Venice: Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica Fast Access Tour
About this activity
Highlights
- Explore Doge's Palace's opulent halls
- Admire St. Mark's Basilica's golden mosaics
- Learn Venice's rich history from expert guides
- Enjoy priority access, skipping long lines
- Capture stunning photos of iconic landmarks
Full description
Included / Excluded
- Skip-the-line access to Doge's Palace
- Skip-the-line access to St. Mark's Basilica
- Expert guide providing historical insights
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
Meeting point
Start Location
Unknown location
Important information
Know before you book
- The tour is conducted in English; ensure you understand the language.
- Check the local weather forecast and dress accordingly.
- Be aware that the tour may be conducted in a group; private tours may be available upon request.
Know before you go
- Wear comfortable walking shoes as the tour involves walking on uneven surfaces.
- Bring a valid ID for entry into religious sites.
- Photography may be restricted in certain areas; please follow guide instructions.
Cancellation policy
0All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.
Accessibility
- Easy Public Transport
Good to know
- Visits inside Saint Mark's Basilica are limited to a maximum of 15–20 minutes, as determined by Basilica authorities.
- Please note the importance of arriving on time, as each attraction operates on a strict schedule. Delays could result in missing your tour, and late arrivals cannot be accommodated.
- As Saint Mark's Basilica is a religious site, all visitors are required to wear appropriate attire. Both men and women must ensure that their shoulders and knees are covered.
- To ensure we can reach you with any updates to your reservation, please provide the correct telephone number, including the country code.
- During the summer season, please allow up to two hours to travel from the train station to Saint Mark’s Square, as water taxis are in high demand and delays are common due to heavy crowds.
- 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
- The tour runs in all weather conditions. Please note that during certain times of the year, high tide may occur. In that case, raised walkways are set up to allow access and disposable shoe covers can be purchased in front of the entrance.
- Meeting time is subject to change; if this occurs, you will receive a call or message from the activity provider. Please provide your correct phone number and country code.
- The itinerary of the tour can change in the order depending on the tickets availability
- 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.
Traveler reviews
Good tour, not great
The tour guide was ok, but the headsets wouldn't stay on my ear and the sound quality was not great. It was very crowded, which is not the fault of the tour, just be mindful of it late September.
Horrible, Terrible, Don’t Do It.
Terrible experience. The earpieces used by the guide weren’t functional two-thirds of the time and the guide didn’t understand how they worked. She had the microphone clipped to her shirt down by her stomach so you had to turn them all the way up and then when she walked into certain rooms she would whisper which made it even more difficult to hear. When they were working the clicked and chirped in your ear. Sounded like an old 1960s transistor radio. Besides the quick entrance I don’t know why we had a guide at all. The tour is billed as two hours but the tour of the Doges Palace was only an hour and the rest of the time was spent as some glass blowing factory, for which we opted out. Not at all worth the time or money we spent. Viator, don’t you have any quality control?
Make sure you get the right tickets at the meeting point
Got to the first place on the agenda to discover we had not been given our tickets at the meeting point. So we got put aside to wait for someone to come with them. Then the crowd went off to visit the Doge's palace upstairs which my husband could not do. We were told they would be an hour and after that hour we gave up waiting and went on to the Basilica on our own. Also we booked for 10.45 in the morning and this got changed to 1.30 pm then this got changed again to 2pm. Overall the organisation on this tour was a shambles.
Must see when in Venice.
This is a must see in Venice. The palace and chapel were amazing. The tour guide was very detailed and knowledgeable about both sites. One note. There are a lot of steps at the palace. There are elevators if you need them, however the elevators don't really line up with the tour route. It gets very easy to get seperated from the group. Afterwards we also went to see a glass blowing demonstration which was really neat.
Valentina is the best
Valentina was wonderful. So warm and so well informed about the area. We had a semi-private tour and we all singing Italian songs on the boat ride back. I recommend her highly.