Burano is a colourful little island some 10km north of Venice, and a paddle up there is a very different experience. The island itself is quite small, and has some 3,500 inhabitants, but what first strikes the eyes are the colours. Each house has a different colour, often bright and sharp colours.

On the way up to Burano we paddle through the salt marshes in the lagoon, a rare habitat for unique plants and a plethora of birds and fishes. We also pass the islands of San Francesco del Deserto, Lazzaretto Novo, Sant’Erasmo, San Giacomo in Paludo and Madonna del Monte. Some of these are mentioned in most guide books, others are rarely visited or even noticed.

Beyond Burano is the abandoned island of Torcello with two medieval churches. Torcello used to be a thriving city, but it was abandoned in the 13th and 14th centuries, and now only the churches are left. It is still worth a visit when kayaking, time permitting.

All Venice Kayak trips start from the Certosa island. Click here for instructions on how to find us.

A day trip with Venice Kayak is normally a full day's paddling. We meet at 10 AM in the bar of the Certosa hotel, so we're ready in our kayaks before 11 AM. We'll paddle through the day, in a relaxed pace with a good lunch break and pauses as needed. Lunch is either sandwiches or we'll eat in a café or bar along the way. We typically start turning back at 3-4 PM with the intent of being back on the Certosa island around 5 PM and in any case before sunset.

Most paddling tours in the lagoon are between 20km and  up to 25km.

The route is agreed with you before we start, based on your wishes, desires and skills and on external factors such as traffic, weather and tide. A planned route isn't immutable, and if necessary we'll change or adjust it along the way.

Groups can be up to 6 persons. Larger groups can be arranged, but must be agreed upon well in advance, as we have to find an assistant guide for larger groups.

Required skills

We expect our guests to have basic paddling and rescue skills, to feel safe close to water and to know how to swim. You should at the very least have tried kayaking or canoeing before a few times.

If you haven’t paddled a sea kayak before, but still want to try, we’ll start with a short tour in the calm waters close to our base, before we set out in earnest.

Planned Tours to Burano and Torcello

If you’d like to go on a kayaking tour to Burano on another date, contact us and we’ll add a tour for you, if possible.

Practical information

Venice Kayak supplies kayaks, paddles, spraydecks, life vest (PFD), paddling jackets and drybags for change of clothes and valuables. The price also includes maps, use of toilets and showers at the camp site, and insurance.

All tours are guided by experienced Italian and English speaking kayak coaches.

Guests should bring sports clothes and shoes suitable for paddling, a change of clothes for afterwards, and protective items for outdoor activities, such as sunscreen, a hat and sun glasses. Water and snacks can be bought on the camp site.

Don't bring cameras that aren't waterproof. It only takes a few drops of salt water to ruin a camera or other electronics. Venice Kayak has one or more waterproof cameras suitable for taking pictures while kayaking. We will send you the photos we take afterwards.

The city of Venice is even more magical after dark. The Canal Grande is often eerily quiet and calm in the evening, lying almost dark between the illuminated palaces on the sides, disturbed only the occasional evening gondola and a vaporetto every twenty minutes, yet at times it can be as busy and tumultuous as in the day.

Most of the smaller canals are without any kind of illumination, only lit by the light from windows on the upper floors, or street lights from adjacent streets.

All Venice Kayak trips start from the Certosa island. Click here for instructions on how to find us.

An evening trip with Venice Kayak starts in the afternoon, about two hours before sunset, so we can prepare and launch before nightfall. We’ll then paddle around Venice, past the cemetery on the island of San Michele, to the Cannaregio area where we’ll arrive as it’ll be getting dark. We’ll paddle down most of the Canal Grande, from San Marcuolo to San Marco,  passing the Rialto Bridge, to the Salute Church and St. Mark’s where we’ll enter the smaller canals through the sestieri S.Marco and Castello on our way back to the Lido. We’re usually back on the Certosa island around three hours after sunset.

The actual times of meeting, launch and return changes with the season, as the hour of sunset changes.

An evening trip in the city is around 15km.

Groups can be up to 6 persons. Larger groups can be arranged, but must be agreed upon well in advance, as we have to hire an assistant guide with larger groups.

Required skills

We expect our guests to have basic paddling and rescue skills, to feel safe close to water and to know how to swim. Additional proficiency is need for paddling in the dark, as the experience can be scary for people who don’t feel at ease in a kayak.

If you haven’t paddled a sea kayak before, but still want to do an evening trip, book two days at least, so you have the first day to get accustomed to the feeling of kayaking in Venice.

