The Best Of Venice: San Marco Highlights & Gondola Ride

Elisabetta was excellent. She not only showed us around and provided excellent historical information but also made sure we saw everything in our one day trip. She made sure we got back in time to take our flight back to Rome. Superb costumer service...

We had a great tour with Marco! He gave us the history of San Marco and walked around areas of town, sharing background stories along the way. He took us through side streets that were less crowded (and in the shade!) and we got to see many areas we would have never if we were exploring on our own. Great tour and highly recommend!

Marco was an excellent guide. As a local Venetian, he offered amazing information on the history of the city as well as the area surrounding Saint Mark’s square. The best part about this tour is that he caters to your interests. I HIGHLY recommend messaged the guide beforehand and informing them on your interests. As a history buff, I messaged Marco beforehand and let him know we were interested in history and he catered the tour around that.

The trip was advertised incorrectly. No provision to get into the cathedral. Waited 45 minutes for a gondola ride. During the three hour guided tour. Should have been planned better for the price we paid. Guide stated he has this problem with a lot of the visitors, understanding the ad. Guide was good very knowledgeable not his fault tour went so bad. Change your advertising to guided tour only. Don’t say skip the lines at the cathedral or take a gondola ride.

In spite of a clerical error by the ticket agents at the Basilica of San Marco, Matteo gave us guidance on how to see this beautiful church and it's amazing art. To make up for this error, not his fault, Matteo arranged for us to see another rarely seen Venitian treasure. In addition to that, he spent an extra 2 hours with us sharing his expansive knowledge of Venitian history. We so enjoyed his company that we invited him to join us for lunch! It has been nearly two weeks since we returned from Italy and we still speak of Matteo and how happy we are to have met him.

I am very grateful to Marco for the excellent tour on Easter Sunday. Marco is a true professional with deep knowledge of Venice's history. He is a genuine patriot of Venice and not only presented historical facts but also conveyed the attitudes of Venetians towards various events, allowing us to deeply immerse ourselves in the spirit and mindset of the Venetians. I highly recommend Marco as the best guide for Venice, St. Mark's Square, and other attractions in English or Russian. Thank you, Marco, for the unforgettable experience!

I don’t know if our trip to Venice would have been as amazing without our time with Roko! Our family (my husband and two teenage boys) spent two days exploring the city’s beautiful churches, palaces & the hidden streets.. he shared interesting stories that keep us all entertained.. He lead us to some amazing food destinations too, really felt he cared that we got everything we waned and more out of our time in the city!! He also knows how to take great photos (not all selfies 😂)!! I really wish he could have joined us on the rest of our trip through Italy, we missed that extra touch in the other cities!!! Thank you Roko for the experience, still dreaming of that desert from Tonolo🥰!!!

We booked the "History of Venice: San Marco Highlights Tour" with Roberto (Withlocals) and had a fantastic time. Right after we made the reservation, Roberto reached out to us to learn more about our preferences and what we wanted to explore. Based on our location, he tailored a tour that aligned perfectly with our interests. He also provided us with numerous restaurant recommendations. On the day of the excursion, he picked us up on time directly in front of our hotel, allowing us to start the tour promptly. Roberto, being a true Venetian, possesses exceptional knowledge about Venice, its locations, and history. We were thoroughly impressed by the depth of his knowledge and the fascinating details he pointed out during the tour. It was an incredible experience, and we learned a great deal. We highly recommend booking a tour with Roberto for those passionate about delving into Venice's amazing history. You won't regret It.

Mateo is amazing. We have been traveling Italy for a few weeks and this was by far our best tour! Mateo is charming, charismatic and well versed in both the art history of the Basilica and Dodge’s Palace and the historical significance of Venezia throughout the ages. He gave us insight into creation of mosaics pointing out the differences in art styles throughout the ages. While at the same time, weaving stories based on historical legends that have been generationally passed down and on documented written history. He added personal touches by sharing how his family was impacted by events of the past. Do Not pass up the chance to book this tour with Mateo. If I could give this 15 thumbs up I would!

We had an amazing walk with Lu. She showed us the highlights of Venice as well as the hidden gems, including some lovely surprises. She was a pleasure to spend time with and is an excellent photographer as well! Thank you for a great intro to Venice Lu!

This was a fantastic private tour. We learned a lot and really enjoyed learning the history and stories about Venice.

Nicoletta met us in Piazza San Marco and together we visited the San Marco Basilica and the Doge Palace. We learned things we have never known before even after traveling to Venezia twice before, and thoroughly enjoyed this tour with Nicoletta, who really knows her information about Venezia history! We are still talking about this tour and what we learned from Nicoletta. We highly recommend Nicoletta as a guide. We found Nicoletta on "With Locals" website and we highly recommend that for finding guides for your travels!

