Venice

Venice in 1 Day: St Mark's basilica, Walking & Boat tour

Name: Venice in 1 Day: St Mark's basilica, Walking & Boat tour
Brand: Avventure Bellissime
SKU: 2635V1DAY
Price: 129.94 USD
Rating: 4.0 (3345 reviews)

Venice, Italy

Skip the Line Venice in One Day Including Boat Tour small group

From $129.94

Price varies by group size

Select Date and Travelers

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

3 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

See the best of Venice in a day on a tour that combines a guided walk with a cruise along the bustling Grand Canal. Hear the history of St. Mark’s Square and Rialto Bridge from a guide, and visit St. Mark’s Basilica with a skip-the-line ticket to beat the long admission lines. Discover the tucked-away treasures of Venice’s backstreets and charming canals, and then finish on a high note: a water taxi cruise on the Grand Canal.

Gain skip-the-line entry to St. Mark's Basilica
Learn about historical Venice from your guide
Cruise along the Grand Canal on a water taxi ride

Why Travelers Choose This Tour

At a price that's right, this affordable combo tour shows off Venice's highlights by land and by water.

What's Included

Professional English-speaking guide
Best of Venice & St Marks' basilica (2 hours)
Grand Canal boat tour (1 hour)
Skip-the-line tickets to St. Mark's Basilica

Gratuities
Hotel pickup or drop-off
Food and drink, unless specified

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Giardini Reali
P.za San Marco, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
Entrance to the Royal Gardens , on the waterfront of St Mark's Square - You'll meet Avventure Bellissime tour coordinator outside the gardens , in front of the wrought iron Gate holding a sign with the name of the tour and Avventure Bellissime logo written on it .

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Start your "Venice in a day" tour with a guided walk to learn about the city’s key monuments. In St. Mark’s Square, hear the history behind legendary sights such as St. Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace prisons.

Admission lines at top Venice attractions are long and no more so than at St. Mark’s Basilica. Use your skip-the-line ticket to bypass the lines and step straight inside. Then admire the acclaimed mosaics that adorn the basilica’s interior as you explore with your guide.

From St. Mark’s Basilica, continue to Campo Santa Maria Formosa to admire from outside the stunning Renaissance church dedicated to the Holy Virgin and learn from your guide the meaning of "formosa".

Leave the tourist crowds behind, and follow your guide around the winding alleyways that form the backstreets of Hidden Venice and Castello district. Explore narrow passageways that cut between sun-bleached palazzos, and admire the bridges that cross the canals.

Pass through Campo Santa Maria Formosa to see its gothic palaces, and have your camera ready for Marco Polo’s House. Other sights include Calle del Paradiso, San Zulian, an age-old merchants warehouse and a wellhead, which many say is the city’s most beautiful.

Say goodbye to your guide at St Mark's Square, and make the most of some free time before your water taxi cruise along the Grand Canal.

As you glide down the waterway, listen to stories about the eye-catching palaces and churches that line your route, pass by Rialto bridge, and hear fun facts about the famous residents that have lived on the equally famous street. Continue on a tour of the smaller, lesser-seen canals. Hop back on to dry land to finish your experience in central Venice.

Please note: There is a break between the walking tour and Grand Canal boat tour, for you to spend time at leisure. The duration of this break varies depending on the season. Details of the exact meeting location and time for the Grand Canal Boat Tour are given by your meeting point assistant upon check-in for the first tour.

Piazza San Marco

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Basilica di San Marco

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Campo Santa Maria Formosa

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Calle del Paradiso (Pass By)

Ponte di Rialto (Pass By)

Canal Grande

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Castello (Pass By)

Cannaregio (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 2 days of travel. In this case confirmation will be received within 48 hours, subject to availability
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
Tour is not suitable for people in wheelchairs or with walking difficulties as passengers are required to step down onto the boat when boarding. The variation of the level of tides can make the vessel unstable
Occasionally the Basilica may be closed to the public (without prior notice) because of festivities, religious functions or high water. The guide will provide explanation from outside.