Planned evening tours in Venice

If you’d like to go for an evening paddle in Venice on another date, contact us and we’ll add a tour for you, if possible.

Practical information

Venice Kayak supplies kayaks, paddles, spraydecks, life vest (PFD), paddling jackets and drybags for change of clothes and valuables. The price also includes maps, use of toilets and showers at the camp site, and insurance.

All tours are guided by experienced Italian and English speaking kayak coaches.

Guests should bring sports clothes and shoes suitable for paddling, a change of clothes for afterwards, and protective items for outdoor activities, such as sunscreen, a hat and sun glasses. Water and snacks can be bought on the camp site.

Don't bring cameras that aren't waterproof. It only takes a few drops of salt water to ruin a camera or other electronics. Venice Kayak has one or more waterproof cameras suitable for taking pictures while kayaking. We will send you the photos we take afterwards.

Kobie Johnson (US Military) – daytrip in May 2009:

We took this Venice Kayak tour, led by Rene, 19 May 2009.

It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had! I work in the outdoor recreation field and have had many unique experiences around the world but hardly any have compared to kayaking through the Venice Canals. Come on people, when will you ever get a chance to do that?

Rene was not only a patient trip leader and alot of fun, but also so informative. He is highly educated on Venitian history and culture.

Keep in mind that this is a fairly new activity so you have the chance to be one of the first to kayak through the canals.

I will be bringing my customers to share this same unique experience.

Thanks Rene, 5 stars!

Elizabeth and Harald (Sweden) – daytrip September 2011:

Thanks for a lovely day and a trip to remember. Also great photos you sent! We hope to be good ambassadors for your enterprise and will tell all our friends what not to miss if they make it to Venice!

Mary and David (Australia) – daytrip in June 2011:

Oh Rene, the photos are so fantastic, picking us up from our post holiday gloom, I can’t wait to come back to Venezia and do more kayaking. Thank you so much for a wonderful adventure, made so much better because of your encyclopaedic knowledge!

Gerry (USA) – daytrip in April, 2011:

Thank you and Marco for such a wonderful experience. Glad we hooked up after so many emails and changes in plans. If you ever need a recommnedation, you can use my name. I already told 20 people in town, and all of my friends, to book with you as
soon as possible.

Robin (USA) – daytrip in May 2011:

I couldn’t possibly miss ‘Kayaking in Venice’, as this was my second trip to the city of cities and I’ve learned a little paddling in the interim. But I wasn’t sure whether this would be a quick dash across the lagoon, or a real tour. I needn’t have worried.

The trip I was on explored nearly every significant feature of the main island waterways, from a pleasant sea-paddle across the lagoon from lonely haunted Certosa, to winding through the canals around Arsenale, a great lunch with the kayaks docked at a church, then winding through the very small rio’s to Rialto, and big adventures timing our crossing to avoid becoming vaporetto-food. Under Rene’s expert guidance the crossing was no problem at all, although I wouldn’t have wanted to try it on my own. Did you know they keep to the *left* in Venice? No, they’re not secretly British.

The equipment was first rate, the embarkation place a pleasant “recovering” island once used for the military and reachable by special request. Nice hotel bar, very credible spritz. Rene has more languages than I have fingers, english and italian among them, so communication (and the odd pronunciation lesson) were a snap. I should add that the conversation was as good as the paddling … Rene’s somewhat of a polymath with a solid background in history, so you get to learn a lot about the history, politics, economics and culture of both Italy and Venice (I’m convinced they are different places). Not to mention improving my kayak strokes.

The return paddle was even better, winding thru Dorsadoro, visiting a gondola repair and construction yard, and a great paddle across the Canale de Dan Marco and Canale della Guidecca to Salute — don’t miss the little boy with the frog — then back to Santa Elena and Certosa. I loved it, haven’t had so much fun in years, and recommend it without reservation.

Adrien and Douglas (New Zealand) – daytrip in September 2010:

That was a fabulous day, just a brilliant experience, certainly a different take on an amazing place.  I have a book of photos here, called “The secrets of Venice”, by Hugh Palmer and I have been looking at it today and so much of it is familiar after the trip with you .

Thanks again for your skill, patience and knowledge and for providing us with an experience we will never forget.

Very best of luck with the business, you are onto a real winner.

Lynn and David (USA) – daytrip in September 2010:

Wow! Great photos! Thanks so much for taking them and sharing them with us.

We had a fantastic day on the water with Venice Kayak. Venice itself is unforgettable but Venice by kayak takes it to a whole new level of unforgettable.

