GONDOLA LOVERS · CANAL & SKY
One word, two unforgettable rides.
Reviews of the world’s gondolas, from a candlelit drift down the Grand Canal to a glass cabin climbing the Canadian Rockies. Venice and the back canals, Banff and Sulphur Mountain, the Sea to Sky fjord, Lucerne’s Pilatus and the DMZ crossing. We read the reviews so you pick the right ride.
Rides with a home
Three gondolas that belong to one place.
A cable car looks much the same the world over. But a gondolier rowing you down the Grand Canal, a glass cabin lifting you up Sulphur Mountain, and a ride out over the Howe Sound fjord each belong to one place and no other.
Venice, Italy
A Drift Down the Grand Canal
There is one place the gondola was born and still belongs, and it is here. A gondolier stands at the stern and rows you out onto the Grand Canal, past five hundred years of waterfront palazzi, then turns into the narrow back canals where the city goes quiet and the only sound is the oar. Shared at midday, private after dark, with a singer if you want one. Nowhere else gives you this boat on this water.
- 1 Venice: Grand Canal Gondola Ride with App Commentary
- 2 Venice: Grand Canal by Gondola with Live Commentary
- 3 Venice: Shared Gondola Ride Across the Grand Canal
Alberta, Canada
A Glass Cabin Up Sulphur Mountain
In eight minutes the Banff Gondola lifts you six hundred metres a glass cabin at a time, from the valley floor to a ridge nearly two and a half kilometres up. At the top a boardwalk runs along the summit to a weather station, and six mountain ranges fold away in every direction. You can hike down through the trees, or ride back and save your legs for the hot springs.
- 1 Banff: Banff Gondola Admission Ticket
- 2 Banff Gondola Ride Admission
- 3 Banff: Sunshine Sightseeing Gondola and Standish Chairlift
British Columbia
Above the Howe Sound Fjord
The Sea to Sky Gondola climbs straight off the highway between Vancouver and Whistler, lifting you over Shannon Falls to a viewing platform 885 metres above the only fjord in southern Canada. A suspension bridge swings out over the drop, walking trails fan off the summit lodge, and the granite of the Stawamus Chief rises across the valley. Most trips fold it into a full Whistler day.
- 1 From Vancouver: Whistler & Sea to Sky Gondola with Shannon Falls
- 2 Whistler, Sea to Sky Gondola, and Shannon Falls Day Trip
- 3 Whistler and Sea to Sky Gondola Tour + Shannon Falls
The one everyone takes
If you only ride one.
More travellers reach for this gondola than any other on the site. A safe first booking when you are still working out which ride is which.
The most-booked rides
The World’s Most Popular Gondolas
Venice, Banff, the Sea to Sky, Pilatus, the DMZ crossing. The rides travellers reach for first, on the canals and mountains they most want to see for themselves.
Where to ride
Pick a place and step aboard.
Venice for the Grand Canal and a song on the water. Banff for the glass cabin up Sulphur Mountain. The Sea to Sky for the Howe Sound fjord. Pilatus for the Alps above Lucerne, the DMZ for the border crossing, Christchurch for the crater rim. The great gondolas of the world, each with the rides worth booking.
First time deciding
Which kind of gondola are you after?
One word covers three very different rides. Work out whether you want to be rowed, lifted to a summit, or carried across a valley, and the rest gets easy.
Venice, Italy
Where the gondola was born.
Every gondola anywhere is a copy of this one. In Venice the boat is still made by hand, still rowed standing with a single oar, still the truest way to read a city with no roads. The Grand Canal gives you the grand front doors of the old families; turn off it and the back canals close in, the water goes green and quiet, and a bridge or a wine bar appears around every bend. Shared by day, private and candlelit after dark.
See the best Venice gondola rides →Banff, Canadian Rockies
Six hundred metres, eight minutes.
The Banff Gondola is the easiest big view in the Rockies. You step into a four-person glass cabin at the valley floor and ride the cable up Sulphur Mountain to a ridge nearly 2,300 metres high. At the top, a boardwalk runs the summit to an old weather station and six mountain ranges peel away around you. Walk down through the forest if your knees are willing, or save them for the hot springs at the bottom.
See the best Banff Gondola tickets →The best part
The ground drops away.
There is one moment every gondola gives you. The cabin leaves the station and the floor of the world falls away beneath your feet, slow and silent, with nothing but a cable overhead. The valley spreads out, the peaks line up, the lake turns to a sheet of glass below, and for a few minutes you hang in the air with the whole place laid out around you. That is the part the ticket is really for.
Browse every gondola ride →The high Alps
A summit without the climb.
In the Alps the gondola does the work your legs would otherwise do. From Lucerne the Pilatus cableway hauls you to a 2,100-metre crown of rock; above Grindelwald the First gondola opens onto a cliff walk over the Eiger’s north face; in Norway the fjord lifts carry you from sea level to a ledge above the water in minutes. Glass cabins, summit terraces, and the kind of view people used to walk all day for.
- 1 From Lucerne: Mt. Pilatus Gondola, Cable Car, and Boat Trip
- 2 Grindelwald Gondola Ride to Mount First
- 3 Kriens: Mt. Pilatus by Panoramic Gondola and Aerial Cableway
One word, three rides
Sea level, valley, or summit?
The gondola that floats a canal and the gondola that climbs a mountain share a name and almost nothing else. Here are the three, lowest to highest, each with the rides that do it best.
At water level
The one that floats.The original. A flat-bottomed boat poled down a canal at walking pace, close enough to trail a hand in the water and read the doorbells on the palazzi.
Across the valley
The one that crosses.A cabin strung between two stations, carrying you over a river, a gorge or a stretch of forest the road takes an hour to go around.
Up the mountain
The one that climbs.The sky gondola. A glass cabin hauled up a cable to a summit you would otherwise need boots and a morning to reach, with a boardwalk waiting at the top.
More than the ride
The gondola is often just the start.
Plenty of the best gondolas come bundled with the rest of a day. Christchurch pairs its Port Hills cabin with a heritage tram and a punt on the Avon; Banff folds the summit ride into the hot springs and the lakes; the Sea to Sky comes wrapped in a full Whistler day. One ticket, a view from the top, and a city or a valley to fill the hours around it.
See all 6 Christchurch gondola tours →By place
Pick a place and step aboard.
Venice for the Grand Canal and the back canals. Banff for the glass cabin up Sulphur Mountain. The Sea to Sky for the Howe Sound fjord. Seoul for the DMZ crossing. Lucerne for Pilatus and the Alps. Christchurch for the Port Hills and the crater rim.
By country
Where in the world are you riding?
From Italy’s canals to the Canadian Rockies, the Swiss Alps, the Korean border and the New Zealand crater rims. Pick the part of the world you are headed for and see what is running.
How the ride fits the day
Three ways a gondola earns its place.
A gondola is rarely the whole day on its own. Here is when to ride: the summit cabin first thing, the ticket that comes with a city attached, and the canal saved for after dark.
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