Venice Doge's Palace & St Mark's Basilica guided Tour

Badge of ExcellenceVenice, Italy

Likely to Sell Out

From $103.93

Select Date and Travelers

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

2 hours 15 minutes
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

The Doge’s Palace and Saint Mark’s Basilica are two of Venice’s most beloved destinations, but the two landmarks can have ticket lines to match. See both landmarks with a private guide on a 2-hour tour that includes skip-the-line access, so you can make the most of your time in Venice.

2-hour Doge's Palace and Saint Mark's Basilica tour
Private guide for a more personalized experience
Learn about local history and culture
Skip-the-line access ensures a speedy entrance

What's Included

Guided tour of Doges Palace, Saint Marks Basilica and Saint Marks square
Entrance fees
Multilingual tour provided in: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian
Personal audio system and headset for tour commentary
Saint Mark's Basilica first floor museum and the terrace

Gratuities
Pala d'oro (€ 5,00)

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Calle larga de l'Ascension, 1258, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
15 min before in Calle larga de l’Ascension 1258 - 30124 next to the post office San Marco (opposite side of the Saint Marks Basilica). Look for the yellow sign "Meeting point" on the wooden kiosk and the Turive assistant.

End point

Carta Gate
P.za San Marco, 1, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy

What To Expect

Make your way to Saint Mark’s Square, where you’ll a guide for your first destination, the Doge’s Palace. Once the seat of the powerful Venetian government, the Doge’s Palace is an architectural masterpiece filled with lavish décor. Listen to stories about Venice’s golden age, and immerse yourself in the culture of medieval Europe as you explore the stuccoed halls and artwork.

Continue to the Basilica, once the private chapel of Venice’s Doges, which you’ll tour with a private guide from the Curia di Venezia. Learn the legend of the basilica, whose Byzantine domes date to the 10th century, and follow the story on a series of 13th-century mosaics. Discover the artistic and architectural highlights of the church, including the marble inlaid floor, where animals and geometric patterns are brilliant counterpoint to the painted ceiling.

This tour concludes at the Saint Mark’s Basilica, close to Venice attractions and public transport.

Piazza San Marco

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Basilica di San Marco

50 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Doge's Palace

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Ponte dei Sospiri

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Museo Correr (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
A dress code is required to enter places of worship and selected museums. 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

Back packs are not allowed inside the Basilica and the Doges Palace
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
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

4.5

100 reviews

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

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 100 reviews

Splendour of Venice

Martine_S, May 2024

Interior of saint Marc’s. We liked the ceiling of the dodges palace. The guide was very friendly and competent.

Venice

Martin_E, Apr 2024

Highly recommend. A concise tour of 2 of the main touriat attractions. Rosanne was a great tour guide.

Worth the tour!

georgettechan, Dec 2023

Very comprehensive tour. The guide gave a good historical insight into the history of Venice and the landmark buidlings.

Well worth it, learned so much

Christine_L, Nov 2023

So glad we did this tour as we would have just walked around d looking at the splendour of it but not been aware of some of the history behind the building. Very interesting and thd guide was so friendly and informative. Thank you

Must See both

Bob_P, Oct 2023

Our tour guide Mika was excellent. You were fully engaged in his narratives. Learned so much about Venice, St Mark and the Dolce.

Guided tour. 3 out of 5 stars based on the personal guide we were assigned.

James_K, Oct 2023

The Doge's Palace was a very interesting place to visit; however, we were running low on time and thus the guide didn't guide us through the Doge's apartment. Also, the guide was very difficult to hear with the radio devices that we were issued.

Great tour!

Carla_F, Oct 2023

Great tour and tour guide was excellent! Very knowledgeable and entertaining. Would definitely recommend!!!

The best of Venice

Edward_V, Oct 2023

This was an excellent tour. Christina, our guide, was extremely knowledgeable about Venice, its history, and willingly shared it. We learned a lot from her. We highly recommend this tour. It was the highlight of the time we spent in Venice.

OUCH! my ears hurt...look at that beautiful art!!!

Vedana_L, Oct 2023

Enjoyed Veronica, but didn't like the device to hear her. The ear piece hurt our ears and occaoccasionally decided not to work. Veronica's accent was sometime hard to understand. Thank you for some great memories.

