Venice In a Day: Explore Basilica San Marco, Doges Palace & Unforgettable Gondola Ride
4.8
1,907 Ratings
Venezia
Experience the best of Venice in just one day! Explore the iconic Basilica San Marco, visit the majestic Doges Palace, and take a romantic gondola ride along the Grand Canal. Limited to 20 people for a personalized experience.
Duration:
6 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation:
1 day
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Highlights
- Ponte di Rialto - Your tour starts at ground level with a guided walking tour of the city’s most famous and most interesting sights. See the Rialto Bridge and learn about Venice’s food culture at the Rialto Fish Market. Along the way hear tales of famous Venetians like Marco Polo as well as how Venice came to be—and how it survived against the odds.
- Canal Grande - As your walking tour ends, take a gondola ride and cruise along the Grand Canal and into the quieter back canals of the city with a maximum of 5 people per vessel.
- Venice - Pause for a break. While it’s not included in the tour, your guide will share plenty of great recommendations on where to grab a coffee and a snack.
- Basilica di San Marco - After the break, reconvene at St. Mark’s Square and enter St. Mark’s Basilica to explore its stunning history, architecture, and art with your guide.
- Doge’s Palace - Then it’s on to Venice’s other top sight—the Doge’s Palace. Skip the line with pre-reserved tickets and enjoy the benefit of having an expert local guide as you navigate council rooms, audience halls, and masterpieces by Veronese and Tintoretto.
What's Included
- Gondola Ride
- Skip-the-line St. Mark’s Basilica access
- Local English-speaking guide
- Pre-reserved entry to Doge’s Palace
- Headset for tour clarity
- Expert-guided walking tour
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
- Hotel Pick-Up/Drop-Off
- Lunch
Additional Information
Is this your maiden visit to Venice? Make the most of your stay with a packed day of iconic must-sees. Take a peaceful walk over the Rialto Bridge, and peruse the bustling Rialto fish market. Afterward, board a traditional gondola for a picturesque voyage down the Grand Canal. Subsequently, gain entry to St. Mark’s Basilica and marvel at the breathtaking gold mosaics within. Lastly, take advantage of your skip-the-line ticket to the majestic Doge’s Palace. This boutique tour groups are capped at 20 participants for an intimate experience.
- St. Mark’s Basilica can be subject to unforeseen closures due to particular liturgical celebrations. In the case in which the basilica is closed, we will give you explanations from the outside.
- Please note that lunch is not included on this tour. We have allowed time for you to eat lunch between the AM and PM tours. Your guide will give you recommendations and tell you where to meet after lunch but please be aware that it is your responsibility to arrive at the meeting point in time for your PM tour.
- The prisons and the armory of the Doge’s Palace are not wheelchair-accessible, as a result of which we cannot accommodate wheelchairs on this tour.
- This tour runs rain or shine. However, please note that the gondola ride cannot operate during heavy rain or high tides. In this case we will provide an alternative itinerary.
- Walks complies with all local government regulations. Please refer to Italy government guidelines for the most up to date information
Location
Campo S. Giacomo di Rialto, 255
Campo San Giacomo di Rialto
At the central fountain of Campo San Giacomo di Rialto (Campo San Giacometto). Your guide will be holding a Walks sign.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.8
(1907 Ratings)
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Mildred_c
Mar 31, 2024
Beautiful Venice - What an amazing day spent with Roberta, our tour guide. She was wonderful, with so much knowledge of the rich history of Venice. She really made the tour extremely memorable.
Review provided by Viator
Jacquelyn_n
Mar 31, 2024
A Delightful Day - We had a wonderful tour with Roberta! She shared such interesting comments about the city, its history, and her experiences as a true Venetian. I loved walking down the tiny streets and over the bridges- exactly what I pictured before coming to Venice. Our gondolier was fabulous, personable and very informative. Others in our group did not have the same experience so we were fortunate. As it was Good Friday, the Basilica was closed but Roberta expertly delivered interesting information about its history and importance. The Palace visit was a highlight despite the many stairs. Once again, Roberta’s explanations were both engaging and informative. I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this tour.
