Skip the Line Venice Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica Tour - T23

Venice, Italy

From $108.59

Price varies by group size

Select Date and Travelers

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

2 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Explore our promoted experiences

Likely to Sell Out

Venice, Veneto

St. Mark's Cathedral: the Shining Golden Basilica - Guided Tour

249

from $35.10

Price varies by group size

Venice, Veneto

Magic Mask Decoration Class in St. Mark's Square

from $75.68

Likely to Sell Out

Venice, Veneto

Small-Group Walking Tour of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice

from $69.10

Viator earns higher commissions on experiences featured here

Overview

View two highlights of St. Mark’s Square in Venice without waiting in the main entrance lines on this walking tour. Bypass the ticket lines at the Doge’s Palace to see its gilded rooms, and cross the Bridge of Sighs to the prison building as you learn about the 1,000-year history of Venice’s republic. Then, tour St. Mark’s Basilica to admire the mosaics and treasures of this Byzantine masterpiece. Admission fees included.

Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica tour in Venice
Skip the long entrance lines at the palace and basilica
Explore the art-adorned palace and hear about the doges who ruled from here
Admission fees included

What's Included

2-hour tour
Professional guide

Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Campo S. Zaccaria, 4683g, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy
Departure Point: Campo San Zaccaria 4683/g in front of the Church of San Zaccaria

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Meet your guide at the post office near St. Mark’s Square and stroll to the Doge’s Palace, the power base of the Venetian Republic for many centuries.

Admire the exquisite Gothic exterior, and bypass the main entrance lines with your skip-the-line ticket. Pass through security, and tour the opulent rooms, adorned with masterpieces by artists like Titian and Tintoretto. As you explore, listen as your guide tells tales of Venice’s doges and their ruling councils, charting the history of the 1,000-year republic and those who shaped its fortunes.

See the stunning gold staircase as you learn its history, and follow in the steps of prisoners who once crossed the famous Bridge of Sighs to their incarceration. Hear about prisoners like Giacomo Casanova and others, and view the bleak prison itself.

Next, head for St. Mark’s Basilica, another St. Mark’s Square showpiece. Admire the ornate façade, and pass the main lines for a comprehensive tour of this Byzantine masterwork.

See the gold mosaics and marble floor inlays, and view highlights including the gold, gem-encrusted Pala d'Oro alterpiece and the icons and riches in the Treasury.

Your tour then finishes in St. Mark’s Square when your guide departs.

Piazza San Marco (Pass By)

Doge's Palace

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Ponte dei Sospiri (Pass By)

Basilica di San Marco

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate

No shorts or sleeveless tops allowed. Knees and shoulders MUST be covered for both men and women. You may risk refused entry if you fail to comply with these dress requirements
Because of security checks you might experience a line to get inside the Doge Palace and St. Mark's Basilica. You will skip the line for non-reserved tickets but security check is mandatory.
Maximum of 25 people on each tour
On certain dates, most travelers staying outside of Venice who are planning to visit for the day will be required to pay a €5 access fee. For further details (including exemptions) and to learn what days this fee is applicable, please visit: https://cda.ve.it
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 25 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.0

214 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 214 reviews

Knowledgeable guide and open to questions

Emily_M, Mar 2024

We were given radios each to hear the tour guide who was very knowledgeable and open to answer questions, we stopped at the top of the basilica to watch the squares clock chime and take pictures. It's a shame we didn't get time to explore a bit more ourselves once the tour was given as we didn't seem to stop, but overall it was good.

History Comes to Life

Lisa_T, Mar 2024

Learn something new everyday! Everything was smooth and going well until my headphones didn’t work. My guide took good care of me, got me all set up and we continued on without a glitch.

Worth the tour!

Mandy_G, Feb 2024

This was a great quick tour. It was nice that you could explore doges palace more, if you wanted to at the end. My tour guide had. Great personality and did a great job at keeping everyone together. Unfortunately I do not remember his name, but he put a lot of humor in his tour, which prevented it from being too dull, which I was worried about! Overall, a great tour, without it I definitely wouldn't have been able to comprehend all of the history around me

Very nice tour

Zaruhi_O, Jan 2024

It was a very well organised tour. The guide, DONATA, was amazing and supportive. Thanks for the great experience!

Perfectly Balanced

Brenda_W, Dec 2023

The trip for both the Palace and the Basilica were highly informative, our tour guide educated us on the symbolism, history, highlights and features not to be missed. She had the skill to move on at the right time and we felt we had a comprehensive and valuable experience.

