Venice: Doge's Palace & St Mark's Basilica Guided Tour
Description
Take a 2-hour tour of the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica, two must-visit Venice monuments. With a guide, you’ll follow in the footsteps of the Venetian doges, the elected officials who ruled the city for centuries. A tour not only to see Venice, but to experience this city through its history and glorious past, still shining in its historical sites and legendary characters.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Admire Saint Mark's Square and all the buildings and monument around it.
The guided tour of St. Mark's Basilica offers an unforgettable journey through one of Venice’s most iconic landmarks. Accompanied by an expert guide, you will admire the Basilica’s extraordinary golden mosaics, rich Byzantine architecture, and centuries of history and art.
Accompanied by an expert guide, you will explore the palace’s most famous areas, including the inner courtyard, the magnificent institutional halls decorated by artists such as Tintoretto and Veronese, the Doge’s Apartments, and the impressive Hall of the Great Council. You will also cross the famous Bridge of Sighs and visit the ancient prisons, while discovering fascinating stories and insights into the history of the Venetian Republic.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- For security reasons, large backpacks and bags are not allowed inside the Basilica
- No refund will be given for no shows or late comers.
- Wheelchair partially accessible, due to structural reasons some areas of the Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica are not accessible, so the tour may be limited. If assistance is required, passenger must provide their own carer.
- The tour will be provided rain or shine, though may be cancelled if tides are exceptionally high. In this case we'll provide a full refund
- Please be aware that on certain dates, registration and payment of an access contribution will be necessary to visit the city of Venice. We encourage you to check all the information and procedures for registration or payment on the dedicated website of Comune di Venezia.
- Please provide the full names of all travelers when booking. Failure to present a voucher with all travelers’ full names at the ticket office prior to entry may result in denied entry to the attraction.
- Each traveler must present a valid passport or ID document that matches the name provided at the time of booking for successful entry to St.Mark’s Basilica
- Basilica entry is €12. Museum or Pala d’Oro €24, both €36. Doge’s Palace €35. Remaining value covers operational costs, hosting services, app content, and licensed guides with audio systems.
Reviews(487)
I strongly recommend Denise. She's very knowledgeable but very friendly. There's a lot of walking. It's a long. It's a long tour but Denise's enthusiasm and her funniness and friendliness kept that enthusiasm from turning into a total burnout. You see a lot of amazing things but seeing a lot of amazing things with the walking can be tiresome. My favorite part of excursion was the Dom of St. Mark, and if you don't know, St. Mark is he's supposedly the guy who wrote The Gospel of Mark. But to see how the history of it and how everything about him was collected and placed. And that was the epicenter of Florence original episode. The palace by the time we got to the Palace a lot of people were tired but it was still fascinating. I do recommend this tour but I do stress that when you make the reservation you make sure that you see The Domo and the palace and then you get access to the balcony. Because there were people who got turned away and they had to wait outside and they didn't realize that their ticket didn't include certain things. There were people not in our group entire group, an entire group being turned away. The security is kind of tough there but it's understandable but just make sure that you have the right itinerary included in your excursion. There are a few people I said had to get turned away and certain people just saw the palace which was a bummer for them because I think the Domo was was amazing. I definitely would recommend this even for families cuz we had children in our group we had older people and there are some steps you got to walk up. So there's a certain level of fitness you need to have, but unless you're in a wheelchair or if you have a disability, it shouldn't be that bad and she even gave us breaks a little bit so we could rest. Overall it was a very good excursion I recommended and try to get Denise cuz she was amazed
Extremely interesting to hear the history and learn about details of these buildings. Marina, our tour guide was phenomenal.
Marie Therese with LIV Tours led us on a wonderful tour of St. Mark's Basilica and the Doges Palace. She has a deep understanding of the history of Venice, the culture, architecture and art over the centuries. Importantly, she has a very pleasant, relaxed manner combined with a sense of humor, making for a great experience. I strongly recommend taking the small group tour for a more personal experience
Our "tour" began with a conga line of tourists dutifully following a guide waving a barely-visible fish flag through the most congested part of town. If you squinted, you could see a fin bobbing above a sea of humanity. The tour of the basilica was a whirlwind romance: we were in and out before we could even break a sweat—oh wait, we were already sweating. Next up was the Doge's Palace. Pro tip: Shell out for the upgrade! Our guide, bless her heart, gave us a masterclass in what was behind every single door we weren't allowed to go through. It was like being at a five-star restaurant and the chef just describes all the amazing food they're cooking for other people. The Doge's Palace is gorgeous, and you can't miss it, but for $300, this tour was more "disenchanted" than "enchanted."
Informative but your guide lacks personality and an engaging voice. He made this tour very boring and it’s a very expensive tour to be that bored and looking forward for it to end
Beautiful, an extraordinary church and excellent building full of architecture and art, which is highly recommended
Recommended to get to know the history, and see details of each sector, exploring the history from different aspects
Awful!!! Tour meeting point was not nearby tour start. Tour meeting point was very difficult to find and not even remotely marked with even minimal signage. Basically a tiny hole in wall office. GPS walking navigation is spotty at best in Venice. As a result we were 10 minutes late. By the time we stumbled and found the meeting point they left without us and did not offer any alternatives other than NO REFUND/NO RESCHEDULING. Support from Viator was only via Whatsapp text messages and wasted even more time. Staff in office turned rude was not a cheap tour. Costly mistake!!!!
Dear Ronald, We’re sorry to hear about your experience and understand how disappointing it must have been to miss your tour. That said, we would like to clarify a few important details to ensure transparency. The meeting point for the tour was clearly provided in your voucher, along with a Google Maps link, and our emergency contact number. Additionally, Campo San Zaccaria, where the meeting point is located, is only a 5-minute walk from St. Mark’s Square. We noted that you went directly to the Doge’s Palace instead of the designated meeting point. While we understand that navigating Venice can sometimes be challenging, we strongly encourage all guests to carefully read the provided instructions, as the tour does not start at the palace itself. Unfortunately, you contacted us via WhatsApp at 15:06, which was 20 minutes after the scheduled start of the tour. At that point, we responded immediately, shared the meeting point link again, and gave instructions to join the second portion of the tour. Our staff on-site confirmed that you arrived later but declined to participate in the Doge’s Palace portion. We always strive to support our guests as best as we can, but we must also follow the cancellation and no-show policy in place. In this case, since the tour had already started and you chose not to join the remaining portion, a refund or rescheduling was unfortunately not possible. Kind regards, Park Viaggi
Our guide was very knowledgeable, patient, and well-spoken. Our "skip the line" tickets were exactly that - she took us right in past the queue of folks waiting. She explained things well and took her time. The Doge Palace and St Mark's are both exceptional places to visit. The architecture and wealth of 14th Century Venice are on full display!
We did the evening tour of Doge’s Palace / St Mark’s basilica and it was a truly remarkable experience. The tour was conducted with a very knowledgable guide who took time to explain the history and architecture of the Palace and Basilica. I’m a fan of churches, making a beeline for each country that I visit but St Mark’s was breathtaking in its beauty.
