Doges Palace Secret Itinerary Timing with RS VFR Tour

You may wish to contact the RS Tour Dept. with your question, either by e-mail or by calling. They may be able to tell you the approximate time your morning walking tour will end, and then you can judge whether you'll have time to make the 11:30 Secret Itinerary tour (which is great, btw). Of course, you always have the option to bow out of the walking tour a little early and head to the ticket office. My guess is that by bowing out early you could miss seeing St. Mark's Basilica when the mosaics are illuminated. Should you choose to bow out early, talk to your guide the evening before or at breakfast and they'll help you plan.

Thanks, Frank

That is my next step. I certainly don't want to miss the mosaics either, but I hear great things about the Secret Itinerary Tour. Yet, I don't want to cram too much in a short time so can't take time to enjoy. I guess it's a good problem to have :-)

If needed, you could visit the Basilica during your free time in the afternoon and see the mosics. They're beautiful anytime, but most stunning for the hour or so a day when the additional lighting is turned on, which may be when your morning walking tour would visit. You can get better views of the mosaics by buying a ticket to the upstairs museum, which also has the original bronze horses and a balcony overlooking St. Mark's Square.

Hi Kris,
I am taking the RS VFR tour in November and was wondering about this as well. What did you end up doing? If you were able to take the secret itineraries tour at Doges, was it too much after the morning tour with RS guide?
Thank you,
Diane
RI

We were on the VFR tour in May. My photos from the illumination in St. Mark's are time-stamped right about 11:30 a.m. (yes, we were told we could take photos). So making the 11:30 Secret tour might be tight or impossible to begin with.

Be aware, also, that the RS tour itinerary is totally subject to change by your guide. We had several deviations from the "final" itinerary provided before the tour. The day we toured St. Mark's, for example, we then took a boat to Burano, so it really would not have been possible to do something on our own without skipping tour activities. Later, in Rome, our guide took us to the Vatican/Sistine Chapel in the afternoon and evening rather than morning as "scheduled." That change made it impossible for us to visit the Borghese Gallery, for which we'd already purchased tickets. Next time we take an RS tour, we'll likely avoid making set-in-stone plans for our free time and just try to go with the flow of whatever presents itself.

All that said, we did the Secret tour on our own the day before our VFR tour began, and it was fine. If you do manage to fit it in somewhere, be aware that you're free to explore the Doge's Palace after the tour, so you don't need to buy a separate ticket for that. Good luck with your planning.

Hi Diane and Stoutfella -

We go on our tour next week, but I decided to not try to cram the secret itinerary in after the RS guided tour. Since we paid for the RS Tour I'd like to take full advantage of the local guides knowledge, even if we miss just a little bit, it would bother me that I missed something lol! Stoutfella confirmed my decision, especially if we have to re-arrange RS tours./timing Thank you for your input on this SF!

For the record, I took Frank's advice and contacted customer service. Frank may want to consider joining Rick's staff because his advice was spot in reference to customer service's answer. They could not give me a time guideline and they told me that if I do plan to depart an RS tour early, to let the tour guide know that morning before starting out.

I am in the final stretch of trip planning dotting my i's and crossing my t's, so I may try the secret itinerary tour on Friday morning before the official start of the tour.

So much to see and do, so little time....I have to remember to sit back and enjoy the scenery too :-)