Doge's Palace: Tour?

For the Palace, I found the audio guide was sufficient. If you mean the Secret Itineraries Tour, it goes to parts of the palace that are otherwise closed to visitors. I enjoyed it very much. Before and/or after, you visit the rest of the sight. If you take the SI tour, you need to book in advance, they fill up. It gets pretty hot, so take a bottle of water and a fan and take the earliest tour available.

This is helpful; thanks very much for your input.

We really enjoyed the SI tour then we toured the rest on our own.

Book asap, it's almost sold out for next week!

I'm pretty sure my husband and I just used the Rick Steves audio tour (free).

Am I correct in thinking the SI tour only covers areas we can't access with a general admission ticket? In other words, would we be on our own for the areas everyone can access?

you are correct.

I don't think that it's worth paying for a tour, and I've visited the Ducal Palace a couple of times. To see it by yourself, you would need to allow two hours minimum, and even that is tight. A tour takes longer, of course.

Get there as early as you can - it gets busy once the cruise liner contingent arrives.

Thanks for all the input. I have decided to just allot a good chunk of time for us to do it ourselves. Thanks again! We leave Tuesday and I am super excited!

It's so very easy to do on your own. Just tear out those pages from Rick's book and take with you. His directions and details are excellent. Why pay a guide when you can have Rick for less than a nickel!

Sorry, this may be a silly question, but if you buy the secret itinerary tour, do you also have to pay for admission to the area that's open with the general ticket, or does the tour ticket also include the self guided palace area?

Thanks!

The Secret Itin. tour covers admission to all the Ducal Palace. No need to buy another ticket.