Venice In A Day: St. Mark’s, Doge’s, Gondola And Murano & Burano

Long day. 3 separate excursions with three separate tour guide. I thought it was one full day tour with one tour.

This tour met our needs to see so much in one day. Both of our guides were very knowledgeable and kind. One grew up in Venice and really had an insiders knowledge of Venice.

Great guide, very knowledgeable and friendly. Thanks Lara for showing Murano and Burano, and Lorenzo for Basilica and Doge’s palace, we had a great time!

Great experience Dalia and Lucia were amazing!!

Sebastian was amazing. Very personable, laid back and knowledgeable. Giovanna was so great for the museum tours. So full of personality and information!

We had a wonderful experience in Rome, which made the contrast with our Venice experience even more disappointing. The Venice portion of our trip felt fragmented and was impacted by a series of subcontractor issues and communication failures. We were instructed to arrive at the meeting point at 8:45 AM, only to discover that the office did not open until 9:00 AM. After the staff arrived, they informed us that our guide had not checked in and attempted to contact them. Despite the staff's efforts and professionalism, our guide never appeared, and we spent approximately 90 minutes waiting in the office lobby while they tried to resolve the situation. Unfortunately, the disruptions continued throughout the day. The next segment of our tour also started late, further impacting our schedule and diminishing the overall experience. What should have been a seamless and enjoyable day in Venice instead became a series of delays, uncertainty, and missed opportunities. We appreciate the kindness and efforts of the local office staff, who did everything they could to assist us. However, the repeated breakdowns in coordination and communication among the tour providers significantly affected our experience and fell well short of the expectations established by the rest of the trip.

We packed a lot in one day which was the plan and accomplished. It is a long day and a lot of walking so be ready. That said the over all cost while not cheap included long taxi rides that would have been very costly by themselves which made this easier and a better over all value. All 3 guides did a good job presenting and handing us off so that we were worry free for the day.

Great guides. Very informative. Lucia stood out as very knowledgeable and kept a good pace.

Iole Calabrese was an excellent tour guide and made our tour very interesting and kept it moving. She is very knowledgeable and speaks to insights about the places we visited. We would highly recommend her!!

This was a very good trip. Our guide Ellena was very knowledgeable and passionate about her job. The museum and palace were amazing and Ellena did a great job in describing everything.

Walking tour history with info about Marco Polo’s neighborhood, the Rialto bridge, then the basilica with stories of St. Marks bones, and the Doges rule made this an a plus trip! Murano glass blowing demonstration was enjoyable but Burano is no longer a place where they make lace. Quaint island and shopping.

We wanted to explore Venice outside the tourist beaten path. This tour did that for us! Yes, we got to skip the lines (a feature that pays for itself) but also had the talent and knowledge of our wonderful guide. We got to see streets and hear about history as only the locals know. Our guide’s knowledge and ability to communicate made the experience both informative and fulfilling. Wear your best walking shoes because after the morning excursion, you’ll travel by boat (about a 45 minute ride) to the islands of Murano (glass) and Burano (lace). The Murano glass studio caters to gallery quality glassworks (most items start at $100 or more but they have a gift shop of lesser priced objects.) Burano is a beautiful little island that is working to create a tourist trade. Note that only one “family” still makes lace items and they are very expensive. That being said, there are lots of lace items imported from elsewhere to buy as well as yummy restaurants, bakeries and gift shops. A fun way to spend an afternoon after a morning of historical buildings and cathedrals!

First time to Italy for all of us. Mose’ and Kristine were both excellent tour guides. Very knowledgeable with great energy throughout.

Venice is such a beautiful and fascinating city, especially this time of year. Cooler Weather , smaller crowds. Our Guide Mosul ( Moses) delivered an unforgettable morning with his knowledge , wit, and passion for this city

Great way to see Venice, Murano and Burano in one day. It was a long day but fun. Lara was a very good guide

Great tour with Susan, our guide who is an absolute expert at what she is doing. We did a walking tour, visited the basilica and the doges palace. Susan was fun, very knowledgeable and competent. I would highly recommend doing this tour!

The guides were very knowledgeable and really taught us a lot about Venice, Murano, and Burano. Our first guide was very passionate, but a bit long winded. He did truly pack in a lot of information though. We could feel his pride for Venice! Our second guide Alessandra P. was delightful. She also was very knowledgeable and full of pride for this beautiful place. She was more approachable and was even kind enough to help us with finding our hotel and a restaurant for dinner after the tour. Our only complaint was in the tour being split up and us having to struggle to grab lunch and find our way to the next meeting spot in time. Venice can be a maze to those who aren’t familiar with navigating the city.

