One-Day Venice: Skip-the-Line St. Mark’s Basilica, Walk & Gondola
Description
Admire Venice in all its glory with a half-day journey through its most iconic sights. From the golden mosaics of St. Mark’s Basilica to the hidden corners known only to locals, this three-part tour captures the true soul of the Floating City. Your morning begins with a stroll through history from St. Mark's Square to Rialto led by an expert guide. Along the way, discover the home of Marco Polo and the Baroque-style of Campo Santa Maria Formosa. Next, skip-the-line access to the "Golden Church" to bypass the crowds and marvel at its breathtaking mosaics. After your visit, enjoy some free time for a classic Venetian aperitivo/lunch. In the afternoon, reach the meeting point at 2.45 pm for the gran finale. A shared gondola ride gliding through tranquil waters and enjoy a once in a life time perspective of the Basilica della Salute. 8.45 am Meeting time 9.00 am Walking Tour + St. Mark's Basilica FREE TIME: APERITIF/LUNCH BREAK 2.45 pm Meeting time 3.00 pm 30-min shared gondola ride
Tour Options
Itinerary
The Grand Canal is the main canal through the historic centre of Venice. About 3800 metres long, it divides the historic centre into two parts, tracing an inverted 'S', which runs from the Ponte della Libertà to the Bacino di San Marco.
It is the most famous Piazza of Italy. All the other squares in Venice are called "campi".
St Mark's Basilica is the perfect blend of Byzantine and Gothic art. It is the cathedral church and seat of the patriarchate of Venice. Together with the bell tower and St Mark's Square, it forms the main architectural site of Venice, and is the best known symbol of the city and the Veneto region in the world. It is also one of the symbols of Venetian art and Christianity.
The Gran Teatro La Fenice, located in the Sestiere di San Marco in Campo San Fantin, is today the main opera house in Venice and one of the most prestigious in the world. Every year it holds the traditional New Year's Concert. Twice destroyed and rebuilt[1], it has been the venue for major opera and symphonic seasons and the International Festival of Contemporary Music.
The basilica of Saints John and Paul is one of the most impressive medieval religious buildings in Venice, together with the basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. It is considered the pantheon of Venice due to the large number of Venetian doges and other important figures who have been buried there since the 13th century. It stands in the campo of the same name, in the Castello district. In September 1922 Pope Pius XI elevated it to the dignity of a minor basilica.
The Church of the Purification of Mary known as Santa Maria Formosa is a religious building in the city of Venice, in the Castello district, on the edge of the San Marco district. Campo Santa Maria Formosa is one of the largest squares in Venice and is located on an island bounded by the canals of Santa Maria Formosa, Pestrin, San Giovanni Laterano and Mondo Novo.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Please note this is a combo tour including 3 single tours.
- Please arrive at the meeting point at least 10 minutes before the tour departure time.
- At the tour departure point you will meet a representative who will check your vouchers and give you information to do the tour.
- Multilingual tour
- No credit or refunds will be given in the case of a no show (if you don't show up at the meeting point at the time indicated on your voucher)
- This is a collective tour, which means there might be other participants going on the tour with you.
- The gondola ride might be suspended in case of bad weather. In such cases you are required to go to the tour departure point in order to know whether the tour takes place or not and any alternative ways to use the service.
- In cases of religious ceremonies or exceptionally high tides, access to St Mark s Basilica may not be permitted.
- To visit St Mark s Basilica it is necessary to dress appropriately (no shorts or vest or tops) and backpacks are not allowed for safety reasons.
- Please note that, due to the particular morphological structure of Venice and the logistic problems resulting from it, we cannot guarantee that the whole tour is accessible to people with limited mobility. This means that people with walking difficulties and wheelchair users could not be able to access some parts of the itinerary.
- Only for the waking tour and guided visit. Explanations during the gondola ride are not provided.
- A gondola can host up to 5 people, thus if your reservation includes more than 5 people, your group will be divided into smaller groups, or rather you will enjoy different gondolas.
- This is a collective tour, so there might be other people enjoying your same gondola. In this case people belonging to your reservation can be divided into different gondolas.
- On certain dates, most travelers staying outside of Venice who are planning to visit for the day will be required to pay up to 10 € access fee. For further details (including exemptions) and to learn what days this fee is applicable, please visit: https://cda.ve.it
- Please note that this tour combines different activities. Therefore, the gondola ride may not take place immediately after the end of the guided tour of St. Mark's Basilica. At the meeting point you will be notified of the exact starting time of the gondola ride.
- Please note: For now, the tour only covers the ground floor of St. Mark’s Basilica. Museum and Terrace are not included.