Tony (UK) – two daytrips in September, 2010:

Fabulous photos, fabulous memories of a fabulous time. Thank you.

Christiane & Stephen (USA) – daytrip in August, 2010:

Just returned from 5 days in Venice with my husband and 13 year old son. If you are active and want to see the city in a whole different way, we cannot recommend venicekayak.com too strongly.

From crossing the lagoon with all the ships speeding everywhere to paddling down silent, narrow little canals without a person in sight, none of us will ever forget it. I had already made several trips up the Grand Canal on vaporetto, but paddling along I noticed things I hadn’t before. There are details in the architecture and in the way the city functions that you just can’t pick up from a vaporetto or walking the streets.

One of those details is that the water was amazingly clean, didn’t smell at all (well, there was one corner that was a bit stinky, but that was 10 seconds of odour in about 5 hours of paddling) and there was nothing but the occasional plastic bottle for trash.

I would advise at least one previous outing in a kayak and good stamina, as crossing the Lagoon from Lido requires 20 minutes or so of non-stop paddling in choppy water. Paddling in the smaller canals where you spend most of the day required very little muscle.

Rene, the owner of the business and your guide is incredibly skilled and good about keeping everyone out of harms way. He was also very patient with my husband, who out of our group had the hardest time keeping up. Most of the time you just paddle and look, but he does point out some special places and tell some stories that were new to us about the city’s past.

It was great fun and a great way to get away from the hordes of tourists.

(posted on TripAdvisor)

Tonny and Mike – daytrip in August 2010:

The trip was a lot of fun and we will always remember it.

Sarah (UK) – daytrip in August, 2010:

Thanks for the trip. It was one of the best days of my holiday!

Helene (Canada) – daytrip in September, 2009:

Thank you Rene for an amazing adventure in Venice. What better way to see a city on water? You took such good care of your group, making sure we followed you like little ducklings on the most beautiful waterways in the world. I will never forget the experience and I am very grateful to you for making it possible.

Onno & Wim (Netherlands) – daytrip in August, 2009:

This is it. Out of a kayak, the city is more bellissima and serenissima than ever; it will never look the same again. Only after you have riden on the tidal waves from Lido to the Arsenale, glit silently through incredible narrow canals and been trapped in an uncomparable traffic jam of gondolas and watertaxis, have padddled to San Giorgio Maggiore and deep into the south lagoon, you’ll really start to understand what Venice is all about.

Marco, our guide, deserves the name San Marco. He’s probably the nicest person in town, and you feel safe with him anytime anywhere.

Thanks!

Andrea (Germany) – daytrip in August, 2009:

Thank you very much for the wonderfull impressions! I was very afraid of kayaking – my kayaking-experiences were very long ago – and as I saw the lagoon, the traffic and the waves, I nearly wanted to cancel the trip. But thank you for taking me with you! You made me calm and feeling save. It is possible to do the trip for nearly everyone – I made it. You are a very good guide! I’m looking forward for the photos you took: in the canals, under the Rialto bridge, in the lagoon… I am proud of me.

Anonymous on NY Times Community pages – evening trip in  July, 2009

I’ve been to Venice several times and always enjoy my visits. In late July of 2009 I had a fantastic experience of going on a night- time kayaking trip through the city (including Grand Canal). Some canals were totally deserted – no people on sidewalks, no boat traffic and it was beautiful and almost a little eerie. My guide – Renee is a very knowledgeable and friendly person made everything to ensure that my 3 hours night paddle was interesting, safe and ultimately unforgettable. The name of his company is Venice Kayak and his web address is venicekayak.com

Check it out, it is a fantastic way to see this beautiful city

Michael (US Military) – daytrip in June 2009:

This was my third trip to Venice, and by far the best. Before a friend recommended Rene, I was content with never seeing the place again. But come on, it’s kayaking the canals! I have now fallen in love with the city. Seeing the city the way the ancient Venetians did (by boat, if not kayak) was truly eye opening. Rene knows a ridiculous amount of history about everything Venetian, and could answer even the most random of questions. Watching the massive crowds of San Marco’s from the relative solitude of the water was refreshing and made me feel sorry for the poor schmucks who had to walk everywhere. You kinda feel like a rockstar because every tourist there is taking pictures of you as you coast under their feet on the bridges, and every conversation you overhear is “that would be so much fun! We gotta do that!” Well, we did. And it was awesome. Do it.

Paul (USA) – daytrip in June 2009:

Our recent trip to Italy included 2 days in Venice. The first day was spent seeing the sights in the traditional ways- walking, vaporetto, etc. For the second day we hired a guide who supplied us kayaks and other gear, and we took to the water.