This tour started at an easy to find location and our first tour guide Mosé was amazing. He really made the tour, every building we past and monument we walked by he could tell you the name and history of. He had information about the history of Venice, the good and bad things the Venetians living there have to go through and he told us all this in a fun and easy to understand way. You could tell he wasn't reciting some line from a tour guidebook, he really was passionate and knowledgeable about everything and that really made the tour memorable. When you get to St Mark’s Basilica you will need to abide by the dress code, no knees or shoulders exposed so if you don't have the proper attire they have a frumpy little harry potter robe like mesh coat you can buy for 2 euro at the entrance, also no backpacks even small ones allowed but they have free bag storage. The second part of the tour our guide was Francesca A and she was great. She talked the whole boat ride to both islands and she didnt overlap on the information the first tour guide already gave us, she had more to say about the surrounding islands and the history of them. In Murano the glass demonstration was super cool and we did not feel pressured whatsoever to buy the glass and the gallerie we got to go through was like a glass museum. Burano was the best part of the day, the island was so beautiful it was like walking through an instagram picture. The lace making demonstration was very quick and you had plenty of time to explore on your own and the island is so small you can easily find your way back to the boat without needing maps. I would say make sure you wear comfortable shoes because you will be walking a lot. The boat rides gave you a nice break but you will be out all day on foot and there will be a good amount of stairs and steps.

Francesca was simply superb. As an archeologist, her history of Venice, was outstanding. She zoomed around Venice with 16 of us in tow, and talked the entire time, many times having us in stitches with her charm and wit. Tour was well worth our time and money. When I come back with other people, we will seek her out again.

Rita was fantastic-very informative. The second part of the trip was ok the guide was very good however we found the sales people at Murano kind of pushy-the men only.. the lady in the souvenir shop was very nice..

We did the full day Venice and islands tour and found the Venice portion to be amazing! It covered a great deal of Venice history and although a lot of walking none of it was wasted as the itinerary is well planned and there is no waiting time on the San Marco and Doge Palace lines. The island portion of the tour was okay but we felt it is something you can do on your own as you can go at your own pace. In Murano we enjoyed the glass blowing demo but did not have time to walk around the island to see anything else and we loved Burano but were not interested in the lace making so we walked around. Both islands definitely worth visiting! This was a great tour to pack a lot in one day if you have limited time in Venice so overall very happy we did it and would highly recommend!

This was a great way to see Venice. We had two exceptional guides during the day--the remarkable Elena for walking through the city and touring St. Mark's and the Doge's Palace, and Francesca A. for the afternoon tours to Murano and Burano. Both were extremely knowledgeable and told us fascinating stories about the city's history. We'd recommend any tour led by Elena or Francesca A.; having such personable guides made the long day (10 hours from our initial departure at 9 to our return from Burano at 7:00 pm) completely enjoyable!

Informative and very enjoyable tour. Martina was a brilliant tour guide. She spoke very good English and her knowledge of Venice was only over shadowed by her love of Venice. Alexandra on the afternoon tour was a bit more laid back, but stil an excellent guide. Would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Venice!

We learned so much in such a short period of time. Mosea (I'm sure I'm spelling this wrong) was very upbeat, informative, and pleasant to spend a significant amount of time with! Enrico was an excellent guide and was timely and profession. Was a wonderful day!

Well run tour - Martina S. on the walking tour half was very informative and easy to understand. She was also very helpful with things to do in the area and how best to get there. It was a very hot day and the lines were very long, but with the tour we were able to bypass the crazy long lines of people standing in the sun which was a big score!!! The afternoon with Serena visiting Murano and Burano was nice, however the islands are less exciting after St Mark's square. The day was very hot and it is a must to sit in the back of the boat where there is a little breeze.

all good except that it was unclear that these were totally separate and when you left the first part, you kinda had to figure out (if you did not ask) you had to go somewhere else. In between time not long enough

We were really glad we booked this tour for our first day in Venice. Our morning guide, Moses, was extremely knowledgeable & entertaining. It was good to find out so much about the city & sites. Also great not to have to queue! Our afternoon guide, Kristina, also gave us interesting information & was very friendly. Excellent value for money.

This was our third visit to Venice and, if past experiences taught us anything, the best way to explore this vibrant city was with the support of an expert guide (or, in this case, two!). Venice can be intense: crowded streets and long queues for the 'must see' attractions such as St Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace can be exhausting. However, our guides (Mosé in the morning and Francesca A. in the afternoon) made the experience effortless. Their passion for Venice and its rich history is clear. This tour is not cheap, but we found it to be hugely worthwhile investment in order to get the absolutely most out of our time. Highly recommended!