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of historic Venice. Nicole was friendly, on time, very knowledgeable, and made the tour fun and informative. We saw Saint Mark's Basilica, a prison, and the Doge's palace. We would take other tours with her. As an added plus she even recommended an excellent restaurant for lunch afterwards.

When the sites we planned to see were not exactly what we wanted, our guide Nicolleta pivoted with us and did an amazing job of giving us an overview of the city, drilling into interesting details about the palace, Venice history, and St. Mark's. She showed us local things you won't find in the tour books as well as gave us the right level of interesting information on the major landmarks. This was the perfect way to see Venice! I'd recommend doing this at the beginning of your stay.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS - NOT AS ADVERTISED - book instead through "with local" for much cheaper and same experience!!! Gondola ride is NOT included and will cost 120 EU extra for an hour ride. Tickets to Basilica and Doge Palace also NOT included even though under the tab of what to expect it says they are included. Horrible company to deal with. Viator says nothing they can do and up to the local tour operator. local tour operator says read our web page which has conflicting information on it.

Nicoletta was a great guide for our tour of St. Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace. She is very knowledgeable and has a deep passion for all things Venetian.

Getting to tour Venice with Mattia was like seeing your favorite relative and having them show you the best parts of town. He took us off the beaten path and showed us a Venice we never would have ever seen. It was the highlight of our two week tour of Europe and was something we will never forget!

We had a wonderful tour with Lucrezia in Venice. She has the perfect combination of knowledge, experience and most of all patience. She easily adjusted the tour to suit our needs, her explanations were clear and easy to understand. We were amazed by her detailed knowledge of Gondolas. She found answers to all of our questions. Finally, she followed up the tour with additional information the next day. Highly recommend

My wife, infant son, and I booked a tour with Romy. Her incredible knowledge of Venice, both past and present, will give you so much more information and appreciation for the city than you could ever hope for on your own. With confidence and ease, she will expertly navigate you through the labyrinth of the confusing streets and keep you hanging on her every word while she brilliantly recounts rich Venetian history in vivid detail. It was shocking to see all the little details she pointed out that we would have certainly missed exploring on our own. Kind to listen to you intently and remarkably patient with all of your questions, Romy is far and away the single best guide we have ever had, in any country. When you part ways, you'll feel as if though you are saying goodbye to a dear friend. It's at that moment you'll suddenly realize, that among all of the awe inspiring beauty that surrounds you, truly the greatest hidden gem in all of Venice, is Romy.

Romy was a fountain of information. She answered any question we put to her, whether it was on history, art or culture. We were able to access places that we would not even have known about, which really added to our enjoyment of this amazing city. A walking tour with Romy was an immersion in all things Venetian. A very personable and knowledgeable guide. Thanks, Romy! PS. We actually travelled July 2019, pre Covid

Absolutely charming. Very informative. And we changed up the usual plan ... More talking and wandering. Romy is the type that you would love to listen to all day. A native Venetian. Her crystal blue eyes twinkled with home town pride!!! Thanks for bringing the sunshine for our day in Venice too!! 😎

Cancelled by operator and didn't show us the courtesy of even letting us know. We arrived at the rendezvous point and it was only when I checked my emails after waiting 15 minutes that we found from Viator that the operator had cancelled the previous evening without explanation. Still haven't had an explanation and as this was a proivate tour I cannot envisage it was down to low numbers of attendees. Very disappointed, however we used the money to good effect sorting out our own day.

Our tour guide Matheo (Matthew) was excellent! He was informative, animated and very friendly; we learned a lot about Venice with this tour!!

We had a very knowledgeable tour guide, Mateo, from whom we learned a great deal about the history of Venice, art and architecture. The boys loved the tour of the dungeons and the weapon rooms as well as the gondola ride.

Emanuele was great from start to finish. He was available to answer all our questions before the trip and also offered us advice while on our trip about places we should and should not go to. The tour was everything we hoped for and more. He took us to a hidden spot where we could survey the landscape and it was breathtaking. The gondola ride was great as he gave you a peak into the history of the gondola and history of Venice. Highly reccomended.

My cousins and I toured San Marco square, the old prison and the Basilica with Lucia. Lucia educated and entertained us with all the rich history and beauty of Venice. We traveled the canals in a gondola and enjoyed all the sights and sounds of the area. A wonderful experience I would do again. Thank you.

We had a great time with Romy on our 3 hour tour of Venice. She was very knowledgeable and took us to historical places as well as her favorite gelato shop. There were 4 of us ranging in age from 52 to 16 and we all had a great time. I would recommend Romy (she was born and raised in Venice) if you want to see the famous parts of Venice and some smaller, quieter sections.