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
In case of high water, St Mark’s Basilica Skip-the-line entrance will remain closed
Visits to St Mark's Basilica may be subject to restrictions. Depending on the situation on the day of the tour the itinerary may be amended to offer you the best experience possible.
Guaranteed skip-the-line entrance to St Mark's Basilica is compulsory from April to October due to high number of visitors. St Mark’s Basilica does not offer a fast entry service to anyone in other periods considered off peak season. No refund is due when skip-the-line reservation isn't required.
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 16 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 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

4.0

3,345 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 3,345 reviews

Beautiful tour with knowledge and experienced tour guide!

Cheryl_H, Apr 2024

This was a wonderful tour of beautiful sites with a knowledge Tour Guide. Our Guide was local and has done tours for 24 years. We learned so much from her. It was worth every $$.

Interesting and Beautiful

Stacy_E, Apr 2024

Great overview of the city and history. Loved the boat tour. Awe-inspired by the church. Guide did a great job keeping my 11 year old engaged and have great tips for us to make our train back to Florence in time. Highly recommend.

A good tour to understand the history of Venice

Emily_P, Aug 2023

My husband did a day trip to Venice and only had a few hours in the city. This was a good way to get an understanding of the history of Venice. The tour was interesting and our guide was lovely and very knowledgeable. Our group size wasn’t big enough to have the gondola ride included however, we were told beforehand and given a refund for that portion of the tour. I feel like if we had been able to go on the gondola ride it would have made the experience feel complete.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

Dear Client, I'm happy you've enjoyed the walking tour and sorry that the grand canal did not operate that day due to lack of participants. Kind Regards Monica

Good Tour, Excellent Guide

John_E, Oct 2022

If you want to do more than just wander the streets and take a gondola ride, this is a great option. Our guide was very knowledgeable, pleasant, professional, and had a good sense of humor. She adapted the tour to our specific group and provided us with valuable advice for navigating the streets and waterways. There were times and places where it would have been nice to have headsets so we could hear better. That would be our only suggestion for improvement.

Sacred place and special tour

TomandTammy_F, Aug 2022

Tour guide was so sweet and accommodated us with a private tour of the city and water taxi trip in and out of the grand canal seeing unique spots not listed in this description. St. Mark basilica was special and very sacred.

Venice tour

Paul_B, May 2022

Grand Canal cruise was in a boat that is used also as a water taxi which is closed in and unable to take photos or move around. Cramped space. Walking tour was good but also too many shops being pointed out during the trip. Use of communication system was excellent.

Response from Host, May 2022

Dear Client, Thank you for your feedback. In regards to the boat tour, these are the type of water transportation allowed down the grand canal and therefore the only ones that can be used to touring Venice city center Grand Canal and minor canals. Generally it accomodates confortably 8 people , 4 in the front and 4 in the back and that's why we limit our tour to 8 people. As for the walking tour, I really would have liked some more information about the fact that the guide was pointing too many shops. Part of the traditions in Venice include many artifacts made in the city and it's part of an introductory tour also mentioning, when passing by, some of the specialties and artisanal artifacts that are specific of the city visited. Yours sincerely, Monica

Great Vince introduction.

Tim_S, Nov 2021

Adriana was a knowledgeable local who provided a great introduction to the city. She helped us to add on to our experience based on our interest.

Response from Host, Nov 2021

Dear Tim, Thank you so much for your 5 star review of our tour. I have already forwarded your comments to our expert guide Adriana. A guided tour is definitely the best way to explore Venice and all its treasures. Thank you for touring with us! Kind regards, Aleksandra Sales Manager @ Avventure Bellissime

Hope to get money back—guide was a no show

Rafael_M, Aug 2021

Our guide never arrived. We called multiple times and received a voicemail. We messaged and got NO response. Several other tour guides passed us and we asked and they said we were at the right spot. We arrived at 1:40—the time was set for 1:45 for a 2 PM tour; we waited until 230. No one ever came. It was over $400. Sure hope to get this money refunded. We did several tours with another company and they were all excellent.