Reviews(20)
Our tour guide messaged us several days before to tell us the walking part was canceled. We said that was fine, we would like to continue on with the gondola ride and St. Marks Basilica tour. We never heard back. I messaged the tour company through viator again the day before the tour asking if we were still on, again we did not hear back. The day of the tour we arrive to the meeting point 15 minutes prior to start time as asked of us. We arrived at 8:45 and by 9:20 no tour guide had arrived. We waited with another family from America, who were also supposed to be on the tour. They left at 9:15 and I contacted Viator support. They contacted the tour company who said that our walking tour was canceled so we were supposed to meet back at the location at 10:45, 10:30 to be safe. So we left, went and got breakfast and were about to leave the restaurant to go back to the original meeting place as directed, when I received another phone call. This phone call said that Viator canceled our entire tour, and even though on the precious phone call they stated that our gondola and basilica tour were still confirmed, we did not have a gondola ride or basilica tour. We received a partial refund for the walking portion as stated from Viator, but have yet to get a full refund for the entire trip. This lack of communication between Viator, the tour company, and us as the customers was very disappointing.
We started our tour with Silvanna at 9am and she brought us to on a walking tour of Venice until about 1030. We then returned to the starting point and some new tour people joined our group with Silvanna. We continued to the Basilica and Silvanna provided a very informative guided tour. Doing a self guided tour would not have been the same. Silvanna was awesome. We then had a break until 3pm. We returned to the same starting point and left for a gondola ride. You share a ride with another couple and have approximately a 20 minute ride. We happened to have the only gondolier that sang. He was quite funny. He sang about meatballs and mozzarella. Overall, a highly recommended tour!
The tour was supposed to be a morning tour with a guide (this part OK) then the basilica (also OK) but the gondola ride was changed to departing at 1500 which we could not attend due to another commitment.
We absolutely loved this experience in Venice! We started with the walking tour with guide Elizabeth and learned so much about the history, landmarks, and life of Venice. Her knowledge was so very much appreciated and she kept it very entertaining. We then transitioned to the tour of the Basilica and Dodge Palace with guide Gina. Her passion and her story telling made this such an enjoyable adventure! The interior was stunning and the sights, scenery and views, especially from the top terrace of the basilica, were breathtaking! We ended the tour with a wonderful gondola ride into the great canal - marveling at the ability of our boat navigator. Our family would highly recommend this experience and will always remember this precious time in Venice!
Mark ( in the dark coat) was very informative and knowledgeable when it came to the Basilica… Veronica was even better on the walking tour of the surrounding areas… she was the highlight. The gondola ride was “lame” … it was a slow moving boat around the block… 15-20 min … driver of the boat was on the phone the whole time EXCEPT… when he yelled at one of the passenger or another boat going by. ( that is the reason for 4 stars) With that said, on the whole it was good.
Gondola ride and walking tour great! The female guide was great and spoke perfect English. But the guide for the Basilica was HORRIBLE!!! He could not speak English and we were only able to understand 1/4 of what he said. So sad. We were really interested in St Mark's but he made him impossible to understand. You need better English speaking person!!!!!!
This was a fun tour! It ran on time and was very well organized. The Basilica was amazing and we had such a great guide! She was extremely knowledgeable and we learned alot about the history. The gondola ride was great too, but I'm not sure I realized that we would be on a ride with 4 other people, so 6 of us total. If there were a next time, I would do the gondola ride separately with just my husband and I. You'd probably pay a little more, but to me it would be worth it. I do think a gondola ride is a must do when you go to Venice!
We enjoyed this tour which started with a 1 hour walking tour of the area behind St Mark’s Square, then a gondola ride and finished with a tour of St Mark’s Basilica. The guides were informative and really brought the history of these places to life. We had a 14 year old travelling with us and she enjoyed this tour, but I’m not sure I would take younger children as they are likely to become bored with the guided tour segments, although they’d love the gondola ride! Highly recommend this tour for people aged 12+ years
The tour started out fine, however, very disorganized. Seemed like they grouped about 10 tours in one meeting place and you were lucky to get in the correct group. The tour was actually three tours one after the other. After the walking tour, then we went to the gondola tour. A bit disappointing, a bit too short, and still disorganized. The third segment did not happen because of flooding. We discovered the cancellation on our own, as we could not get to the meeting place because of the flooding. No one offered us any advice, because all of a sudden, no one spoke English.
The walking tour was well done and interesting, St. Marks Basilica was amazing and well time by this tour company. The Gondola Ride however was disappointing, there was 6 of us in the boat and this took away from the ride. It just felt like a boat ride but nothing special, and with no commentary it was lost on us. I would do the tour and walking portion and get a separate Gondola ride if you want to take one.
