Meet your expert guide at the famous St. Mark’s Square and start getting to know the city and its origins. See the most renowned public space in the city and, learn about its historical, social, and political importance. Learn about the Clock Tower and the Marble Lions which are all part of St Mark’s history.
Follow your guide at a relaxed pace to visit the Doge’s Palace with pre-reserved tickets straight into this opulent palazzo. Bypass the long lines to explore the political heart of an Empire. Learn about the supreme authority and wealth of the ruling Venetian Doges in the Gothic architecture of the palace. Ask about the talented 14th-century sculptors that worked on the palace and enjoy stunning views across the Lagoon as you explore this world-famous landmark.
Learn why the New Prisons were built, and understand the significance of the Bridge of Sighs, another highlight of Venice. Listen to the extraordinary story of the famous Casanova and his life in Venice. Leave your guide with enough knowledge to enjoy the rest of your stay in Venice on your own.
Your admission ticket also includes entry to the Correr Museum on St. Mark's Square. The building was originally designed as a residence for Napoleon, and later became the Venetian residence of the King of Italy. Enjoy the Correr Museum at your own leisure after the guided tour has ended.
Choose to Include a Gondola Ride along the Grand Canal. Depending on your selected option, complete your tour of the Doge’s Palace with an enchanting gondola ride, the perfect end to your day in Venice. After exploring the palace's rich history, your local guide will take you to the nearby pier where you will board a traditional gondola. Step aboard a traditional gondola for a 30-minute journey through Venice's picturesque canals, passing hidden corners and magnificent palaces. This relaxing ride is a must-do experience to conclude your visit to Venice.
Had the best time touring the palace with our guide Claire!! She was so funny and full of energy and super knowledgeable. Kept my husband and I engaged the entire time, we didn’t mind the 2 hours on our feet. The gondola ride at the end was chilly but worth it to see the canals around Venice.
Our guide Christine was so knowledgeable I learned so much! The ptional gondola ride was perfect!!!!!
This was okay. a guided tour was a good idea for this one. it's very large and the guides have lots of historical information to share. if doing a self-guide audio tour it's hard to find your way around or to hear your audio guide with all the people and other guides around talking. However the guide moves fairly quickly so not a lot of time to get good focused pictures. Our guide was very enthusiastic about the art galleries inside. He spent a little too much time talking about his favorite artist then rushed through the last part of a tour which was the second floor and only had about 12 minutes to do that. he was moving so quickly and I had a hurt knee so was walking slowly but he lost me I had to find my way to the exit, stand in a huge line to use the one bathroom at the entire place before rushing over to our joint gondola ride to end the tour. The Joint gondola ride addon is absolutely worth it. it's much cheaper to do as an add-on to your tour then to do a gondola ride by itself they are 70 to 100 euros per ride. It was shared with just one other couple so only four people in the gondola lasted 30 minutes was a beautiful ride.
The gondola trip was terrible... none of the 4 in our party were seated together. Congestion during the trip was miserable and was not corrected. Approximately 15 - 20 gondola were backed up in the canals causing more stopping than traveling. No attempt was made to take an alternate route! Our gondolier didn't understand English and was constantly distracted by others. A Waste of Time and money. Do not use Viator for Venice experiences.
Great value if looking for a last minute gondola ride. Expect to spend time in the Doge palace or basilica beforehand.
Anna was very knowledgeable and kind, was everything just perfect. We can recommended for everybody.
Excellent tour guide was knowledgeable and made everyone feel comfortable 😀
Our tour of Doges Palace was exceptional and the Gondola Ride was amazing!! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and we did not have to wait in the long line for the Gondola Ride.
We learned so much about Doge's Palace, and our guide was incredibly knowledgeable. She provided detailed explanations about each room and its history, which we appreciated. However, there was so much information that the tour moved quite slowly. For our group, especially for the kids, it felt like a bit too much detail, and as a result, we did not have enough time to see all areas of the palace. We would have preferred a little less commentary and more time to explore the entire site, as the kids were disappointed to miss some sections. Our favorite parts were walking through the Bridge of Sighs and visiting the old prison cells, which were fascinating. The meeting point was a little chaotic and could have been better organized, but we absolutely loved the short gondola ride! It was a fun and memorable addition to the experience.
