Skip-the-Line: Doge's Palace & St. Mark's Basilica Fully Guided Tour
Description
Our Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica tour is perfect for visitors with only a limited time in Venice, who want to get a true taste of the city. In just a few hours we take you to the most famous sites of the city, seeing the Rialto Bridge and venturing inside St, Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace.
Tour Options
Itinerary
There is so much to see and do in the incredible Floating City of Venice, so why should you spend your precious vacation time waiting in line? With Skip-the-Line Access to two of Venice’s unmissable sights, Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica, you can immerse yourself in Venetian history and maximize your time in Venice on this carefully curated tour.
Once home to the Duke of Venice and the city’s courts, it is the center of Venetian history – and as one of the world’s oldest republics, that’s quite a history. We’ll explore all the best sights of the palace open to the public, from spectacular works produced on demand by artistic masters Tintoretto and Veronese, to the evidence of the genius checks and balances that made the republic so successful. With your guide on hand to lead you through the most important rooms, to explain magnificent frescoes and to tell you the tales behind every nook and cranny, your visit to the Doge’s Palace will be the perfect way to wrap up your tour through the history and culture of Venice.
Next we admire the heart of Venice – St. Mark’s Square, once pronounced the “finest drawing room in all of Europe” by Napoleon. With Skip the Line Access we’ll get straight inside St. Mark’s Basilica, saving precious vacation time that would otherwise have been wasted in line. Marvel at the diversity of Venetian culture, where eastern architecture and western design have blended to create a structure with an onion dome, before following your guide through the beautiful frescoes inside the basilica. After the tour, at your own expense, you can also get the chance to climb up to the first floor terraces, which offer beautiful views over the piazza, photo opportunities and some down time to soak up everything you have learned on your tour.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- 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 tickets are priced at €12 per person. Doge's Palace tickets are priced at €30 per adult. All additional charges are considered administrative costs
- We regret that we are unable to accommodate guests with wheelchairs or any impairments requiring special assistance. We are also unable to accommodate strollers or baby carriages on our group tours.
- Please note that the itinerary for our tours may differ from the advertised order of destinations. We assure you that any changes made to the tour itinerary are carefully planned and intended to enhance your overall experience.
- The Municipality of Venice has introduced an Access Fee that applies on specific dates. To avoid any inconvenience, we recommend checking the official guidelines and completing the necessary registration through the provided link before your visit.
- Please note that entry to St. Mark’s Basilica is subject to a strict dress code. Guests must ensure that their shoulders and knees are covered. Visitors who do not comply with these requirements may be refused entry.
Reviews(2,318)
We picked this tour because of the reviews about Venice on a Saturday during peak vacation time. I wanted to avoid crowds and ensure entry. I did not find that the tour was particularly worth it. Our tour guide was Annabianca. While the tour guide was informative I think our group was too large and had too many participants that needed accommodations. I was traveling with a toddler and there were also many seniors on our tour that needed assistance. This made the tour difficult to follow as there were too many interruptions and separations from the guide. Additionally, it was difficult to understand the guide her often as native English speaker in the USA. The tour felt rushed and disorganized. Lastly, I did not like the headset offered with the tour, it always fell out.
Thank you for sharing your detailed feedback. We’re glad to hear that you found Annabianca informative and appreciate you highlighting both what worked well and where the experience could be improved. We understand your concerns regarding the group size, pace, and audio equipment, particularly when traveling with a toddler. Your comments are valuable, and we’ll share them with our team as we continue working to improve the tour experience for all guests. We’re sorry the tour did not meet your expectations, and we appreciate you choosing City Wonders during such a busy time in Venice.
DO NOT BOOK THIS TOUR. This tour was laughably bad. Our tour guide was the worst tour guide we have had in all of Italy, and it’s not even close. My wife suggested we end the tour early, but I mistakenly decided to do the full tour. Our guide said he had been doing tours for 4 years, I honestly thought it was his first day on the job. We took our earpieces out to listen to another tour and learned more in those 2 minutes than we did on our 2 hour tour.
Dear John_L, We are truly sorry to hear that your experience on our tour did not meet your expectations. We always strive to provide informative and enjoyable tours, and it is clear we fell short during your visit. Please feel free to reach out to our customer support team with your booking reference so we can look into this matter further and discuss how we can make things right. Best Regards.
Very informative and entertaining. Kay was a pleasure. Helpful to explain all the small details going on.
Matteo was an excellent guide who brought things to life and had very good knowledge. He answered questions really well and was entertaining and informative and clearly passionate about the tour he was giving and the city of Venice - thank you
The experience was very informative. Our guide was truly knowledgeable but talked so fast with a thick accent. It was challenging to understand her. We spent too little time in St. Mark’s Basilica and way too much time in Doge’s Palace.
Dear Stacey_A, Thank you so much for sharing your feedback with us! We are glad to hear that you found the tour informative and appreciated your guide's knowledge. However, we are very sorry that the pace and the guide's accent made it difficult to follow along, and that the timing felt unbalanced between St. Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace. Please note that there are actually many more incredible rooms, art pieces, and historical areas to see in Doge’s Palace that require adequate time to fully explore, which is why a substantial portion of the tour is dedicated there. Even so, we understand that a faster speaking pace can make a longer visit feel overwhelming, and we want every guest to feel comfortable and engaged.
Wonderful experience! Lucia was our host and she was honestly amazing. We learnt so much more than we would’ve if we had gone ourselves and the whole experience ended up being so much fun, highlight of our trip for sure. Would definitely recommend.
Lucia was SO incredible. Got to see the basilica and palace with no wait to get into either and it’s so worth doing. The palace is huge so it was so helpful that Lucia brought us to the highlights. Same with the basilica: learned a lot about it but also about Venice. Highly recommend.
Abby was our guide and was exceptional. Her knowledge of the material was outstanding and she communicated in English very well. Abby had a warm and friendly personality and was enjoyable to spend time with.
Our guide Abby was incredible. She was very knowledgeable and we were really impressed with the entire tour. She made the experience more approachable and was very insightful regarding the art throughout the palace and church.
Abigail was a wonderful guide! So knowledgeable and informative, and also a lovely person. We had a great tour with her and would highly recommend!
