You will meet with your guide in St Mark's Square and depart by private small motor launch (the only means of transport authorized for touring in the Gran Canal.) The beauty of churches and palazzos quickly surround you lining both banks of the canal. Venetians dart in and out of the buildings while the delivery boats and an occasional gondola glide by. This is the Canal Grande. From your "front row" seat you can gaze at centuries-old palazzos from an angle not seen by land. You will pass the Santa Maria della Salute. This crown jewel of 17th-century baroque architecture, the only one in Venice, proudly reigns where the Grand Canal empties into the lagoon. It was built to honor the Virgin Mary of Good Health for delivering Venice from a plague. You will see the 14th century Palazzo Gritti, a gothic palace that now serves as a luxury hotel. The Palazzo Venier dei Leoni was a palace started in the 1700s that was to be spectacular. It was never finished and there are those who say a neighbor, who did not want a palazzo grander than his, blocked it. The portion of the house that was completed remained in the Venier family until it was purchased by the flamboyant Marchesa Luisa Casati, hostess to the Ballets Russes, in 1910. In 1949 it was purchased by Peggy Guggenheim, who opened her house and collection to the public and continued to do so every year until her death in 1979. In 1980 the Guggenheim Museum opened. During your visit to the museum, you will be able to view Mrs. Guggenheim's personal collection, which is the core of the museum's permanent collection. It contains major works of Cubism, Futurism, Metaphysical painting, European abstraction, avant-garde sculpture, Surrealism, and American Abstract Expressionism, by some of the greatest artists of the 20th century.

After your time at the museum, you will board your private motor launch to complete your tour of the Canal Grande. Some of the structures you will pass include the late-gothic Palazzo Franchetti which dates to the 1500s, the Accademia Bridge, the majestic Palazzo Rezzonico, now a museum but once owned by the English painter, Robert Barret Browning whose father, the writer Robert Browning, lived here until his death in 1889. You will pass the Palazzo Loredan Vendramin Calergi (where composer Richard Wagner died in 1883) glide under the Rialto Bridge, while your guide shares the Venice of old as well as the Venice of today. Transiting the Canal of Giudecca, your motor launch will bring you back to the St. Mark's area.

Please note: Your tour departs from and returns to the St. Mark's Square area. Transfers to/from St. Mark's Square before and after your tour are not included in the tour price.