Perfect Venice

Luiz_O, Dec 2023

Simply, a perfect tour. Our guide was extremely professional and dedicated, as well as having excellent knowledge

Excellent Tour Great Guide!

Deidra_H, Nov 2023

My guide was incredibly knowledgeable and did an excellent job. I wish I could remember her name. I believe it was Michelle

Fun trip

Marcus_C, Oct 2023

A good experience and guide was thorough in explaining all the history of Doge Palace and St Mark Basilica, only thing is that the timing of the tour is 11am-115pm so it would be good to have a heavy breakfast beforehand.

Excellent and efficient

Michael_C, Oct 2023

Would have missed best parts of Doge palace without their help. Cultural narrative was extremely helpful

Terrible experience getting there.

John_C, Oct 2023

We ended up missing the whole tour. We could not. Get there easily. The water taxis are not handicap accexble. Therefore we had to walk which also was a mistake because there were far too many steps, and the route isn’t evident. By the time we got to st marks. It was 10 minutes after our scheduled time. And that’s not all. We didn’t know where to go. By the time my husband found out where it was another 45 minutes and I was at that point disgusted. I would like a refund of the fees please.

Response from Host, Mar 2024

We are sorry to hear that you have trouble with taxis in Venice but you should have known it as it is a particular city. We have a schedule to respect and we can not keep all passengers that arrived on time waiting for partecipants that are late

Skipping the line was...

kent_m, Oct 2023

Skipping the line was very beneficial. Tour guide Catarina was knowledgeable and nice. Needed more information on meeting place after we bought online. Didn't know we had to get a paper ticket before tour.

Not worth the money

Kimberly_G, Oct 2023

The guide had a very heavy accent and we had trouble hearing her. Too expensive since we couldn’t under her 80% of the time.

Disappointed

Anand_L, Oct 2023

I was 10 minutes late because the vaporetto from the train station took longer than expected. I called 10 minutes before the tour started and was told to check in at the tour guy shop. I went there and the gentleman gave me both of my skip the line tickets. He described the tour guide and said they should be at the cathedral. There was another family there with their 80 year-old grandmother who were also late. The father and I ran to the cathedral but could not find our group. The father went back to his family and I paid for an audio guide tour of the cathedral. I then went through the Dogge’s palace by myself. I signed up with Viator because your reputation is better than the rest. I am disappointed that you do not have a mechanism for helping late clients catch up with a two hour walking tour which started a few blocks from the meeting point. It’s not as if we missed a bus to another town. In the Vatican and for Pompeii, My wife and I used “The Tour Guy” I would give both tours 5 out of 5 stars and would recommend them to my friends.

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Please note that vaporetto has a schedule and it is always on time as we do not have traffic jams. Note that we can not keep all clients that arrive on time waiting for delay passengers. We apply to be at the meeting point 10 minutes before that means you were 20 minutes late not 10

Great tour!

Katherine_B, Oct 2023

Great tour! Hard to hear at times but was easier when standing close to the guide. Guide was very knowledgable and funny.

Great tour

Dennis_R, Oct 2023

Katarina was an amazing tour guide. Her knowledge of the Basilica was very informative and explained so much history. The Doge Palace was incredible and had so much Italian history.

It was very difficult to...

Kathleen_H, Oct 2023

It was very difficult to hear the guide. The radios cut in and out. The sites were beautiful to see, and it was nice to skip the line, but really didn’t learn much bc we could have hear.

Definitely worth doing!

Kathryn_H, Sep 2023

I was very reluctant to do a guided walking tour of these places initially, however I am so glad I did this as I got so much more out of the experience than I would have been able to do on my own. Rebecca, the guide, was excellent. Not only was her knowledge impressive, but her passion and interest in sharing the history of these places shone through. She was also very in tune with some mobility challenges within the group and found ways to accommodate and continually check in on some members who had some difficulty navigating stairs. It was extremely crowded and hot in St Mark’s Basilica and if I had been there on my own I likely would have left. But Rebecca’s positivity and enthusiasm kept the group going and I learned so much from her. Both places, along with the prison, are definitely worth seeing and this tour was an excellent way to experience them.

Must see tour

christabel_m, Sep 2023

Great informative tour with a great tour guide Beautiful places but beware of crowds! A definite must see

Well worth the time and cost

Kevin_S, Sep 2023

Great tour. The only problem was that the guide’s accent was so heavy that several people (including my wife) had difficulty Uni understanding her. Still, we’ll worth the time and cost. Avoided long lines and had a very knowledgeable guide.

Wonderful

Diana_S, Sep 2023

We had an incredible time! The venues we visited were spectacular and our guide was informative, engaging and entertaining.

...