Good tour, but too long.

Lauren_K, Oct 2023

The tour itself was informative and interesting but too long. Too much time was spent discussing and analyzing paintings, especially in the Doge's Palace. Also the quality of the headsets and transmitters was quite poor and made it difficult to hear the guide clearly.

Great introduction to Venice

Naomi, Oct 2023

The guide was excellent- very knowledgeable and looked after the needs of the whole group. Great mix of history and stories and good pace.

Tour Guide Went Off And Left Us

Jeanne_J, Oct 2023

The tour of St. Mark's Basilica was ok. Our tour guide had a heavy accent and was a bit hard to understand. Our tour guide went off and left us at Doge's Palace. After we went through security at the entrance to the Palace, our tour guide and our entire group were gone! We tried to find them, but could not. I thought tour guides counted the number of people in their group to make sure they had everyone. I found this tour guide to be totally unacceptable!

Time efficient

LuigiB, Oct 2023

Skipping the lines is very helpful especially when it is warm. Just the right amount of information without it becoming a school lesson.

Our guide, Mirco is very...

Mariezel_O, Oct 2023

Our guide, Mirco is very knowledgeable. He managed to keep everyone entertained and interested thoughout the tour including the young kids in the group!

Worth it; recommend

Andrea_K, Sep 2023

Very informative; guide Gina was very good. Group size was a bit large but we are glad we did it. Definitely better than waiting on line. Got a little long at the end.

One of the worst experiences of my life. This tour is a scam. The company should be sued.

Jessica_T, Sep 2023

This was one of the worst experiences of my life. First, they gave us headsets which we could barely hear out of. My headset stopped working before we even entered the basilica. I have no idea what happened on the nearly three-hour tour or what was said because my headset didn’t work. I requested a refund, but the company refused to issue a refund because “nobody else on the tour had this experience.” I guess my only recourse is to get a refund via my credit card. The whole tour is a scam by a disreputable company. My husband’s headset worked, but he still could barely hear. We ended up trying to leave the Doge’s palace early, only to have another guide (from this company) stop us and speak to us rudely because he thought we were trying to cut in front of his group. This was the only bad experience I had in Venice and on my whole European vacation. It was supposed to be a “skip the line” tour, but all we did was wait in line. Even if they issued a refund, it wouldn’t make up for the precious time we lost on what was supposed to be a romantic Venetian vacation. They should be ashamed of themselves for offering such a terrible experience and wasting people’s time. That evening, we ran into some of the other Americans on our tour and even though their headsets were functioning, they also hated the tour. They spent the tour sweaty, tired, and straining to understand the guide via their faulty headsets. The worst part of having booked this tour isn’t the two hundred dollars we lost but the fact that we wasted time we could have spent doing something enjoyable. I feel like they took advantage of us. If they were operating in the United States, they would have been sued by now and run out of business. It makes me think less of Viator that they would sell this experience. All my other reviews are 5 stars and yet I wish I could leave zero stars for this god awful experience. I only hope Karma takes care of these people.

Gina was wonderful!

Beth_P, Aug 2023

Gina was a great guide! She was highly knowledgeable and engaging. 100% recommend her and this tour - if you get her as your guide you will be lucky!

Great introduction to Venice

Sadhana_L, Aug 2023

Our guide was knowledgeable and definitely engaged our teenagers. We took the Dodge Palace and Basilica tour, which was a great start to our trip in Venice.

Doge palace and basilica

edythe_s, Aug 2023

The tour guide was very knowledgeable, proficient in English Enjoyed and appreciated the history behind the palace,the beautiful mosaic artwork within the basilica. I would highly recommend this tour.

Our guide was fantastic

Andrew_M, Jul 2023

We decided to do the tour so we would get some commentary on the history of both the Basilica and Palace. Our guide gave us a great overview and some fascinating facts that we otherwise would not have known. Her English was great so very easy to understand and the size of the group was reasonable. Although it was a little hot we were not rushed and the tour was about the right length. Remember to cover knees and shoulders and allow a few minutes to find the meeting point. A great way to learn about these two famous buildings.

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