We will be in Venice for two days before 3 weeks in Slovenia and Croatia. Should we just do Rick's self-guided walking tours or does anyone recommend a good walking tour guide?
Posted by
585 posts
I’d not worry about a guide, just exit your hotel and start walking and enjoying Venice. Use your RS guide if there are specific places you want to see. Another enjoyable guide is Brunetti Walks, by Tony Speedo and Donna Leon which is based on Donna Leon’s Commissario’s Brunetti's mystery series. I like this one as it gives useful info on bars and restaurants as well as the sites encountered. It has good maps and excerpts from the books pertaining to each walk.
Posted by
90 posts
We were in Venice this summer and we just walked around Venice on our own. You don't need a guide. It's really a nice, walkable city.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6713 posts
These guides are excellent, but I agree with the others, you don't really need a guide.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15798 posts
After several visits to Venice, I finally took this free walking tour and it was excellent. You have to register in advance but there's no penalty for no-shows. I only had time for the morning tour or I would have taken the afternoon tour as well.
Posted by
Hamilton, NJ, USA
69 posts
I used this company: https://www.walksofitaly.com/venice-tours/venice-gondola-and-walking-tour/
I especially liked that they arranged for a gondola ride as part of the tour so I didn't have to negotiate that on my own. If you are there on Sunday, attend a church service at St. Marks. They turn the lights on to illuminate the mosaics. Amazing.
Evelyn
Posted by
San Franciso Bay Area, USA
1041 posts
You can use the RS walks as a guide. Part of the magic of Venice is getting lost. However, if you plan on visiting St. Marks or the Doge's Palace, a tour can bring it to life. We took the Secret's Passage Tour with Walks of Italy: https://www.walksofitaly.com/venice-tours/doges-palace-secret-passages-vip-tour/. Our guide was amazing. She was a local of Venice and we learned so much about the city, past and present. The tour takes you through the prison, so it is a small group tour. Our guide was also knowledgeable about the construction techniques, so my friend who is a carpenter found even more value in the tour.
Hope you enjoy Venice.
Sandy
Posted by
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
4672 posts
I was going to say that a guide can bring a place to life for you but Sandy beat me to it. We just found a tour on a Viator that included Doges Palace and St Marks. I don't think I would have been as impressed with the Palace without a guide. We also took a cheesy Ghost walk one evening. The ghost story's were a bit much but the insight the guide gave on walking the Venice streets at night in the 17th century was very interesting.
Also, as everyone else is saying, take time to wander and get lost....you will get lost. Just embrace it.