That's our opinion after taking the official tour. After you see one of the jail cells, it's pointless to see 10 more identical ones in the hot interior. Besides the jail cells, the torture chamber and a few other rooms that you see, don't deserve 20 minutes total. Doge's Palace secret interiors falls into the category, "since we have time in Venice, let's go on this tour". IMHO.
This is an apples and oranges comparison, but St. Mark's Basilica is truly spectacular.
good to know!
One man's opinion.
We did this 4 days ago and we all loved it.
Sorry you had a bad experience, but mine was very different. When I took the Secret Itineraries tour a few years ago, only 15-20 minutes were devoted to the prison area. Most of the tour was devoted to other non-public areas of the palace, with the most interesting for me being a chance to see how the ceiling of the Hall of the Great Council was constructed. Perhaps things have changed since then or maybe the tours vary from guide-to-guide, but I though my tour was one of the most interesting I've ever taken. Plus, I enjoyed having access to explore the rest of the Doge's Palace on my own after the tour.
Sorry to hear you thought it went on too long. Count me as one of those who found it to be an excellent tour--lots of things covered besides jail cells, and as Frank noted you then get to see the rest of the palace on your own.
BTW, did you do any reading of Venetian history before going? I have always found that I get more out of my visits to an historical place if I've done a bit of research beforehand.
We visited this past April and had a different experience. Ours was worthwhile and very interesting with the information provided by the tour guide. So I disagree completely with the OP.
Is this tour booked through the site directly?
Official tix thru vivaticket. Note that you will be able to see the rest of the palace. But this is not a combo ticket for the Correr museum.
I think from previous posts, Andy Scott, the OP, was in Venice for about eight hours only. If I had been in that situation, I also would have thought that the Secret It. tour was not worth it, even the Ducal Palace would not be worth it.
Venice does not lend herself to flying visits.
My rule is that anything labeled 'secret' is going to be ridiculous. This is marketing hype usually applied to pretty ordinary things. Goes double for anything with 'mystery' in it. Check out the Winchester 'Mystery House' some time in California for a classic example. We spent 5 days in Venice but didn't make it to the Doge's Palace; now I feel better about that. We did walk as far as our feet would take us until we ran out of islands; it was pretty wonderful.
Janet, "marketing hype" is exactly what we felt, it was what I call a "manufactured destination". We bought the tickets well in advance based on Trip Advisor reviews, and went on the tour with an open mind. Our opinion that the tour is worth only 20 minutes had nothing to do with the fact that we spent 24 hours in Venice (contrary to the assertion by Peter).
This seems to be a classic example of a person going on a tour due mostly to reviews, and not because of some inherent interest in the place being toured (the Doge's Palace, a "manufactured destination"...really?) If history is not of interest, perhaps touring an historical place isn't the best way to spend one's time (a whole 24 hours!) in Venice.
And, Janet, I live in California, had never heard of and had to look up the Winchester Mystery House...perhaps unfair to compare a quirky house with no great history to a building that for a century or two housed the most powerful Republic in the Western world!
Certainly the “Secret Anything” thing can be a misnomer. I have the book “Secret Venice” by Jonglez, and it could more correctly be called “Things in Venice that are Relatively Unknown to the Average Visitor”. Examples would be the brass marker in the Piazza marking the centre axis of the Basilica, the ice house in the garden of the Hotel des Doges, the white paving stone in the path leading to San Pietro, or the garden noted in Henry James’, “The Aspern Papers”. They have all been fun to discover, but hardly on the A list of attractions, nor on the B or C list for that matter.
A book entitled “Relatively Unknown etc” will not sell. Ditto for a tour described as “Behind the scenes at the Ducal Palace, rooms that the average dude can’t enter”. So Secret Itineraries it is.
Count me among those who respectfully disagree with the OP on the Doge's Palace Secret Itineraries Tour. A friend and I did it in 2014. We thought it was awesome and well worth the 90 minutes (as well as well worth the up-charge for the ticket). I agree with others that the tour I took was a lot more than "the jail cells, the torture chamber, and a few other rooms...." I do agree with the OP that St Mark's Basilica is truly spectacular.
Our opinion that the tour is worth only 20 minutes had nothing to do
with the fact that we spent 24 hours in Venice (contrary to the
assertion by Peter).
I guess we can forgive Peter for his assertion that the OP spent 8 hours in Venice given that the OP created a post entitled "In Venice from 8 am to 4 pm."