Response from Host, Aug 2021

Dear Rafael, We are sorry for the inconvenience caused. Due to a still relatively low season for tourism and a slow restart of international travel our tours are not scheduled to operate on Sundays and our office was closed on that day. As soon as we saw your message on Monday morning we immediately sent you the following reply (see below) - did you receive it?: Due to a technical error the system allowed you to book however the tour was not scheduled to operate on 1st Aug. A full refund has already been processed to you. We apologize for the inconvenience. Rest assured the full refund has been processed to you on Monday morning and you will have certainly received it by now. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience, it was an unfortunate technical bug which we have now corrected. We remain at disposal for any assistance. Kind regards, Aleksandra Sales Manager

Great introduction to Venice for first time visitors.

Pascal_B, Oct 2020

The tour gave us a great introduction to the city on our first day in Venice and it helped us choose what to visit in the following days. As the St Mark's Basilica cannot be entered due to Corona regulations, our guide Cristina took us to some other very nice spots instead. For us it was just the right amount of explanations, walking, and breaks. I'd recommend the tour to anyone who visits Venice the first time.

Perfect Tour

Liam_M, Feb 2020

Our tour guides had wonderful Knowledge about the city; they were personable, humorous and had excellent English! We booked the tour on our first day and it really provided us with a secure grasp of the culture, heritage and layout of the city. The canal boat tour was glorious!

Informative and well paced tour.

Niusha_M, Feb 2020

Good tour, nice guides and provided a great overview of city history. I would have lived to visit a couple of more sites in the city given the price.

Venice boat tour and Bascilica tour

Denise_J, Feb 2020

Francesco was our tour guide. Being a Venetian native, he was able to share information that he knew first hand. The Bascilica was amazing and the boat tour a blast. I highly recommend both and ask for Francesco... you won’t be disappointed!

venice highlights at a glance

SOFIA_V, Dec 2019

our guide Christina, knew everything about her city and was really enthusiastic giving us all the information Also the boat tour was great However the price was rather high

Excellent skip the queue tour Venice

Roger_T, Dec 2019

Very enjoyable tour, Knowledgeable tour guide (Christina). Would recommend to anyone visiting Venice. Have used Viator before in other locations and have never had any issues. Good value.

Good Tour

Ann-Marie232019, Nov 2019

Both guides had a wealth of knowledge and were very pleasant and accommodating. I suggest seeing Venice via foot and boat as you get two very different perspectives.

Great experience!

Nomad47072333976, Nov 2019

Great experience! I had a good time! Staff was very nice and friendly! I will book again! I really like Venice!

Venice tour

raybX8724FP, Nov 2019

Very boring tour. Guide was not informative and stood outside St. Mark's for a long time in the heat with boring explanations. Boat tour was ok but not great.

Response from Host, Nov 2019

Dear Client , Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to hear you found our guide boring and I can not object a personal point of view . I can only say that we've been operating our Venice tours for about 20 years and that overall iur tours and guides have met the appreciation of many travellers . Our main goal is to deliver quality experiences to our guests . Kindest Regards Monica

Venice tour

164drc, Oct 2019

Utterly spectacular, informative, all-day walking and boat trip to parts of Venice we've never even seen before. Totally worth the money.

Excellent Grand Canal Boat First part was average!

Carlos D, Oct 2019

1.- First part "Venice Tour with St Mark’s Basilica" was average. 2.- "Grand Canal Boat tour" was excellent, lady acting as a tour guide was very enthusiast, she knows Venice very well, explained us every detail clearly. My wife and I were there on September 27th 2019 in the afternoon tour. I wrote the name of the woman, but lost the paper, the only thing I remember is that she live around and looks like an actress some kind of Jennifer Aniston. 3.- You need a Sign that let your client to locate you easy. It was very stressful to find you, I was in the place 1 hour before.

Fabulous Day

Carole_F, Oct 2019

Our Tour Guide was excellent. She moved at a steady pace - we weren't rushed nor bored. It was good to have a few hours between the walking tour and the boat ride. Would highly recommend.

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