Duration: 2.5 hours

Type of Service: Best of Venice walking tour including St. Mark's Basilica

If you have limited vacation time (and who doesn’t?), this is the perfect way to see the best sights in Venice in just a few short hours. Your expert English-speaking guide will take you to famous landmarks including St. Mark’s Basilica, Rialto Bridge, Marco Polo’s house, Camp SS Giovanni e Paolo and Campo Santa Maria Formosa piazzas, Bridge of Sighs and more, including quiet off-the-beaten-path places many tourists may miss.

We begin your tour at one of Venice’s most photographed locations, the Rialto Bridge. Then we’ll wind through the Floating City’s serpentine streets and over the tiny bridges that dot its seascape on our way to Marco Polo’s house. Learn about this intrepid Venetian son whose sense of adventure and exploration took him beyond the horizon to the Far East, where few had ever been before. Along the way, you’ll stroll through the lively piazzas of Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo and Campo Santa Maria Formosa, and marvel at how the beautiful Byzantine architecture and Renaissance buildings meld seamlessly with today’s modern and somewhat eclectic edifices.

On the way to our final and most awe-inspiring stop, St. Mark’s Basilica, you have a chance to see the romantic Bridge of Sighs. Then saunter through St. Mark’s Square, which Napoleon named the “finest drawing room in all of Europe.” Next, enjoy Skip-the-Line Access to the city’s most bustling spot for tourists. You’ll breeze past the long lines and straight into the Basilica.

Your tour guide will not only educate but also entertain you with the rich history of St. Mark’s Basilica. Learn about the city’s diverse culture with intriguing facts only a local would know. An impressive architectural marvel, see how Eastern architecture blends beautifully with Western design to create an unbelievable onion-domed structure so individually Venetian. With less time waiting in line, you’ll enjoy more time standing in awe of ornate frescoes before ascending to the famous St. Mark’s terraces. Not often included on guided tours, this site offers a spectacular aerial view of the prized piazza – and makes the perfect photo opp.

On this private tour, your small group will receive individualized attention. Audio headsets are provided, if you like, so you can always hear your guide. Ask all the questions you like and learn as much about Venice and the world-renowned sites as you please. 

Things to know:

• Private tour with expert English-speaking tour guide
• Your tour will begin at one of Venice’s most photographed locations, the Rialto Bridge.
• See Venice’s most-famous landmarks and monuments in just a few hours with the flexibility and attention only a private tour can offer
• See St. Mark’s Basilica, Rialto Bridge, Marco Polo’s house, Bridge of Sighs & more on this de facto tour of Venice for the first-time visitor
• Your tour guide will not only educate but also entertain you with the rich history of St. Mark’s Basilica.
• Skip the line access to St. Mark's Basilica and entrance ticket to the terraces of St. Mark’s Basilica
• Ask your guide all the questions you like and learn as much about Venice and the world-renowned sites as you please.
• Audio headsets available
• Tour offered on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
• Tour starts at 9:00 am
• Check in with guide by 8:45 am
• Meeting point location - more details are given upon booking

Duration: 2.5 hours walking tour and (includes 30-minute gondola ride) - tour begins at 11:30 am

Type of Service: Walking Tour of Venice with Gondola Ride 

Follow your expert, English-speaking guide through the quieter streets and piazzas of Venice. As you walk, your guide will captivate you with histories of Ca’ Dario, the cursed (and possibly haunted) house whose owners have continuously met untimely and often suspicious deaths. You’ll learn why music schools around the world are called ‘conservatories’ at Fondamenta degli Incurabili, the hospital where monks took orphans from the streets and trained them as nurses and world-famous musicians.

Along with local legends, you’ll hear tales of familiar characters. You’ll see Harry’s Bar across the canal, where Ernest Hemingway once kicked back after a long day of writing. You’ll see the home of Peggy Guggenheim, the heiress who lost her father to the Titanic but gained the means to build one of the world’s most interesting art collections. (Back in her day Peggy used to scandalize the locals by sunbathing naked on her roof and parading around town with a pack of tiny dogs on leashes.) Remember the play, Othello? You’ll see the house where Desdemona supposedly lived before her tale was transcribed by an Italian author and stolen by a man called William Shakespeare.

Your tour ends on the sweetest note with a gondola ride along the quieter back canals of Venice. Relax as a gondolier, in his ubiquitous striped shirt, rows along waterways built for these very vessels. With a maximum of five people per shared gondola, your tour will be intimate and, with no commentary on this section of the tour, quiet and romantic too.

Things to Know:

• Discover the famous landmarks and hidden gems of Venice, first by land, and then by the sea!
• Step away from the crowds and get off the beaten track with this original tour that explores Venice’s less seen, more romantic face on the other side of the Grand Canal
• Accompanied by an English- speaking local guide, enjoy a leisurely walking tour around the city’s charming bridges, streets and hidden squares.
• Admire unique architecture and Renaissance masterpieces while your guide shares fascinating tales from the history of this former maritime superpower. 
• Small group tour for best experience - group size 24 or less
• Headsets so you can always hear your guide on the walking tour
• Relax on our pre-booked and pre-arranged 30-minute gondola ride with a local gondoliere and just 5 other people.
• Toured Offered only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
• Tour begins at 11:30 am
• Meeting point - Accademia di Belli Arti (more details are given upon booking)
• Wear comfortable walking or tennis shoes