Boat Trip
Boat trip through the lagoon to the casoni and Banco d’Orio
Grado · Friuli-Venezia Giulia
QUICK INFORMATION
- CATEGORY
- Boat Trip
- COUNTRY
- Italy
- REGION
- Grado · Friuli-Venezia Giulia
- DURATION
- 2 days
ABOUT THIS EXPERIENCE
The lagoon boat trip is the Grado experience that no beach day replaces: an hour or two gliding the tidal channels among reeds and herons, past the thatched stilt houses where fishing families have worked for centuries, to land on the Banco d’Orio — a wild sandbar island between lagoon and sea with nothing on it but sand, wind and the clearest water you will find north of Sardinia.
WHAT YOU’LL EXPERIENCE
What you’ll experience
You board at the Canal della Schiusa in the town centre and chug north into the reeds as the town falls away behind you. The boatman threads the marked channels — herons and egrets everywhere, the casoni appearing like illustrations from an old Friuli book — and beaches the boat on the Banco d’Orio sandbar for a swim in water so clear you can count the shells. Some trips continue to Barbana, the monastery island, for the church and the quiet.
THE EXPERIENCE IN DETAIL
What it’s really like
HIGHLIGHTS
Moments worth savouring
The casoni — the thatched stilt houses of the lagoon fishermen, some still worked.
Swimming off the Banco d’Orio sandbar — wild sand and glass-clear water.
Barbana island — the 6th-century monastery sanctuary across the lagoon.
Birdlife: herons, egrets and the wader migrations of spring and autumn.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Good to know before you go
1–3 hours depending on the route; book at the Canal della Schiusa piers or the tourist office; morning light is best for the lagoon, evening for the town.
WHY IT MATTERS
Why it matters
The lagoon is the reason Grado exists and the landscape that invented Venice — this is the way to see it as its fishermen always have.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before you go
MAP & LOCATION
Boat trip through the lagoon to the casoni and Banco d’Orio
Boat trip through the lagoon to the casoni and Banco d’Orio, Grado, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
45.7065, 13.4245
ATTRACTIONS NEARBY
Pair it with these sights
MORE EXPERIENCES
More to do in Grado
FOOD & DRINK
Where to eat nearby
Ristorante Ship — lagoon fish and the classic Grado casada cake, on the seafront
Osteria al Cason — Friulian cooking and the town’s best eel, in Grado Vecchia
Gelateria da Asio — the institution for gelato by the canal, since 1960
HOTELS & STAYS
Where to stay nearby
Seafront hotels and Habsburg-era villas along the Nazario Sauro promenade
Grado Vecchia B&Bs inside the car-free historic island
Camping: Tenuta Primero (4-star, marina and golf), Marina Julia (family classic) and Belvedere Pineta (quiet, in the pines) — all with cycle paths to town and Aquileia
ITINERARIES
Day-by-day routes
NEARBY DESTINATIONS
Continue the journey
PART OF
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