We joined this fantastic tour on May 3, 2019. It included two parts: One in the morning and one in the afternoon. We started out with a wonderful tour guide (Ellie) who was so detailed in the understanding of the buildings and sites. She was extremely knowledgeable, pleasant. We took a casual walk around Venice streets on the way to Saint Mark's square.The group was around 20 people in various age ranges and everyone could keep up with the light pace. If you get Ellie, you are 100% guaranteed an enjoyable tour. We had a break for a delicious lunch before meeting our next guide. Enrico R. took us onto a luxury, wooden boat over the waters to the Islands of Murano and Burano. He was also professional, knowledgeable and gracious to all the members on the tour. He filled the boat rides with all sorts of historical information. He engaged every member of the group...asking where you r from and how u are enjoying your stay, etc. He is very personable and had the group smiling and laughing at various points. When we reached the Island of Burano, he encourage people to explore beyond the shops on the central road. He said the Island was so beautiful that we need to take it all in. We took his advice and loved the entire experience. This Venice Combo tour gets the highest rating of Excellent due to the knowledge and professionalism of the tour guides. The sights are obviously amazing on their own...But Ellie and Enrico made the day.

The trip to Doge's Palace and St. Mark's was very informative and really appreciated the shorter wait times. Based on the lines outside I am guessing the standard wait would have been several hours while ours was only around 15 minutes. Our guide was very knowledgeable and provided great info, especially about the cisterns. The afternoon visit to Murano and Burano were pretty light information and demonstrations and seemed to be more of a here are our products for you to purchase. We did not feel pressured to buy anything as I have seen in other reviews.

Susan and Jennifer were the best tour guides we had our entire 10 days in Italy. They were clear, conscientious, informative and attentive. They gave wonderful history and told stories that brought each of the area's that we visited, to life. They are true gems in the many options for tour guides and I would request them in the future.

Susan took the first half and was consistently helpful, informative, friendly and kept us all interested and enthusiastic despite pouring rain. Her knowledge and love of Venice shone through the whole tour. In the afternoon Serena took care of us on the boat and gave help and support on the islands. She also obviously loves both Venice and her job and gave us tips on how to eat like a Venetian, among others. Both were outstanding in their own way and the two accounts of Venice complemented each other. Well worth the money and a good way to spend a day getting to know Venice.

It was very much worth going on this tour, got to see and hear things about Venice only a local would know, and visiting the other islands was informational and fun. The whole family enjoyed the day.

The morning walking tour of Venice was amazing. Susan, our tour guide, was a wealth of information. We learned so much about life in Venice. San Marco was beautiful and she pointed out such interesting details that we would not have know about. The same was true with the Doge Palace. The afternoon tour was okay. Murano was a tourist trap to purchase glass. So was Burano for the lace but the lovely colorful buildings made up for it. Our tour guide was nice but not as informative as Susan was in the morning.

Signed up for this 2 in 1 trip and it worths every penny. The morning tour included little walking tour in Venice, skip-the-line access to the St. Mark's Basilica and Doge’s Palace, while the afternoon tour was a private boat to Murano (glass making) and Burano (Lace making). Both are very good. Dun mention how wonderful our guide was. Our guide SUSAN for the morning part is friendly, helpful, informative and fun. As a PHD holder and University teacher of History of Art, she gave detailed introduction to the attractions, in the Basilica and the Palace. Thanks so much Susan. Will definitely join again next time if I travel to Venice and hope to see you again!

This full day tour was long but worth it in every way, especially given our limited time in Venice. The day comprised two tours. The AM tour was a walking tour of the city including Rialto Bridge, Marco Polo landmarks, St Mark's Sqaure, the Basilica and the Doge's Palace, including Bridge of Sighs. Elena was our guide - so engaging and knowledgeable. We learnt quite a few things such as the historical water harvesting and storage system and how the early Venicians reinforced the buildings etc. We walked solid from 9am till 11am, seeing many unexpected sights which we would not have known about if doing on our own. Once we got to the Doge's Palace at 11am we had a break for 20mins to relax and use restrooms (very clean), then recommenced till 1pm when the first tour finished. Ensure your shoulders and knees are covered for entrance into the Basilica. Also, large backpacks have to be checked in at Basilica and Palace. We had a break from 1pm till 2.15pm so we found our own lunch at a restauant on the water front where we could sit in airconditioning and refuel. Our PM tour guide was Christina and again we learnt quite a lot about Venice - it was great to see Venice from the water and to get a feel for the lagoon by cruising past islands with old ruins and horticulture. We enjoyed the free time in Murano and Burano, especially the tip of the local biscuit from the bakery and the prosecco at the wine bar! The glass blowing and lace making were interesting and we didn't feel pressure the buy. It was worth going for a wander as soon as the demonstrations were over. The boat was smooth, modern and had a powerful motor. We got back to the dock at 7pm - a long day but this tour really maximised our short time in Venice - loved it!!

