Basilika, Dogepaladset, History Gallery & Bell Tower Option

We had such a wonderful tour with our tour guide. It ended up being just my husband and I and so it was very personalized. Our tour guide was so knowledgeable in the Venetian history and we learned so much.

Great information, pace of tour, and fun. Full of historical information and anecdotes of the Venetian story. Excellent guide, Valencia.

Amazing experience. Hot but worth it. Make sure women have shoulders and knees covered. Bring a fan.

Tour in French. The guide had a very, very good command of French and the subject matter but presented the facts a bit randomly rather than in chronological order. There were too many details and it was difficult to follow. Poor value for money.

Easy to get to. Elevator is for all! Great photo opportunities, many overlooks stations facing each side- go at your own pace.

I tried contacting the tour company almost 20 minutes before the scheduled time to ask if I could arrive 10 minutes late, but no one responded at all. I arrived at the meeting point only 2 minutes late. I found the sign and the tour desk there, but there was no staff present — no one at all. I tried looking around to find where the tour company's office was, and tried contacting them again, but still got no response. After about 10 minutes, a staff member finally came and told me I needed to go to their office, which was another 200 meters away. I walked there, and by the time I arrived it was almost 11 o'clock — meaning I was now about half an hour "late," through no fault of my own. When I got there, the staff spoke to me rudely and laughed in my face. When I pointed out that they hadn't responded to my messages, they said it was "normal" for them not to reply at all. I asked what I was supposed to do if I couldn't find the location, and they told me I should have called — but as a tourist using their tour, I had no way of knowing that was the procedure since no one had explained it to me beforehand. The staff member laughed at me mockingly, then called over two other colleagues who surrounded me and tried to push me out, insisting I go talk outside. They ended up calling the police as well. Everyone was shouting at me aggressively. Overwhelmed, I tore up my ticket, threw it at the staff member, and ran off crying out of humiliation.

Overall a good experience. It was crowded that day but the tour still seemed a bit slow and unnecessarily drawn out. We were disappointed the Basilica tour did not include the balcony. The gap of time between the guided tour and the self guided bell tower ticket was too long. 45-60 minutes between the tour completion and the bell tower ticket felt like a long time to wait around in Piazza di San Marco. But overall we’re glad we did the tour.

Wonderful experience! Guide was knowledgeable and energetic. The bell tower gave a wonderful view of Venice. Highly recommend.

This is a great way to experience the highlights of Venice if you don’t have a lot of time there.

If you’re really into art history, you will love this tour. Our guide really knew his stuff and was determined to share every detail. As a result, we found it a bit tedious.