Venice Off the Beaten Path: private tour in Venice with a local
5.0
20 Ratings
Venezia
Discover the hidden gems of Venice on a private tour with a knowledgeable local guide. Explore authentic neighborhoods, admire Venetian palazzos, and hear fascinating local stories and legends.
Duration: 2 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Venice - Are you looking for Venice tours but you can’t choose the best option for you? Do you like the idea to join Venice tours by locals? This is the best option for you! Together we will visit some of the hidden gems of Venice, you’ll explore the floating city like you’ve never done before. A unique experience of its kind, two hours of intense discovery of a city like you’ve never seen.

This private city walk want to show you hidden gems and secrets corners of Venice. During this tour you will enjoy one of the most peaceful and not touristy district of the city: Dorsoduro, also known as the Venetian art district.

Do you love movies, well I’ll show you where Indiana Jones traces clues about the Holy Grail in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”. Do you love art? I’ll show you a unique Palazzo with a secret garden. Corners of Venice little seen by tourists finding unique spots. I have carefully selected the best hidden calli and paths that lead to what we call the hidden jewels.

We’ll avoid the “traffic jams” and the tourist traps … let you bring a little part of our truly Venice in your heart!

I will unveil the secrets of the construction of the city and we will discover secret stories of some unique Venetian “palazzi” such as the Peggy Guggenheim’s house, the beautiful Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Ca’ Dario and Punta della Dogana. We will see the “squero”: the gondole yard where Venetian still make and restore their gondole and you will get to know everything about gondoliers and their traditions. We will discover the largest painting on canvas of the world, we will see the strange “empty” palazzo, marvellous “masks” decorating our buildings, the incredible bridge of fists, an unbreathing view of the Gran Canal and much more..

This tour may include an unconventional breathtaking panoramic view of St. Mark square and the Grand Canal from a unique perspective.

This can be a tailor made tour, according to your interests I can change my itinerary! No more secrets for you, just send me a message after your booking!

Falling in love with Venice thanks to Lucia Venice walks and tours!

What's Included
  • Private tour with a local guide
  • Expertise by an art historian
  • Authentic Venice experience
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

Experience Venice uniquely tailored to your preferences with a local guide. This private excursion is exclusively for you, led by a licensed local guide who adores Venice. As part of the hidden treasures of Venice tour, you will explore a genuinely local neighborhood, marvel at the enchanting greenery of a Venetian palace, and hear captivating local tales and myths known only to the locals of Venice.