The tour was amazing! Alex was incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and he had a great passion for Venice. He answered all the questions we had and truly made the history of the palace come to life.
The Dodge was closing early which was not disclosed so you couldn’t stay to see the museum after the tour. They should have let people know when purchasing the tour to schedule on a different day.
Very knowledgeable and courteous guide. Answers questions without hesitation in a clear and concise manner.
Poor customer service and do not honor refund policy. Would not allow us to join our gondola ride or refund our money.
Was a very nice tour she was very informative and very patient with some other people in the group that were a bit demanding
Viator told us and another couple in our group that the St Marks Basicila was included in the tour and when we received tickets it did not. Extremely disappointing. We paid too much for what we received. When talking with another family from Wisconsin, they were told the same thing as us. When I was paying it said St Marks was included and when we received the tickets it wasn’t. We were unable to buy separate tickets for St Marks for that day so we didn’t get to go inside. Somehow, the person in charge of tour could have arranged for us to do the church tour and then Gondola ride but didn’t seem to care.
This was a great tour. Our tour guide, Clare (from France), was so full of energy and told us great history stories. Even my 12 and 14 year olds stayed interested the whole tour!
The meeting point instructions were clear. The tour changed times but messages were sent to us on time with options. Our guide Claire was AMAZING!!!!!!! very knowledgeable, friendly(she remembered all of our names), professional and delivery of information and history was very entertaining. AWESOME experience. We highly recommend this tour with Gondola ride. Exceeded our expectations. Thank you very much!!!!!
Excellent tour - instructions to meet guide very clear and really easy to find them. Guide very knowledgeable and friendly. We had a little introduction to St. Mark's Square initially, then the tour of the Doges Palace which was quite comprehensive and finally a little gondola ride. We would definitely say it was good value for money and very well organised. We thoroughly enjoyed it!
Great visit m. The tour guide is amazing. I think her name was Hilaria or Lalaria. There was also a helpful assistant Laura who escorted us to the tour. I highly recommend. Tour guide was extremely knowledgeable About the history of the building and the history of Venice.
This was such a fun and informing Tour. Claire, our Tour guide was engaging, energetic and very informative. The inside of the palace is so huge and with this Tour, we understood the history and a great explanation of the artwork. It was well worth it.
Visiting the Doge Palace without a guide would be a shame. The place is so huge and there is so much history that a guide will add so much to a visit.
Good guide with excellent information. Tour of St Marks Square helpful as pre palace tour. Paced well…overall very good.
We loved our Doge Palace tour because of our Tour Guide, Sandra. She was so knowledgeable about all of the art, art history and architecture of the Doge Palace. We learnt so much in two hours. We highly recommend this tour and especially Sandra. The Palace itself is amazing.
Sandra was great - very knowledgeable of Venetian history and art. Was efficient and enjoyable. Highly recommend.
Very interesting, definitely worth visiting and Claire our tour guide made a big effort to make everyone feel relaxed
The guided tour of the Doge’s Palace was informative and our guide shared fascinating stories and insights about Venetian history and the Palace. Definitely recommend for those interested in the history behind the architectural details of the Palace! The gondola tour was a nice excursion through the canals of Venice at the end.
Kristina was fabulous! Knowledgeable about history and entertaining. Beautiful art and architecture.
Ilaria was so insightful on all things Doge palace and St. Marks church. The tour showed us all the passages and paintings in the palace and the church. Through showing us the history of the buildings and their significance for its time in history. She also gave us a history of Venice and the impact it had with Italy and the world.
Our tour guide was great! She was very energetic and kept the experience fun and informative. Gondola was a nice treat at the end.