Review provided by Viator
Linda_m
Mar 31, 2024
Highly Recommend! - A wonderful way to see the highlights of Venice in a day. Our tour was 8:30-3:00 with an hour break for lunch and a few restroom/coffee breaks. The walking tour was filled with many amazing sites narrated by our guide Gratzia who gave us a lot of history and insight about the people and the history of Venice. We toured the squares, the street markets, the Doges Palace (my favorite), Basilica San Marco and a beautiful gondola ride. There is a lunch on your own in the middle of the tour. Very well organized and the skip the line/group entrance bonus saved us so much time that we would have spent waiting. Having someone who lives in Venice to narrate the tour was awesome. We were given head sets so we could hear her well even if we were in a crowd. Very well done! I would highly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Viator
Leandra_l
Mar 30, 2024
Back in time - Great way to learn about the history of the city. Guide is born and raised in Venice so to use this company is great support to the local economy.
Review provided by Viator
Jean_m
Mar 29, 2024
Amazing! - Her knowledge and love of Venician life is contagious! We learned so much! It was informative and enjoyable
Review provided by Viator
Sandra_s
Mar 29, 2024
Super interesting. Well informed tour guide. Great value for money. - Very full day but didn't feel overwhelming. our tour guide was very knowledgeable and gave us great insight into Venice's long and colourful history. The tour includes a gondola ride which would normally cost €120 per couple (or €30 ea for 5 sharing so well worth getting it included in the tour. I feel sad that I didn't make a note of the tour guides name as he was a really nice guy and had so much great knowledge that he shared on the day. I would thoroughly recommend this tour as a way of probably saving yourself a day if you were sightseeing without a guide. Helps to compact all the salient parts of the city into the day without losing any of the details. Very fairly priced for 6 hours. Also skip the line entry in the Doges palace a definite bonus. I went out of season and the queues were looong. Wouldn't like to have to queue during high sesaon. Would definitely recommend.
Review provided by Viator
Allan_d
Mar 29, 2024
Great way to see and learn about Venice!! - This tour was great even with the heady down pour of rain. Pam, was out your guide. She was fantastic. She had so many wonderful things to tel us about Venice. A wealth of knowledge. Great personality. She kept us on pace but never rushed us. The rain altered our Gondola rode until the afternoon session but Pam got that worked out for us and it worked out perfect. The rain stopped during the Doge Palace tour and we got to take our Gondola ride in Dry weather. It was a perfect size group for this walking tour. But be prepared to walk about 8 miles total for the tour. With the slow pace it wasn’t bad at all. Pam was an incredible tour guide. Hopefully you will be blessed with her for your tour!
Review provided by Viator
Mark_b
Mar 31, 2024
Family first time in venice - Gondola ride was great! Friendly knowledgeable great guy. Walking tour was nice just a bit long with kids but very informative
Review provided by Viator
Carmel_t
Mar 31, 2024
Gondola ride was wonderful! - Tour was good. The weather unfortunately was not.; rain, cold and flooding. Due to it being Easter week, could not go inside the Basilica.
Review provided by Viator
593trishw
Apr 2, 2024
I cancelled the trip a week ahead of time -and they refused to refund our money. - We never made it to this trip-I called a week before the date we were scheduled to go-and they refused to refund my money. The contract stated that a cancellation was free if we cancelled 24 hours ahead of the planned trip. The woman I spoke with insisted she couldn’t find my reservation number even after I gave her the reservation number. She put me on hold twice and then told me I had to call trip advisor. Trip advisor insisted I had to call the company directly. It was a total run around , DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY-they do not honor their policy and if something comes up and you cannot make the trip-you will lose your money .
Review provided by Tripadvisor