  • On certain dates, most travelers staying outside of Venice who are planning to visit for the day will be required to pay a €5 access fee. For further details (including exemptions) and to learn what days this fee is applicable, please visit: https://cda.ve.it
Location
Campo dei Frari, 2995
Campo dei Frari
at the well in front of the Legatoria Polliero Venezia
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(20 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Tomrflorida
Mar 17, 2024
Best Tour Ever with local guide - Lucia was absolutely fantastic! Her passion and love for her home is evident in everything she shares about Venice. After spending a few hours with her, we began to understand why Venice is a special place. Now we can’t wait to return and discover more of Venice and spend another few hours with Lucia!! The best private tour I have ever experienced!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
H2541wzjoel
Jan 10, 2024
Marvelous tour with a wonderful guide!!! - Our tour of St. Mark's Square, the Basilica, and the Doge's Palace with Lucia was outstanding! She was incredibly knowledgeable, personable, and engaging. We learned everything from the history of the Doges and the republic to Venetian superstitions. Her enthusiasm for Venice is infectious. She had our whole family, including three teenagers, fully engaged in the tour. We all agreed that our experience with Lucia was much better than being part of a large group tour with headsets and a guide with a flag. She was very generous with her time and also gave us great recommendations for restaurants and things to do in Venice. Highly recommended!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Monica
Jul 31, 2023
Stroll through Dorsoduro - Lucia provided us with a fun afternoon strolling around Venice (Dorsoduro), showing and explaining to us all kinds of interesting things. Most importantly, she kept our two boys (ages 10 and 7) engaged with several fun games, facts, and stories that they could relate to (now they see lions everywhere!). We had a great time and can highly recommend her as a guide. Patient, great with kids, and very knowledgeable, she clearly enjoys showing her city to visitors.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cabinteelyman
Jun 5, 2023
10/10 Lucia is excellent - Lucia is one of the best tour guides we have met, she is organized, intelligent and fun. Her ‘off the beaten track’ tour took us away from the crowds to a quieter, but still fascinating part of Venice. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mgcnyny
Nov 9, 2022
You must take this tour! Really, it’s mandatory! - This was a GREAT morning tour. And a must- do even for those of us who’d been to Venice before. Lucia was knowledgeable, funny and 100% engaged in our enjoyment of her native city. She even arranged a surprise trip to the rooftop of the Tedeschi department store for a glorious view of the whole city. Our trip included an hour on a boat, exploring the canals and that was such a treat with an excellent water taxi driver. We really really enjoyed ourselves and cannot thank Lucia enough.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Martalearningescapes
Nov 8, 2022
A brilliant tour with an excellent guide - This was an absolutely briliant tour and a highlight of our family trip to Venice. We chose to do a private tour with Lucia and since I had my ten year old daughter with me, Lucia structured it as a scavenger hunt. It was a lot of fun but also very informative even for me who had already visited Venice several times. I highly recommend this tour for families witn kids of primary school age and tweens and Lucia as competent, kind and professional guide
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jbcx2
Aug 25, 2022
Amazing Venice guide - We had the easiest, most informative and special day touring Venice with Lucia. She is absolutely lovely and kind but also knows her city inside and out. Of course she took our family of 4 (2 teenage girls) to the characteristic must see spots, but she also explored hidden gems and kept everyone interested and happy for several hours.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Achillesbk
Aug 10, 2022
Venice Private Tour - Lucia was an absolutely amazing tour guide! We have been traveling as a family for years and booking local private guides…Lucia tops the list! She was super knowledgeable, kept us engaged the entire time and was a pleasure to be with for the day! Such a wonderful experience overall! Highly, highly recommend Lucia!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
962nicholasg
Aug 5, 2022
The best tour guide we’ve ever had in a lifetime of travel! - Our family of six spent a half day with Lucia on a private cicchetti tour of Venice back in 2019. I won’t repeat what I wrote in my review then other than to say that both Lucia and the tour were simply unimprovable — THE unexpected highlight of a wide-ranging, high-end trip through Europe. Fast forward three years and through lots of pandemic-rescheduled travel, we finally had a chance to get back to beautiful Venice and immediately booked Lucia for two private full-day tours. We let Lucia know that our main interests were (1) getting a real “drink” of hidden, off-the-beaten-path Venice, and (2) continuing our tour through Venice’s amazing food/wine/cocktail scene. We otherwise left ourselves entirely in her hands. Long story short, we once again had a tour and guide that surpassed every expectation. We spent hours touring and learning about unspeakably beautiful areas of Dorsoduro and Canareggio which were often literally empty except for Lucia, our family, and the inimitable city of Venice. We had amazing food and drink surrounded by happy locals, we visited (courtesy of Lucia’s friendship with everyone in Venice, I think) some closed/private locations I won’t detail here, and we spent two days with a guide whose knowledge, passion, kindness, humor, patience, discretion, and just plain old goodness/decency makes her feel to us like a forever family friend. I’ll wrap up this review this way: think of the effort and expense required to thoughtfully plan and execute a family trip to a faraway place like Venice. Think realistically about the number of times you’ll actually make it there. And now trust me when I say that a guide like Lucia is like the catalyst — the unexpected secret ingredient — who makes each of those hours and dollars pay off the way you hoped and dreamed but almost never actually achieve. She is the best tour guide we’ve ever worked with anywhere period and we could not recommend her more highly. Do your life a favor and reach out to Lucia if you’re visiting Venice. You can thank me later! :-)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jesusortega24
Feb 18, 2022
JUST AMAZING - Thanks a bunch Lucia for the tour, it was a great experience and interesting stories, I really recommend this tour with her
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Select Date and Tickets
up to 5 guests
1
Traveler
June 2024
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Today
More activities from this operator
From $68
Jewish Ghetto in Venice: Historical Walk Through the Heart of Cannaregio District
5.0
48 Ratings
Venezia
From $75
Venetian Secrets Revealed: Immersive Sightseeing with Local Guide
5.0
13 Ratings
Venezia