Skip-the-Line: Doge's Palace & St. Mark's Basilica Fully Guided Tour

Badge of ExcellenceVenice, Italy

Doges Palaces and St Marks Basilica with Skip the Line

2 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

The entrance lines at Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica can sometimes feel like they last forever. Bypass the annoyance of waiting in long queues by prebooking this Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica Skip-the-Line Small-Group Tour. Perfect for those with a limited time in Venice, you’ll visit both big attractions with a guide leading the way and loading you with historical info you wouldn’t hear otherwise.

Get special, skip-the-line access to Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica
Avoid large tour groups with this small-group tour of up to 20 people
Audio headsets are provided so you don’t miss your guide’s commentary
Choose from a morning or afternoon tour time depending on your preference

What's Included

Expert, English-speaking tour guide
Skip the line Access and entrance ticket to the Doge’s Palace
Skip the Line Access to St. Mark’s Basilica
Groups of 20 people or less
Audio headsets when appropriate, so you can always hear your guide

Food/Beverage
Hotel pick-up and drop-off

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Doge's Palace
P.za San Marco, 1, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
Next to Ponte della Paglia, the bridge with the view of the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs), in front of the Doge's Palace, facing the lagoon

End point

Doge's Palace
P.za San Marco, 1, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
This tour ends inside Doges' Palace.

What To Expect

Meet your guide and small group at Ponte della Paglia just in front of the Doge's Palace and bypass the line at the entrance with pre-booked fast-track admission. Head directly inside and spend over an hour marveling at the sumptuous halls covered in works by Tintoretto and Veronese. Learn about the palace’s role in Venetian history and cover its top works of art with your guide before continuing on through St. Mark’s Square to St. Mark’s Basilica. Skip the line and spend around 40 minutes marveling at the architecture and mosaics; opt to linger for longer at the end of the tour to access the terraces (own expense) or exit with your guide.

Piazza San Marco

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Ponte di Rialto (Pass By)

Doge's Palace

1 hour 20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Basilica di San Marco

40 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

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

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.
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.
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 20 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.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.5

906 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 906 reviews

Good but rushed

Penny_W, Apr 2024

Very knowledgeable guide very informative but was disappointed we could not even look in the gift shop Or have enough time for the restroom before we went to the church Skip the line going to the church did not work waited 30 minutes

Time was wasted

mgordoncsw, Apr 2024

The tour guide was adequate but allowed for a coffee/bathroom break of 20 minutes on a 2 hour tour which is completely disrespectful to those who wished to learn and receive a fully guided experience.

Awesome experience

Francesca_B, Apr 2024

Our tour guide Angela was amazing! She was knowledgeable and kept the tour interesting. Would highly recommend

Excellent tour

lindsaypasset, Apr 2024

Iole was an excellent guide. Highly recommend this tour! She was very knowledgeable and had a sense of humor which I can appreciate.

Great experience

Fiona_L, Apr 2024

Great guide brought everything to life and into context. Skipping queue was a definite bonus as it was quite busy.

Great tour!

Larry_C, Apr 2024

The tour guide was great. Guided us through the sites very quickly. She was very personable and knowledgeable.

Monnie was great!

Seth_M, Apr 2024

Very interesting and efficient way to see two main landmarks. Our guide, Monnie, was excellent and made the experience extra special. Would highly reccomend!

Highly recommended, staff very professional.

Jessica_G, Apr 2024

We have an amazing experience seeing Venice must see sights and all of that thanks to the professionalism of Valerio on the customer service team and Rita ( Joy as she tells us ) our excellent tour guide. Our train time was running a bit behind schedule so as we were approaching Venezia Mestre we rang Valerio at Consumer service and he said he will try to accommodate us in the next tour which is supposed to be at 2pm at same location. As this is our first time in Venice we did what we can to reach the place with our mobile navigation running and walking fast until we reached Doge's Place. Now then we had to find our tour guide which it said on email he/she will be bringing a Blue flag for easier recognition and with City Wonders tour written on the flag.We couldn't find any blue flag , it's like finding a needle in the haystack. Luckily when we asked some people waiting for there tour to start they then pointed to the direction where City Wonders tour would have started and Finally and Luckily we found our lovely and very accommodating tour guide Rita. She was so nice and feed us with very knowledgeable information about her place Venice. It ended up there was only 5 of us so she treated us like a family like we were her children. To Rita and Valerio of City Wonders and people behind the team a Huge huge thank you for being able to see the highlights of Venice.I would highly recommend this tour again to my friends and family . ❤️

Highly Recommended Tour

ENRIQUE_G, Apr 2024

We had an excellent tour guide. She was very knowledgeable about the history and background. She was also very friendly. The total tour lasted 2 hours exactly but it felt a lot shorter due to her great comments. My 19 year old daughter really enjoyed the tour as well.

Great tour!

Carolyn_M, Apr 2024

Our family including three children ages 15, 11 and 8 had a great experience with Angela as our guide. She was very knowledgeable and friendly with the kids.

Wonderful tour

Steve_G, Apr 2024

Our guide was very thorough and knowledgeable of the Doge Palace and of St Mark Cathedral. The pace was excellent. Had a great time!

Fabulous tour for our family!

Kristin_K, Apr 2024

Highly recommend this tour! We went with our 7 year old who was very excited and Monica was wonderful with him! We were all captivated and amazed with the history she shared with us. We are so glad we did this on our trip to Venice!

Good

Evgeny_S, Apr 2024

Morning hours are the best to visit main church, the sun light makes all the frescoes visible and vivid.

Saint Mark's and Doge's Palace amazing

Alex_F, Apr 2024

Our guide Carla, had alot of great info and very insightful. St Marks. Is very impressive but the sheer amount of people, (not the tours fault) takes away from the spectacular sights.

Doge palace/marks basicilla

Graeme_S, Apr 2024

Monica (zorro) was a very friendly guide who answered any questions that were asked and was extremely knowledgeable. The tour itself was very interesting and must see in your time at Venice.

A great tour led my a local Venetician

Kevin_C, Apr 2024

Monique was such a wonderful source of information. Loved touring with a local. She made the tour enjoyable and well worth the price.

Great visit

Caroline_B, Apr 2024

Anna was a great guide - very knowledgeable and informative. This tour was a highlight of our trip and we are so pleased we booked this tour as it was really busy.

Rita was absolutely very...

palomoclan, Apr 2024

Rita was absolutely very knowledgeable and took out experience to a higher level . Her English was very fluent and she is unbelievable smart and knew a lot about the history

Great guide

Helen_S, Apr 2024

Our guide, Iola, was brilliant. Very knowledgeable and amusing. It was a little difficult to locate the meeting point as it was under the portico not out in the open.

Informative and Efficient

Michael_B, Apr 2024

Guide was very knowledgeable. Good Time keeping. Well managed. Group of 15 and the Doge’s Palace was the main part of the tour. Probably could have had more than 20 mins in basilica but there was an option to stay longer without guide.

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