Venice Tour: Doge’s Palace, Basilica & Gondola Ride

Embark on a 3-hour guided tour of Venice’s Golden Basilica, Doge’s Palace, and a romantic gondola ride. Explore historical landmarks, admire stunning artworks, and discover the city’s rich history.

Duration: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Piazza San Marco - St. Mark’s Square, known as Piazza San Marco, is the vibrant center of Venice and one of the world’s most renowned squares. Encircled by historic sites such as St. Mark’s Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, and the Campanile, it offers a breathtaking open space that showcases the splendor of the Venetian Republic. It’s an essential…
What's Included
  • Shared 30-minute gondola ride
  • Guided tour of the Doge’s Palace and Saint Mark’s Basilica
  • Skip-the-line ticket to St. Mark’s Basilica
  • Access to Museums in Saint Mark’s Square (Correr Museum, Archeological Museum, and Marciana Library)
  • Skip-the-line ticket to Doge’s Palace
  • History Gallery: a unique VR experience of Venice in the past
  • 20-minute gondola introductory experience
What's Not Included
  • Hotel pick-up
  • Food and drinks
  • Guided tour of Museo Correr, Museo Nazionale Archologico, and Biblioteca Marciana
Additional Information

Embark on a captivating journey through Venice’s rich history and art with this engaging 3-hour tour!
Accompanied by a knowledgeable guide, explore the breathtaking Doge’s Palace and the splendid Saint Mark’s Basilica, both nestled in the vibrant Piazza San Marco. Admire the exquisite artwork and delve into the fascinating history of the Venetian…

Location
Venice Tours S.r.l.
Calle de le Rasse
From St. Mark’s Square, face the Basilica and turn right towards the Doge’s Palace. Continue past the Bridge of Sighs to Riva degli Schiavoni (the waterfront promenade). Walk for 2 minutes, then turn left into Calle de le Rasse. The Venice Tours Office is at number 4536.
Cancellation Policy

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

Customer Ratings
4.7
(2305 Ratings)
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Strega1612
Oct 9, 2025
Very good experience - Elena has been a wonderful and caring guide. Upon arrival at meeting point, we were organised into smaller groups (which made boarding gondola easy and smooth), handed audio communication thingies through which Elena talked about history of venice, gondolas and kept us informed what’s happening. After short walk, we got in the gondola and glided through cosy, quiet side canals and then entered Canale Grande briefly and turned back into smaller canal. The whole ride was about 20-25min. After gondola experience Elena took us to a bookshop where we had Old Venice VR experience (inc in ticket price) and could browse through all things gondolas related. Very happy with the whole experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
K8025xxvincentm
Oct 9, 2025
Boat, water, walk, VR, it’s got everything you want and more - Em was a great tour guide and provided rich history for the tour! It was a great experience! Hope to do this tour again! Wonderful
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Davidcg7343jn
Oct 9, 2025
See the highlights of venice - Nice informative tour. Very good way to see several highlighs of venice. It was well organized. Tour guide did a nice job.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Steve_l
Oct 9, 2025
Amazing tour!!! - Go early! St Mark’s gets very crowded. At 9am, we could walk around with no issues. At 10am, the place is jammed!
Review provided by Viator
Bill_l
Oct 9, 2025
Great, but be in good shape. - Lots of walking and stair climbing. Doce palace was very interesting, even more than Saint Marks....
Review provided by Viator
Zealous_gypsy
Oct 9, 2025
Lots of good information. - I did the unforgivable and forgot our tour guide’s name 😢. She was very knowledgeable and would advocate for us at the places we visited. She also made sure we were safe during our visit and gave us tips on how to stay safe. The information she gave us was interesting and I would go again with her to learn some more.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elizabeth_m
Oct 8, 2025
When in Italy, skip the lines! - The Basiilica is stunning, The Palace is huge and the Prison was fascinating. It would have been overall a much better experience if we could have more clearly understood our guide’s heavy accent. Eventually we did get used to it, and came to understand her more clearly. Well worth the skip the line option, and all of the above are must sees, so glad we participated! Gondola ride was fun!
Review provided by Viator
Elizabeth_b
Oct 8, 2025
You will be standing and waiting a lot - Overall great experience. We stood long periods of time in several lines, even though we had skip the line access. We waited almost an hour for the gondola ride at the end and after walking around all day, it was tough. Not for people who aren’t really mobile. Several older folks on our tour had a very hard time and slowed us down. Our guide for the church and the palace was phenomenal.
Review provided by Viator
Gerardo_s
Oct 8, 2025
Your of St Marks... - Tour of St Marks Cathedral and the Doge was great. tour guide was excellent. Only negative was the gondola ride they threw in seemed like an afterthought and the canal was very crowded when we did it. Next time I will spend the money and book a private gondola when it’s a little less busy (if that ever happens).
Review provided by Viator
Dje2016
Oct 10, 2025
There are better options - It's just not fair value for the money paid. The only advantage was to skip the queues, but else overpriced as still not really a private tour
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $79
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).