One Day in Venice: Stay in Bologna, and How to Pay €16 for a Gondola
Venice as a day trip from Bologna — why staying outside the city is the better call, how to share a gondola down to €16 a head, and why you shouldn't book a single experience in advance.
I did Venice as a day trip and I'd recommend it over staying there — not because Venice isn't worth your time, but because of what it costs to sleep in it.
Here's the version of the day I'd repeat, including the gondola trick that took mine from €80 to €16.
Stay in Bologna instead
Everything in Venice is expensive, accommodation most of all. So I based myself in Bologna and came in for the day.
The train is about two hours each way and completely painless. Bologna is a great city to come back to in the evening, it costs a fraction of Venice to sleep in, and it puts you within easy reach of a lot else besides.
Unless you specifically want Venice at dawn and after dark — which is a genuine argument, and the only one I'd accept — the maths here isn't close.
The gondola: how to pay €16 instead of €80
This is the single most useful thing I can tell you about Venice.
A gondola costs about €80. That's for the boat, not per person — and they take up to five people.
So I stood at the pier, found four other people who also wanted to go, and we split it. €16 each.
At €16 it was absolutely worth doing. At €80 on my own it would not have been.
Two rules that make this work:
- Book directly at the pier, not online. Online you're paying a markup for the same boat, and more importantly you can't pool with strangers — which is the entire saving.
- Be willing to ask. Everyone standing at that pier is doing the same arithmetic you are. It takes about a minute.
My honest verdict: it's more for the show than for actual value. It's a nice thing to have done, the boat handling is genuinely skilful, and floating through the narrow canals is a real experience. But I wouldn't pay more than about €20 a head for it. Above that, spend the money on something else.
Don't book any experiences
I mean this literally: don't pre-book anything in Venice.
My favourite thing to do there — by a distance — was simply walking around. Every corner is unique and beautiful in a way that no other city manages. You turn out of an alley into a square you didn't know existed, cross a bridge over a canal you'll never find again, and that's the whole appeal.
Booking a schedule of experiences works directly against that. Venice is a city that rewards having nowhere to be.
The main sights — St Mark's Square, the Basilica, the Doge's Palace, the Rialto Bridge — are all in the same walkable area and you'll pass them naturally. Go into whichever appeals when you get there.
What I got wrong: Burano and Murano
I missed Burano and Murano, and I regret it.
They're islands out in the lagoon — Burano with its brightly painted houses, Murano known for glassmaking — and they're the part of the trip I'd add if I went again.
If you want them, plan in advance, because this is the one thing on the day that needs it:
- Take the public ferries (vaporetto), not a tour boat. They're much cheaper and go to the same islands.
- Check the timetables properly. The ferries don't run continuously and the islands are far enough out that a missed boat costs you real time.
Fitting Burano and Murano into a single day alongside central Venice is tight. If they matter to you, that's the argument for a second day — or for accepting the Venice accommodation prices after all.
A realistic day
- Early train from Bologna — around 2 hours
- Walk. No plan, no bookings. Head roughly towards St Mark's and let the city divert you, which it will
- Gondola from the pier, pooled with others
- Rialto Bridge and the market if the timing works
- Evening train back to Bologna
If you're going for Burano and Murano, put them first thing in the morning and work back into the centre afterwards.
Related reading
- 11-day Italy itinerary — the full route, with Bologna as a base
- Cinque Terre day trip from Florence
- Lake Como day trip from Milan