Venice: The Hidden Canals on an Electric Boat
Recommended by 92% of travellers
Badge of Excellence
Venice, Italy
- 1 hour 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
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What's Included
- Bottled water
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Fondamenta Ognisanti, 1360, 30123 Venezia VE, Italy
Meeting at Fondamenta Ognissanti 1360.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
City of Venice (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Pushchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Most travellers can participate
- On certain dates, most travelers staying outside of Venice who are planning to visit for the day will be required to pay a €5 access fee. For further details (including exemptions) and to learn what days this fee is applicable, please visit: https://cda.ve.it
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 6 travellers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveller Photos
Reviews
4.7
based on 322 reviews
Ron_W, May 2026
Lively, fun and awesome viewing tour by a skilled boatsman who knows the canals and the scenery. Outstanding trip with things that you wouldn't see on a normal tour! Well worth the time and cost.
Julie_G, May 2026
Great time out in the canals. Our driver was fantastic and we got to go to places that a gondola cannot go.
donald_b, May 2026
Our captain Emiliano was great! Very knowledgeable. Seeing Venice by private boat tour was amazing. Would highly recommend!
Note: Only able bodied, avoid if mobility issues, the on-boarding is difficult. The City of Venice is walking or boats, only. The Piazelle Roma is closest place to catch taxi, bus or Uber.
Paul_J, May 2026
This was a great experience! Our guide was extremely friendly and provided just the right amount of information during the tour. It starts in an area a bit off the major tourist area so you also get to see a little different part of Venice that you might miss.
The electric boat was very smooth and very quiet.
I would highly recommend this tour as good way to see the canals from the water level even over the gondola rides.
Karen_C, May 2026
Great tour. You see so many more places on an electric boat than on a gondola. Our tour guide was so fun! I highly recommend this tour
Kristina_S, May 2026
The boat was newer, clean.and spacious The meeting point was easy to find and it was such a beautiful calm, peaceful ride through the canals.
Daniel_W, May 2026
Boat was 30 minutes late and I had to call the operator to find out where the boat was. Boarding was unsafe and caused my girlfriend to fall and injure herself.
Response from Host, May 2026
Dear Daniel,
thank you for your booking and for taking the time to review the experience. I am sorry about the delay to the tour related to the high volume of traffic in the lagoon due to the Biennale's opening. Unfortunately there some circumstances that are out of our control.
In regards to the unsafe boarding, we always do our best to ensure the smoothest boarding procedure, reason why we always require our guest to pay extra attention to avoid complication on the boarding that might be due to the low water tide, the wave motion, or the environmental condition.
Thank you
lynn_d, May 2026
It was difficult getting in and out of the boat for a fat, old lady. The hidden canals were wonderful but too much time in the “big water”
Response from Host, May 2026
Dear Lynn, thank you for taking the time to review the experience. I am sorry to hear that you find some challenges to get in and out of the boat. Due to the complexity of the venetian canal's system and the relative traffic arrengement, in order to access some of the smaller canals of the city we also have to cross some of the open areas that at the same time allow pictoresque views of the city while offering a full overview of Venice and all it's districts. I hope to have you onboard again in the future.
Stavros_L, May 2026
The driver was very friendly,the ride was perfect.Beautiful ride through canals although I expected more picturesque views
Paul_F, Mar 2026
A great way to see the city. Electric boat made it so peaceful. Great guide gave lots of interesting information.
Sylva_K, Mar 2026
Our guide was absolutely excellent! He knows a great deal of information, and was extremely skilled navigating the canals. We learned a great deal about the canals, Venice in general, and thoroughly enjoyed our tour.
Edward_G, Mar 2026
Very good exploration of the lesser-known canals. Went to corners of the canal network that visitors rarely see. Duration around 90mins.
Reasonably good commentary by boat pilot although it could have been richer in facts and history.
Laurie_G, Dec 2025
Book this tour instead and cruise around the many fascinating districts of Venice in a quiet and comfortable electric boat with Niki. SOOOO enjoyable! We learned so much over the course of 2 hours, laughed a lot, and saw so many sights that would have been impossible in an overpriced gondola. Just a superb way to see the hidden canals of Venice!
Christopher_O, Dec 2025
Friendly captain, but I was hoping to learn more about the history and stories of Venice. It was more of a point and name sail. The boat is lux
imran_a, Nov 2025
This was a great first excursion in Venice. We learned a lot and took a lot of photos! Would recommend if you want to see a lot of the city, both tourist locations and off the beaten path
jason_d, Nov 2025
Unique way to see alot of Venice via canal. We enjoyed the guided tour but there was also plenty of time to just enjoy the scene
Timothy_S, Nov 2025
I would definitely recommend this tour. The driver aas very knowledgeable and extremely pleasant to.talk to.
Mike_T, Nov 2025
This was an extremely fun boat ride with lots of information about about Venice.
Our guide Nicky was very friendly and even gave us a great lunch recommendation.
We could have walked for a week and not seen all the sights we saw in a couple of hours. We loved it!
Stephen_S, Oct 2025
cancelled our tour because of engine breakdowns ... wasted 3 hours in Venice ... please note this is not a private tour .. if they had a boat that was operational they intended to stick another couple with our party of 4 .... How in the world do you replace 3 hours lost in a short visit to venice ??
