For many, the city of Venice evokes an image of relaxing in a sleek gondola with a serenading gondolier guiding you through a romantic canal next to candy-striped mooring posts. While heavily used by eager tourists and the local transportation of goods, the canals in Venice, Italy, are a part of what make this floating city magical. They’re also an essential part of how the city functions even today. You can explore the canals in Venice by taking a boat ride, walking over a ponte (bridge), or strolling along the fondamenta (foundation), which is the sidewalk or walking bank along the canal.
Venice is a fun city to visit, but it’s also easy to get lost if you don’t pay attention to the street signs above your head. To make your trip easier, learn to communicate in Italian with confidence. Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion method mirrors the way you first acquired language as a child, so it’s much easier to learn a new language!
Table of Contents
1. Explore the “Main Street” canal in Venice: Canal Grande
There’s no street in the world like the Grand Canal—partly since it’s water and not a paved road! This important waterway winds through the center of the city of Venezia (Venice), serving as its main aquatic boulevard and the focal point of the amazing city views. It’s not the widest canal in Venice, but it’s the longest.
While you can walk along the fondamenta in some areas, you’ll need to cross a bridge or travel by water to get between many sites. Many vaporetti (public water buses) cruise the length of the canal to transport people to Venetian sites and neighborhoods, while the traghetti (transport ferries) take people straight across as a budget-friendly time-saver.
From the Grand Canal, you can see four historic bridges, each with a distinct style and history:
- Ponte degli Scalzi (Bridge of the barefoot monks) the main bridge to access Venice from the train station.
- Ponte dell’Accademia (Academy Bridge) the main pedestrian bridge connecting San Marco and Dorsoduro districts
- Ponte della Costituzione (Calatrava or Constitution Bridge) a secondary bridge connecting Dorsoduro with the Santa Lucia train station
- Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) the iconic bridge that connects San Marco with San Polo
A cruise along the Grand Canal is like a floating museum of architecture and history. It’s a great way to get oriented with many beautiful sites like these:
- Fondaco dei Tedeschi: building that houses the Museum of Natural History
- Ca’ Vendramin Calergi: building that houses a casino with peak Renaissance architecture
- Galleria Internazaionale D’Arte Moderna Ca’Pesaro: Art gallery featuring late 19th and early 20th century art
- Ca’Foscari: Gothic-style building that now serves as a university office
- Palazzo Venier dei Leoni: Historic palace that houses Venice’s Peggy Guggenheim collection
During your trip to Venice, you’ll want to catch all the colors of the Grand Canal by noticing how the light paints it differently at various times of day. Some of the best viewpoints to see Venice along the Canal Grande are Fondaco dei Tedeschi, the Rialto Bridge, Ca’Pesaro, and the Accademia Bridge.
Location: Grand Canal 30100 Venice, Italy
2. Snap your perfect small canal photo along Rio della Toletta
A small and picturesque canal is your ticket to a peaceful photo opportunity, free from crowds, in the Dorsoduro neighborhood. Your views along the way include colorful buildings, exposed ancient brick, stairs and bridges, undisturbed plants, and a wrought-iron fence along the fondamenta. Venice can be a busy city, so finding little pathways and canals away from the crowds is refreshing.
Location: Rio della Toletta 30100 Venice, Italy
3. Dive into local Venetian life from the Canale di Cannaregio
As the main waterway through the Cannaregio sestiere (neighborhood), this short canal offers a more relaxed overview of Venetian life. You can catch views of multiple palazzi (palaces), waterfront cafes, locals out for a stroll, and neighborhood children at play. Cannaregio is where you’ll find the Jewish Quarter and some of the best food in Venice.
Two pedestrian bridges cross the canal, but they are both worth viewing from below when possible! The Ponte dei Tre Archi (Bridge of the Three Arches) is the only three-arched bridge left in the city. Ponte delle Guglie (Bridge of Spires) connects Cannaregio with the train station and is protected by a host of gargoyles scowling in your direction as you pass beneath. It happens to be the only bridge with metal spires—thus its name.
Location: Cannaregio Canal 30100 Venice,Italy
4. Be inspired by the picturesque Canale di San Pietro
Away from the crowds in the east neighborhood of Castello, you’ll find the St. Peter Canal bordering Isola San Pietro di Castello. The main attraction of this island is a beautiful Renaissance church: Basilica di San Pietro di Castello with its campanile (bell tower) pointing toward the sky. The long wooden bridge Ponte di Quintavalle is so quaint and ideal for a picture as you explore the nearby fishing village. This is a great neighborhood for a stroll in an older district that’s not quite as frequented by tourists.
You can keep venturing north toward the Venetian arsenal and fortress to view the Greek lion and towers at the entrance. Just north of the shipyard, you’ll find an inspiring sculpture by Lorenzo Quinn called Building Bridges, featuring six massive pairs of arms reaching up to meet each other in an impactful posture of unity.
Location: St. Peter Canal 30100 Venice, Italy
5. Pass under the Bridge of Sighs on the Rio del Palazzo
The world-famous Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) is an impressive enclosed white stone bridge connecting the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) to the Prigioni Nuove (new prison). The Bridge of Sighs is one of the most notable landmarks along the tiny Rio del Palazzo canal, and one of the few bridges in Venice that is fully enclosed.
It’s so named because prisoners caught their final glimpse of daylight before they were imprisoned. This sad but romantic history has inspired songwriters, filmmakers, and other architects who have used the bridge name or design elsewhere in the world. You can ride a gondola underneath the bridge for the best view or walk across it yourself by booking a tour at Doge’s Palace. Or you can join the throngs snapping pics of it on Ponte della Paglia.
