romantic but definitely cheap!

The boat that takes you across the canal on foot is a traghetto. Lovely couple of minutes on these is the best way to cross the Canale Grande

OP, you are making a fair point if you didn't know you could take one on a side street.
We were there last year and we asked the gondoliers their route before taking one, and we paid the standard 90 euros. The side canals were the best part of the whole thing - we did Grand Canal and Rialto on the vaporetto from the airport.

We paid the same as you and we went about 10 years ago, I think you got a normal price. I doubt side street vendors are the same at all, it's a family tradition passed down through specific lines, not just any random guy with a boat.

OP I'm sorry you got ripped off. I do think it's worth you letting people know as apparently there are some who think gondoliers can charge what they want. They can't and there is a set rate. There is a form you can fill in here to let the municipality know about them (in the drop down, it's 'tourism').
dime.comune.venezia.it/servizio/segnalazioni-inefficienze

I'm glad you enjoyed the experience and hope losing the money doesn't impact your holiday. It's not a reflection on you but on them.

Yes but they're not gondolas. It's freight.

Bless your heart

DH and I got a gondola on our honeymoon (we spent a couple of nights in Venice as part of a longer trip). We knew it was expensive and gimmicky but we didn't mind because it was part of the experience. We paid the standard €90 (or whatever it was five years ago).

The gondolier seemed pretty grumpy and uninterested until I asked him a question in Italian, at which point he became incredibly friendly and gave us a really interesting tour!

Ah ok fair enough, if there are legally set rates and they were pretending these were the set rates then that is a con. Apologies

Good luck with reporting that!

Venice is well known to be a rip off. You are literally being charged to breathe now with the new tourist tax.

Don't go there if you are not prepared to take the time to shop around for every activity, coffee, piece of tat. Everyone is at it.

I recently went to Venice as part of wider trip around Italy. I only researched on train ride there from Rome. Even in the few minutes I spent looking at transport options on line I saw info about pricing. I think this is a case of you not doing research.

We got 48 hour cards for water buses and took loads of trips even out to Lido and islands of burano and Murano. My son is under 18 so got the special card with a tourist info pdf document for free. It was brilliant.

If pricing matters to you then you need you so around and onus is on you.

I went in February but paid the standard price as my OH is a haggler. Anyone reading this who is contemplating a Venice trip, please don't be put off by this post - it is magical and I wouldn’t hesitate to go again. Yes, it's touristy and busy in parts but it's also timeless and breathtakingly beautiful. We took the gondola on my special birthday 'day' and I'll never forget it. The almost silent back canals with people going about their daily business was amazing, almost unchanged in hundreds of years. Mind you, going on the grand canal in a wooden boat was a bit lively! 😄

How is the onus on me when these gondoliers are conning tourists. Where the council has set rates. Yes I didn’t pay €14 for a Fanta in St Mark’s Sq.

We are not particularly naive travellers. However when you’re presented with a card with prices on it, not aware of other things like going down the side etc. I know it could have been a google away but that’s why I’m warning people now for when they google!

I am not seeking to put people
off Venice this is our third trip but we’ve bizarrely never done the Gondola before, we are staying at Lake Garda and took a day trip this time so we kind of had the few things in mind we wanted to do. A gondola being one of them this time.

Good luck with reporting that!

I've just given OP a link to report it - it's perfectly possible. The authorities ask that you do. And there is of course a form for everything in Italy - including gondola fraud!

There’s a reason why Venetians don’t take gondolas. When I went to Venice we took water buses, I didn’t miss out on anything. It’s a tourist trap, every country has them.

I didn’t go on the gondolas as I knew they’re tourist traps but I really loved Venice and it’s islands. Wonderful time there.

Honestly a gondola, punt on the River Cam, horse-drawn carriage etc - they’re all better to look at than to travel on. Especially the horse-drawn carriage where your main view is of the horse’s arse.

You’ve only got to go a short distance from St Mark’s Square and the price of everything comes down. I’m sorry you were ripped off but Venice is far better experienced on foot or using the public system. And yes the traghetto is an experience worth taking!

Well yeah gondolas are no good for going from A to B which is what people who live there generally want - you need a vaporetto or a taxi for that (although even that's debatable - it's a pretty small place so you can likely mostly walk - Venetians ofc don't pay much for vaporetto rides so makes sense for them to hop on). It's just an experience, like visiting St Mark's or the Doge's Palace, quite different from a vaporetto. You don't have to do it, I mean you don't have to go to Venice at all either, but a lot of people enjoy it.

You miss out on going in a gondola. If that's not on the to-do list then it's totally fine.
Four of us, 90 euro in total for half an hour. It was totally worth it as a one-off experience.

With respect, it sounds like you didn’t even know there were council-set rates until someone told you in this thread? This could have been avoided by doing a bit of research in advance. No judgement - I sometimes research stuff in advance of holidays and sometimes don’t and take out chances, depending how busy I am beforehand!