[venice] San Marco basilica entry

What time of year?
There will already be a long line for entry at 9 am most every day

It is free but you can purchase a timed entry which allows you to skip the line.

Once inside there are small fees for certain areas

Be sure your shoulders and knees are covered and no backpacks or large purses/they are very strict

Going next week.

I thought there is no such thing as skip the queue tickets ?

Does the line move quickly?

Nobody skips the security line, which is not normally very long
With a timed entry you will skip the long line of folks without timed entry

One can only guess how long the line will be at any given day or time
3 euros is pretty cheap to avoid any wait

At this late date, there may be no tickets to prepurchase. For reference, I bought our tickets for the Basilica, Pala d'Oro, and Loggia Cavalli on 8/24/23 for our visit on 10/17/23. There is always a long line to get into the Basilica at the free admission door and, from what I saw every time we were in or around St. mark's Square, it did not move very quickly at all.

we had to wait and pay three euros in April. nothing was accessible for free. go early. we were there at 11am after a doges palace tour and waited only 15 minutes, but I'm certain it was fluke and we were lucky. lines later were significantly longer.

FYI - we booked a doges palace tour that had included st marks entry but the itinerary changed (between booking in November and tour in April) and we were left in a lurch. we received a refund for the change but the scramble was annoying. in hindsight I should've booked two different tours -- I would've like to have seen gold room and we couldn't with the 3 euro walk through.

hey hey tommyquicksand
it's count down time for your trip, go have fun and enjoy
no info about tickets but do go early to beat the crowds and the heat
aloha

Thanks, can someone please give me the official website for ticket purchase. I’ve seen a few and not sure which is official

This appears to be the official website:

http://www.basilicasanmarco.it/

For tickets:

https://basilicasanmarco.skiperformance.com/en/store#/en/buy

Thanks

Looks like they increased the prices of entry. All I can see is 6 euros not 3? Or have I selected the wrong option?

I think I have this right:

There's a booking fee of €3. Until fairly recently, the Basilica itself was free; there were fees for the museum and the Pala d'Oro. If you only wanted to see the Basilica, you paid €3 for an online reservation; it didn't cost anything to show up without a reservation and stand in line. Now there's a €3 fee for the Basilica, so you pay €6 for an online reservation or €3 if you just show up and take your chances.

I highly recommend the add on for the museum section. Not only is the museum interesting the ticket allows you access to the upper parts of the Basilica not included in the regular ticket including the rooftop view of Piazza San Marco and the Grand Canal.
You can pay in person at the museum entrance inside the Basilica as well so you don't have to decide right now but again I highly recommend it.

I personally think the Pala d'Oro is only worth the extra cost if you're really into gold work or altars, but your mileage may vary.

Venice is amazing, have a great trip,
=Tod

Thank you everyone