Gondola ride was wonderful! The rest was extremely boring. We would’ve like to hear more about each room we entered in the palace. Instead we heard in great detail about each painting down to the type of brush strokes. Our group plus others left the tour early.
This tour was very informative. Wear good shoes, lots of walking. Guide was very good on keeping to a timetable.
Our tour guide was so high energy and fun and gave a great tour! We learned a lot of information and our tour guide took opportunities to take pictures of each of us with some of the highlights. I'd highly recommend the tour.
Throughly enjoyed the tour.. the guide was very informative. The Doge Palace and prison was amazing. During November, the crowds were not a problem. Very beautiful inside and out
The Doges Palace is outstanding from every point of view and Claire was a fantastic tour guide. She shares her knowledge as well as her incredible energy with us. She adds humor which makes the tour even more enjoyable.
Absolutely beautiful palace at great pictures didn’t feel like our group stayed together and people were walking in between. It would’ve been better for the tour to stay together as a group and have a photo opportunities and instead of falling behind to take pictures I felt like she talked really fast even though we had an earpiece in to hear her
Our guide Claire made the tour interesting and fun. Have been there before but she provided a great amount of details that I did not know. Thank you Claire.
Very good tour of the Doge's Palace. Our guide Claire was very knowledgeable, engaging and full of beans! The gondola tour was short but nice.
It was a great experience to learn about Doge's Palace through a walking tour. The guide was extremely knowledgeable and she made it exciting and interesting. She had a wealth of information about Doge's Palace. She also was very flexible as some of the tourist had to stop during the tour to take a break or take a gondola ride. I highly recommend this tour for everyone who wants to know more than the average tour book.
We LOVED this tour and highly recommend booking this if you want a more in-depth understanding of the Doge’s Palace, the historic progression of Venice, and its people. Alejandro, our tour guide, is native to Venezia and has a command of Italian history (& beyond) that was incredible! His passion for teaching was evident and my hubby & I enjoyed this tour so much. We added the Gondola ride which was nice too (but couldn’t compare to the tour lol!).Thx!
If coming off a cruise ship aviator should let people know it takes over an hour to get to the meeting point. We were not aware of that and just made it in time for our tour. Also it cost us an e tea 12 E per person to get get to the meeting point.
Good meeting spot they use a flag to signify where they are. Very informative. Nice to skip the line into the palace
I wish I could give this tour more than 5 stars! Our guide, Clair, was incrediblly bubbly and fun, she knew everyone’s names in the first 2 minutes and really made you feel included. 10/10 recommend!
There is no need for a guide to do this tour. You can buy tickets directly at the official website for a fraction of the cost and have an audio guide (that will be by far more informative than the guide) and you can take the tour at your pace (spend more or less time at each location, depending on your interests). Also when you see “Walks in Europe” tour operator - run. The concept of customer service is non existent for them.
Alessandro was an excellent guide. He was informative and personable with an in-depth knowledge of history.
The meeting place was a bit busy, but we found the tour flag and got started almost on time. Our guide, Claire, was fun, friendly and very knowledgeable. She found areas where the group could sit while she described many events and people connected to the Palace. She loves us along at a reasonable pace and continued to share information, without it becoming boring. She is an excellent guide! We chose the gondola option and had a private ride! It was a really nice experience that most tourists should try at least once!
Clare was great and super energetic. The gondola ride was amazing at the end. I would, however, recommend to take a water taxi to the location because it can be a 30 minute walk. Of course that doesn't leave enough time for shopping. We came from Florence for the day, give yourself plenty of time to do the tour, shop and get back to the train.
Very good historic background is regard to historic venice. Enjoyed the tour and the guide. Good Spence
Gondola ride was a blast, especially the gondola traffic jam! Found out what the "Bridge of Sighs" was - also cool.
Absolutely wonderful! 😊 it was the most amazing experience of the day and the guide was extremely informative and helpful.
Went a few years ago without a guide. This experience was so much richer with many wonderful insights. Our guide was knowledgeable about the subject matter, kind, answered questions clearly, and kept the group on track. Nicely done.
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