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Dear Stephen,
We are sorry to read your review. Unfortunately we have faced issues with the engine that forced us to cancel the experiences, while we totally understand your frustration I believe you can also understand that that’s due to unexpected situations that we are not happy to face either. Regarding your concerns for the private group, indeed is not private. There are 6 seats available for the tour as per booking description. We recommend you to check the booking options and description ahead of booking. We are always happy to assist with the reservation if any question.
Thank you
Kind Regards
Andrea
Rosa_M, Oct 2025
This is the second time that I have booked with Viator in the last three months in two different countries. Barcelona in June when I was supposed to have a Tuk Tuk for three hours with my family and they had technical issues and had no other Tuk Tuks available for the next two days for us to tour.
Very very disappointing but at least they did offer a free Tuk Tuk the next time that we visited Barcelona, which I appreciated.
Then last week I had one day in Venice and booked with Viator on two hour Canal boat. A great way to hear about Venice!
I was told at 3:30 that my 4 o’clock boat ride was having technical issues but they would for sure come at 4:45 and all was well
We waited till then to find out that they were canceling it. I had one day in Venice to see the sites and very disappointed that my two hour boat ride that I was counting on had been canceled. This was the second time that I had booked with Viator and was canceled.
I think that something else could have been found since it was my only time in Venice and I was leaving in the morning the next day. Very disappointing and I don’t think I will be using Viator anymore.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Dear Rosa,
While we fully understand you might have faces difficulties booking on Viator in different occasions I would like to highlight that perhaps this could have been raised directly to Viator. Regarding the cancellation for the boat tour, despite we really understand your disappointment, technical issues might happen and safety comes first. We offered you alternative time and days which we understand did not work for you due to the limited time in the city, therefore we refunded the booking. Regarding the other experiences mentioned on your review please reach out with Viator or the other experience page directly. If you are back in Venice we will be happy to assist you with a booking.
Krista_L, Oct 2025
Fantastic. Our guided was extremely knowledgeable and very friendly. Wonderful experience. Strongly recommend.
TeresaEnglish, Oct 2025
Be sure to contact the Activity Provider before heading over to meeting place. We booked day of, received confirmation. After half hour walking, we arrived 5 min before start and found out we were double booked. Operator had contacted us by Viator email and text, 10 min before start of activity....5 min before arrival. I tried calling twice, but wasn't connected while walking last 5 minutes.
Operator did refund on our request.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Dear Teresa,
Thank you for taking time to leave a review. I am sorry that you did not manage to get the experience. Unfortunately, we received the booking just a couple of hours before the experience time, and as we were already fully booked for that time slot, we immediately communicate with you via message and email to inform you about that and offer you an alternative time for the day. We are very sorry that you did not manage to see our messages on time and that you got to know about this only when already on the way to us. We provided you with an alternative timeslot that we understood was not working for you, so we canceled and refunded the experience. While we are very sorry for the inconvenience, I want to assure you that we have done our best to communicate immediately despite the very short notice for the booking. We hope to have you onboard in the future and let us know ahead of time to better assist you with the booking.
Curt_s, Sept 2025
Driver was late
There was a little rain do the driver did not want to continue snd stopped the trip less than an hour in
Plus about 20 minutes doing nothing.
Epuld like at least partial refund. Not very happy
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Dear Curt,
Thank you for taking time to leave a review. I am sorry that the rain has affected your tour. I understand that this might have disappointed you, however, as we aim to provide the best experience possible, if the weather conditions do not allow the tour to comfortably and safely continue the tour we prefer to cancel and refund as we have done in this case. As an outdoor activity, unfortunately, we need to deal with the weather condition and the environment. While we understand your frustration, I hope you can visit us again in the future, hopefully on a sunnier day.
Paul_S, Sept 2025
The tour was fantastic. Out guided and boat captain was very knowledgeable which made this the best part of our vacation.
Do be aware that the location can be difficult to find, we asked around and finally found the location.
Thomas_M, Sept 2025
This was the best of six tours we booked for our trip to Italy. The private boat trip through the hidden canals was very relaxing and listening to stories about the area helped us to learn a lot about Venice. Highly recommend this tour. We'll worth the money.
Krista_P, Sept 2025
Fabulous time with Ricardo, going up and down the canals, educating us with many Venetian facts. He was delightful and very knowledgeable. The electric boat was quiet and pleasant to spend time in, with a table in the middle. Super interesting. Highly recommend this tour!
Jill_T, Sept 2025
Very nice opportunity to see unusual places around Venice with some history given during the tour. Host was funny and informative when asked questions.
Bernie_T, Sept 2025
Nick was terrific! Knowledgeable, friendly and a great, laid back attitude. He made the tour an enjoyable experience.
Eddie_V, Sept 2025
Great way to see all the back canals and waterways of Venice. Very informative. I have been on a Gondola before and believe this is a much better opportunity to explore the canals. Ricardo, our captain and guide was outstanding! Highly recommend this tour. The boat is quiet and comfortable.
JoseAntonio_M, Sept 2025
Ricardo was great. Best way to see Venice if you have limited time. You get a better vibe of the city when touring via a boat. Don’t forget your sunglasses!
From USD 118.86
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Venice: The Hidden Canals on an Electric Boat
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