This canal has been called "the most beautiful street in the world"!
You can see the canal all in one go by letting the banks pass you by from the windows of a vaporetto, or you can make a number of stops: each of the main buildings have their own dedicated audio guides, while right now I'll take you on a trip down the canal, starting from train station and reaching all the way to St. Mark's.
If you came by train, most likely you will have already seen this route several times: it's an unforgettable way to get to know Venice.
Remember that the only way to admire the façades of these buildings that make it so beautiful is by going along the water: the city offers very few places where you can admire the view from a bank of the canal or a church's courtyard. To properly see the Grand Canal a vaporetto, or water bus, is fine: at peak times you may find yourself squeezed in with a crowd, but this leaves you time to calmly admire the buildings. A great compromise would be to take a taxi, which of course in Venice are comfortable motorboats. The most romantic way, but also the most expensive, is to rely on the peaceful pace of a gondola.
Gondolas are an irreplaceable and unique element of Venice's urban scene. They are all black per an ancient decree of the government as a sign of mourning for the terrible plague that hit Venice and the whole of northern Italy in 1630. Where it was once the usual means of transportation in the city, today gondolas represent luxury, not only economically but above all as regards time, as they can explore the smaller canals and secret corners of the maze of Venetian waters, leaving the crowded pedestrian routes behind. Gondolas are difficult to manufacture and restore, as they are designed with a curved hull instead of a straight one, which allows the boat to proceed in a straight line while only having a single rower at the stern, with a single oar leaning against a high rowlock.
FUN FACT: the characteristic "ferri" on the prows of gondolas are not just a decoration, but serve to balance the hull and are fragile but effective. The carpentry workshop where gondolas are built or repaired is called the "squero". In Venice there's only one left: you can visit it near the church of San Trovaso.
Language: English