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Confused about various Secret Itineraries tours

Posted by (Birmingham, AL) on

I am very confused various prices I am seeing for the Secret Itineraries tour of the Doge's Palace. First of all,I read somewhere that all tours were done by the museum itself, but that seems like it must be outdated since I see independent companies such as Walks of Italy selling it.

First off, on the web site of the museum itself, they offer a tour for 20 euros (about $25 right now). But then they say the admission cost is also $20 euros, so I am inferring that the total cost to get in and also take the tour would be 40 euros ($50 at the current conversion rate).

I see a price of $95 from Walks of Italy, which is definitely more than I am willing to spend.

Dark Rome (whom I have never heard of before) offers a tour for $64.
Viator, comes in about the same at $65. I notice that the times are the same as Dark Rome, so I am wondering if they are actually the same tour.

Select Italy offer a tour for only $36, which is quite a bit cheaper than the museum itself, unless it does not cover admission to the museum, which they make no mention of! They refer to the tour consisting of "both Select Italy and non-Select Italy clients", which sound to me like they are have their own tour groups and will allow others to join them. But they list the same times as the museum, which makes me think that this is done through the museum.

Finally, Walks of Italy/ Dark Rome/ Viator websites specifically advertise "skip the line" . But the museum and Select Italy web site make no mention of this. But if you are reserving for a specific time, wouldn't that mean that they allow you to skip the line since they will need to keep to a schedule?

Finally a last question for those who have taken the tour. Did you find it worth it considering the cost? We are taking two expensive tours while in Rome (the Vatican Museum and the Forum) and I am unsure whether I want to spend a lot on another tour (we are a family of four, so the costs add up). We tend to not do tours in general as we like to explore on our own, but obviously the chance to see stuff you can't see on your own is enticing

Posted by
1224 posts

This is the official website to buy tickets from. The total cost--admission to the Doge's Palace and the Secret Itineraries Tour--is €20. There are some conditions (such as you have purchased the Museum Pass--this is spelled out on the website) where the total price is €14. When you order your tickets online, you will receive a voucher via email. On the day of your tour, take your voucher and walk to the entrance for pre-paid tickets, not the long line for people waiting to buy tickets. You will be directed where to go to redeem your voucher for your actual ticket, and then where to go to meet your guide.

I enjoyed the tour very much, felt it was definitely worth the money, and once the tour is over you are free to spend as much time on your own touring the rest of the Palace.

Posted by
16895 posts

  • The "regular" 20-euro ticket is called the Combo Ticket and covers both the Doges Palace and nearby Correr Museum.

  • The Secret Itineraries 20-euro ticket covers the Doges Palace and the reserved, guided tour (space is limited), but not the Correr Museum.

  • The 14-euro Reduced ticket for the Secret Itineraries tour applies if you have either a Doge/Correr Combo Ticket or a Museum Pass.

I frankly don't know or care what the other companies are selling. I found the Secret Itineraries tour quite worthwhile. You can explore the regular areas of the palace at your own pace both before and after the reserved tour. Buying any ticket online allows you to skip the ticket-purchase line. Other ways to avoid a line when purchasing a "regular" Combo Ticket or Museum pass include getting there early (they open at 8:30 a.m.) or buying it at the Correr Museum. The tours sell out and are not usually available on short notice.

Posted by
17580 posts

Use the official,website and book the Secret Itineraries tour for €20. That includes admission to the rest of the Doge's Palace which you can wander at will, without a guide.

The "skip the line" aspect of the commercial tours is a red herring. There is no line for the Secret Itineraries official tour, other than perhaps a small line at the ticket pick-up point. Once you have your tickets in hand, you meet your guide and group at the appointed time, and off you go.

The commercial tours generally offer extras for which they jack up the price. Walks of Italy, for example, gives you a guide to tour the rest of the Doges Palace ( which you do for free but without a guide on the official,tours). They also give you skip-the -line access to San Marco basilica. We just book that ourselves, for around €2.

I actually cannot see what extras Dark Rome adds to their $64 Secret Itineraries tour. And for the date I picked in May, the price went up to $70. They are not a bad company; we used them for the early-access tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. But for the Secret Itineraries, I cannot see what value they add to justify the extra cost over the €20 tour booked on the official site.

Posted by
372 posts

As you can see from the posts so far, many of us use the official websites and their own guides. We have not done the tour of the Doges Palace, but used the official site/tour guides for the vatican (museivaticani.va) and the (coop culture.it) for the Colosseum /forum ticket and tour. The guides were always informative, interesting and made it fun and much less expensive than the tour groups you mentioned above (walks of Italy/viator, etc).

Posted by
104 posts

Thanks for all the replies. Now that I know that the total cost when booked through the museum is 20 euros, that is clearly the way to go, since we will not be visiting the Correr museum (so much to see, not enough time).

Posted by
15798 posts

You don't say when you are going. The SI tour takes you to the upper levels of the Palace, right under the metal roof. If you're going in summer, expect it to be very hot, so take cold water and fans with you and try to book the earliest tour of the day. I took the tour in winter - no heating and it was very cold. The tour is what I most remember from my visit to the palace. You can enter the palace before the tour begins and enjoy the courtyard or other parts of the sight, then return to the courtyard for the tour. Last time I was there, I had a light lunch in the cafe there - prices were very reasonable. The Correr is great - so you'd better plan a return trip!

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