We met our tour by a statue in Campo San Bartolomeo. It is a good thing that we scouted out the place the night before as we just arrived the day before. Our tour had remote headsets so we can always hear our guide. Our tour guide took us through the back streets of many areas and gave us lots of insights on the history and present day life in Venice. We moved on to St Marks Square, St Marks Basilica and Doges Palace. She was very informative and knowledgeable. She gave us time for questions and to take photos. Our tour ended at Doges Palace where we had time for lunch before the second part. We met a different tour guide near the San Zaccaria stop and boarded a private ferry that would take us to Murano first. She gave us insights of Venice seeing it from the water side and the islands we pass to get to Murano. On arrival we went to a glass blowing demonstration by one of the masters in their shop. We then had an hour or so to walk around Murano or shop. We then headed off to Burano to see how intricate lacework is made. Burano has the beautiful coloured houses and was a photographers dream. There was a bakery the guide recommended Panificio Costantini which is famous for its Burano cookies. Delicious! We then headed back to the boat and saw a bit of the agricultural/winery on other islands. It was a long day but definitely worth it.

Our guide in the morning, Susan, was excellent. She was very knowledgeable, informed, interesting and friendly. She took us by a few unknown places with interesting stories and did thorough tours of St. Mark's and the Doge Palace. I enjoyed the afternoon in Murano and Burano. Seeing these islands as well as hearing about other islands as we sailed past them was very interesting.

After a lot of researching for tours in Venice as we only had 2 days we decided to go with Dark Rome's combined tour and were not at all disappointed. We found the guides to be very informative and could answer any questions and also made the tours fun and interesting. Also very well organised and always onetime. Would easily recommend them.

Fredericka was a marvelous guide. She knew all the history, spoke fluent English, didn’t lose any of us in the crowds, gave us ample time for photos, and throughly covered everything we expected to. She also gave great recommendations on restaurants, shopping, etc.

The tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly. The tour delivered exactly what was advertised and the tour group bonded nicely. A professional tour operation.

Our guide in the morning walk around Venice was terrific. Informative and pleasant and enables us to skip the long lines on a holiday weekend. Really enjoyed the AM. the afternoon trip to the islands was nice but not as much to see and the guide though pleasant had a tough act to follow. All in all it was a pleasant way to spend the day and we learned a lot about Venice and the Venetians from both guides.

We only had one full day in Venice and this tour truly capitalized on that. Time was not wasted and we saw everything we wanted and then some. Having the opportunity to go to Murano and Burano was definitely well worth it. Highly recommend this tour and this company. Both our tour guides, Susan and Francesca, were very knowledgeable and easy to follow.

Both Angela & Francesca were very knowledgeable and gave very interesting talks about Venice and its history. We enjoyed the island crafts and the walk through the city.

<p>If you only have a little time in Venice, this is a great tour. Rita was our Venice tour guide and Ami was our island tour guide. Both women knew how to communicate well and made sure there was laughter in learning. Venice is a city where one day isn't enough time but we felt we saw the highlights. If you've seen glass blowing before, there is nothing new to this experience and the pieces while famously well done are not anymore spectacular than other locations in the world. gasp! I said it aloud. We enjoyed Burano most of the two islands.<br/> Ami, educated me about the Prosecco cocktail known as Aperol Spritz or Veneziano. Don't hesitate to do this one, just know that is is a full day of walking!</p>

Susan, our guide for the Doge's Palace and St Mark's, is an art historian and was full of information and made history come to life! We could see a lengthy queue of perhaps an hour's wait. The afternoon trip to Murano took us to a prestigious factory with an excellent demonstration of how they make the glass. Beautiful showroom but a quick walk into a street with little shops gave the opportunity to purchase some items more suited to our budget. Burano is full of touristy shops but the walk through the streets was most enjoyable. Better quality and better priced souvenirs at both islands, compared to Venice proper. The boat rides were very relaxing. If you want to give yourself more time to see the islands, skip the showrooms after the demonstrations.

There are so many people buying the skip the line tickets there is still a queue, but if you go early morning or late afternoon the queues have gone. if you do need to go between 10-30am and 3pm then buy the skip the line, as it's out in the open and gets very hot so hat and drinks required. Line moves fairly quickly but that depends on weekends/ Holidays etc. Only found 1 of the island worth a vist, but it is something to do if your trying to fill your day

The first tour was guided by Moses. It took us on a walk throughout Venice canals and Moses provided tons of information. We saw the Palace, and again, Moses provided great information all along the way. The second tour was guided by Alessandra. She was also great. She was informative and filled the time on the boat ride to Murano and Burano greatly. She was knowledgeable, funny, and a very good communicator. Overall the tours were great and gave us a great overview of Venice, Murano, and Burano. We had fun, took tons of photos, and learned loads about our location.

It is a joke. You pay to avoid the queue but the queue for the "queue jumpers" was enormous. We gave up. Money wasted.