Legendary Venice - St. Mark's Basilica & The Doge's Palace

Extended Description

You can’t go to Venice without visiting St. Mark’s Basilica and the Doge's Palace, the city’s two top sites. So why not make the experience as enjoyable, educational, and easy as possible? Give us just two and a half hours of your time, and we promise you’ll feel like you didn’t just “do” these sites—you experienced them in the most rewarding, fascinating way possible. Oh, and you’ll get privileged access to both sites, meaning no standing in super-long lines! 

From the Piazza San Marco, we’ll take a moment to grab any postcard-worthy shots before skipping the (often very long) line to explore St. Mark’s Basilica itself. The enormous church has inspired a range of reactions from visitors, who either love or hate the exotic, ornate structure. But we tend to agree with John Ruskin, who called it “a confusion of delight.” And a confusion it can be! Absolutely enormous, the Basilica has 4,000 square meters… of mosaic alone. Its history, which dates back to the 9th century, is just as hard to get your mind around. But there’s no understanding Venice without understanding its basilica. Technically, after all, the basilica was the chapel of the Doge himself—showing how secular and spiritual power intertwined in Venice. 

With your expert Walks guide, get far beyond the guidebook to really “get” St. Mark’s… and Venice itself. Hear the swashbuckling tale of the basilica’s founding—a story that involves an angelic prophecy and a bold theft!—and explore the church’s countless treasures. Unlike many other companies, we’ll even take you up to the Basilica’s panoramic terrace, where you can get not just a great view of Venice (another postcard shot!) but a close look at the horse statues stolen from Constantinople during the Crusades. 

But when it comes to Venice’s power, the Basilica is only half the story. What the Vatican is to Rome, the Doge's Palace is to Venice: for seven hundred years, the remarkable palace has been the home of not only the Doge, but of Venice’s (independent!) government, courts, even prisons. And the Doge's Palace is every bit as big and confusing! 

We’ll skip the line here, too, to take you right to the heart of Venice’s power and history, from the Doge’s own lavish apartments to the Hall of the Great Council, where the city’s all-important general assembly made decisions before beautiful frescoes by Veronese and Tintoretto. Learn the secret behind why the painted series of doges is interrupted by a mysterious black veil (hint: it has to do with a beheading); discover just what the Doge really did, who he was… and why you might not want the job yourself. 

You’ll also get to explore the massive armory, with all the weapons you wouldn’t have wanted to face, and the spooky prisons, where you wouldn’t have wanted to wind up! For another shot for the photo album, you’ll cap it all off with the Bridge of Sighs, which you’ll learn isn’t quite as romantic as you thought. (Hey, a bridge that connects interrogation rooms to prison cells will be that way). 

It’s two and a half hours, two top sites… and memories that will last a lifetime!