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Grand CanalFrom: Venice's Top 11 Free Sights
ABOVE: A crowded No. 1 vaporetto on the Grand Canal. The Canale Grande, known to English-speaking visitors as the Grand Canal, is the main aquatic thoroughfare in central Venice. The S-shaped waterway follows an ancient riverbed from the Tronchetto parking island, the Piazzale Roma transit center, and the Santa Lucia railroad station station to Piazza San Marco and St. Mark's Basin. The canal is about 4 km or 2.5 miles long, with a width that varies from 30 to 70 meters (98 to 230 feet).
Go the top of any bridge, find a place at the railing, and watch the constant stream of vaporetti, barges, water taxis, police boats, ambulances, gondolas, and other boats.
Related articles: Ponte della Constituzione Bridge Next page: Rialto Bridge
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Hotel tip: Location can be important when choosing a hotel in Venice or on the mainland. Before booking, read our No. 1 Warning and Venice Hotel Recommendations by Area.
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The
best way to see the canal is to ride the No. 1 vaporetto from the Piazzale Roma
or the railroad station in the direction of San Marco--preferably in the
evening, when the daytrippers have gone home and the palazzi along the
canal are floodlit or illuminated from within. If you're on one of the older
boats with an open bow, sit up front; otherwise, grab a seat in the covered
open-air section at the boat's stern, beyond the doors at the rear of the
vaporetto's enclosed passenger compartment.
As
the water bus zigzags between stops on both sides of the canal during its
40-minute journey from the Piazzale Roma to San Zaccaria, you'll pass under
three bridges and see dozens of palaces that were built from the 12th to 18th
Centuries.
Another
way to see the canal is from the bridges that cross it. The Ponte di Scalzi
is just upstream from 
Finally,
if you'd like to ride a 