Location: Rio del Palazzo, Venice, Italy
6. Relive a piece of history from Rio di San Trovaso
Centuries ago, thousands of gondolas were the main form of transportation for Venetians, but now only a few hundred operate in the canals of Venice, Italy, mostly for hire by tourists. As a tribute to the heritage, a dedicated team of artisans keep tradition alive at Squero di San Trovaso, a historic boatyard that sits right on the Rio di San Trovaso.
Boat workers still build and repair gondolas and other boats by hand, just as they have for over 400 years. If you book in advance, you can get a tour to see the process up close!
Location: Rio de San Trovaso 30123 Venice, Italy
7. Watch yachts, dinghies, gondolas, and water buses pass through the huge Canale della Giudecca
This wide canal separates the main city of Venice from the mostly residential island of Giudecca to the south. The canal is served by multiple vaporetti lines and is sometimes considered simply a part of the Venetian Lagoon since it’s so wide. From the water you can enjoy iconic views of the whole city, with a great vantage point for photos of the skyline. Many of the high-end hotels are here on Giudecca since they have an unobstructed view of the ocean sunsets.
Even if you just explore the Giudecca canal by boat, you can see the majestic church Santa Maria della Salute on the point of the Dorsoduro district with its commanding white dome. Across the way at the eastern point of the island, catch a glimpse of Le Zitelle (Chiesa di Santa Maria della Presentazione) and the facade of the neo-gothic palace Casa dei Tre Oci.
Location: 801 N, 30100 Venice, Italy
8. Fall in love with narrow canals like Rio di Santa Maria Formosa
Unlike the spacious Grand Canal, the Rio di Santa Maria Formosa is quite narrow: picture the difference between an alleyway and a four-lane highway. This waterway is just one of many narrow canals running through Venicem but each is fun to explore for the perfect photo.
To uncover the canals less traveled by tourists, walk beyond the busy piazze and tourist areas or hire a gondola and ask to go to the quieter canals. Venice has over 150 canals and 400 bridges across all the islands, so take a chance on a serendipitous route to find some of the most gorgeous views of Venice between the buildings and islands.
If a gondola hire isn’t in your budget, or if you’d like to stray from the typical path, try finding viewpoints on your map where two canals cross. For example, Ponte Tetta and nearby Ponte dei Conzafelzi both offer views of two or three canals at once so you can watch the boats come and go.
Location: Rio di Santa Maria Formosa 30100 Venice, Italy
Frequently asked questions about Venice’s canals
How was Venice built?
Like Rome, Venice wasn’t built in a day. The islands in the lagoon became a refuge from invaders like Attila the Hun, and settlements in Venice began around 450 A.D. Builders used trees from Croatia as structural supports, creating higher ground on top of sediment deposits. They deepened and widened the existing natural canals that meandered between the natural islands. Thus, the map of the city almost drew itself, giving Venice an organic layout unlike the grid-like straight lines of many modern cities.
The brackish waters of the sea weren’t suitable for drinking, so city planners created a piazza (square) in each area of the city with an underground cistern to collect rainwater. Visitors benefit today from the beautiful meeting places, restaurants, cafes, and shops that exist in these public squares.
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How deep are the canals in Venice?
Venice’s canals aren’t that deep. In fact, most canals are barely 10-15 feet on average. The depth can change considerably with tides and weather patterns. During times of acqua alta (high water), flooding is common and has been for centuries. Some buildings are almost continually flooded, such as the crypt under the church of San Zaccaria, which is a unique thing to do in Venice.
Barrier and pump systems help to maintain acceptable water levels during high water seasons, but some water ferry services are suspended during flooding. The water will rise too high for the boats to pass under the older bridges.
Why are Venice’s canals sometimes dry or frozen?
Just as there are times of flooding, there are also times of extreme low tides in Venice. It’s a continual cycle that has been traced back hundreds of years. During times of very low tides that coincide with very dry weather, some of the most shallow canals can become drained of water, stranding boats and gondolas. Not only do tourists miss out on some canal rides, but it’s harder to transport goods to these stranded areas that depend on waterways to bring supplies.
The saltwater in this temperate region means that the canals don’t usually freeze unless temperatures are especially icy. This rare occurrence can be both gorgeous for photos and inconvenient for those used to traveling by canal.
Can you swim in the canals in Venice?
No. Any kind of bathing, wading, swimming, or entering the canal waters is forbidden and can result in a hefty fine and a ban from visiting Venice. Not to mention that despite local efforts to keep the waters looking pristine, there’s a certain amount of pollution due to daily boat traffic, so save your dips for the beaches and acceptable swimming areas!
It’s worth noting that Venice has other strict rules that are often enforced on tourists. People are not allowed to eat food or drink on the ground, sit or lie down in walkways, on steps, or on bridges. Also, littering, wearing swimsuits or going shirtless in public, feeding the wildlife, camping, or cycling in the city is also not allowed. Much of the trash can end up in the canals, so there is a purpose behind the rules if you don’t want to be fined up to €500.
Does flooding mean that Venice is sinking?
Flooding due to high tides and water levels happens a few times a year and has since Venice was built in the 5th century. You’ll see stone plaques on buildings throughout Italy showing high water marks from severe floods. If you’re visiting during a period of acqua alta (high water), you could be allowed to wade through flooded squares and splash around a little. You can get some great photos!
City planners try to mitigate the effects of too much flooding with special barrier systems and regular maintenance. To protect the integrity of the city, preservationists conduct regular maintenance with proactive efforts to reduce the amount of water that can flow into the city at once, heading off potential damage to this treasure of a city.
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