We started from the island of Lido and crossed the shipping channels and lagoon and paddled a total of 11 miles around the city, in large canals and small rio’s, with gondolas and motor boats, and back to Lido. Our guide, Rene Seindal (a friendly Dane who speaks excellent English and Italian), was crucial to our having a good experience there. Not only did he supply us with top quality gear, he also brought a wealth of knowlege of history, Venice navigational rules, and general knowlege of Venice.

[read the full review at http://www.coastals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7159]

Imke (Netherlands)  – daytrip in May 2009:

About a week ago Willie and I had THE experience in Venice. In the kayak behind you.
We loved it!
I realise now, by telling my friends at home, that this day was the peak day in my holiday…

Josephine and Sebastien (UK and France) – daytrip  and Vogalonga, May 2009:

Sebastien and I would like to thank- you for the tour on Saturday and for our Vogalonga experience !!!! We really enjoyed it despite the conditions on Sunday- all the more challenging.

We will definately recommend you to our kayaking community here in London and hope to be back.

Vogalonga 2010 is in the diary !!( maybe with not so much wind!)

Neil (Canada) – daytrip in April 2009:

Here is Ysabelle near the Rialto bridge on the Grand Canal. The boat traffic on the Grand Canal was intimidating at first. It felt like trying to cross highway 401 on a motor scooter … at rush hour! But Rene was an excellent guide and boldly led the way.

…

I highly recommend paddling with Rene if you get to Venice. You will have the trip of a lifetime.

[Read the full review at http://nfldkayak.blogspot.com/2009/05/kayaking-in-venice-italy.html]

Bill (Australia) – daytrip in April, 2009:

Rene, just to let you know, the kayak tour on 19/4/09 was the highlight of my five weeks in Italy. The photo you took of myself in the kayak, with the Rialto bridge in the background, sits in pride of place on my desk. It picks up my spirits when the workday gets long and boring.

I have been watching the website and your business seems to be doing well. Lots of very happy customers like me. It is good to see it, you deserve the success.

Please let me know when the 2010 Venice schedule will start.

Colman (Ireland) – daytrip in April 2009:

If your debating going kayaking while in Venice then debate no more. My girlfriend and I went for the day with Rene two weeks ago and it was an experience I will never forget. Exercise, professional lessons, detailed and historical tours are just some of the things you are guaranteed with this man. He is also very friendly and easy to spend a day with. you get to pick your own tour areas, change them on a whim mid tour and get out of kayaks for breaks to get a closer look at anything you want. Abandoned islands off the beaten track, neglected archaeology sites, island hopping and much more fun. I have already recommended him to friends travelling to Venice in sept. By far the best value for money I had on the whole trip. this is a must. don’t miss it!
enjoy!

Bob (USA) – daytrip in April 2009

Our entire trip was awsome, but kayaking was definetly one of the highlights.

Take care and good luck withyour kayaking venture!

Eric and Deb (USA) – evening paddle in September 2008:

In September of 2008, my wife and I stumbled into a wonderful opportunity we could not have imagined. We were fortunate enough to be able to join Venice Kayak on a fantastic journey. We paddled kayaks from Lido Island to the island of Murano where we parked our them and walked through town, taking in as much as we could of the culture and the heritage of glass blowing for which the island is famous. It was amazing! We got back together several hours later and paddled to another island and a great little restaurant where we shared stories and an excellent meal with the group. After dark we paddled back across and traveled through Venice’s waterways including the Grand Canal. WOW! Not only was it utterly spectacular, but the land-bound tourists hailed us as heros as we paddled past for undertaking such an adventure. It was the greatest feeling to be so “in touch” with the famed canal system, and then to be revered by the foot traffic made it even more memorable. Venice Kayak ha s opened up an ecological, non touristy feeling method of experiencing Venice as no one ever has before. I even coined a new phrase in memory of the adventure. When in Rome, do as the romans. When in Venice, do as the Danish! With gratitude for the incredible opportunity, and hope for your future success in this endeavor, Eric and Deb

Ashley (USA) – daytrip in May 2008:

Thanks again for a fantastic trip.  Your new business is going to be a huge success!

Exploring Venice only on land will only reach a fraction of the city and almost nothing of the lagoon.  By adding several kayaking days to a stay in Venice you can get a much more complete experience of this unique city on water and its environment.

Often the three days are one day paddling in Venice city, one day paddling to Burano and Torcello, and an evening paddle through the city.

Please don’t hesitate to send us feedback, good or bad, on the idea behind Venice Kayak and on the website.