We will be in Venice for 2.5 days. First day is St Mark's and Doge's. Planning on getting our tickets online ahead of time. How much time should we allow for each location since I'll be buying timed entry tickets. TIA Thank you all for the info and suggestions. Question on tickets...am I seeing it correctly that for the main site for the Doge tickets I purchase the one labeled "museum"? And which ticket do you suggest for St Mark's...there are many options.
Posted by
Placerville, ca, us
173 posts
Kinda up to what your interest is in churches...Some will be good with an hour, others want to see the loggia and the museum and might take more than two hours exploring and in reflection. And depends on what you want to see at the Palace, if you want to see "it all" may take a bit....I would recommend reading the venice chapter in a RS book and "seeing" what sounds interesting to you. The new Italy book is supposed to be out on Tuesday I think.
Posted by
Seattle
368 posts
We toured Saint Mark's on our own and spent maybe an hour and a half there. We did the Secret Itineraries Tour of the Doge's Palace, which was about 2 hours.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1459 posts
My advice is to get the SM tickets plus the museum add-in ticket. The museum is interesting but the access to the roof over the piazza is worth the extra ticket price. As for time I would allow 2+ hours so you don't feel crowded, but it may take you less than that depending on your interest. If you're trying to them back to back allow time for lunch in-between and consider either stand up pizza or Rossopomodoro (Milan fast food chain) for a sit down lunch that won't run 2 hours. This will allow you some slack in your schedule so you're not rushed in either location.
Venice is amazing, enjoy,
=Tod
Posted by
San Diego, CA
361 posts
We used the Rick Steves audio tour for St. Mark's and found it very worthwhile. I know EVERYONE does the Dodges Tour but even though I'm nerdy and love to learn things, I found the tour and what seemed to be endless large rooms of dramatic paintings, very dry. (please do not attack me, perhaps I"m in the minority). Compared to other sites in Venice, I would not recommend it to others
If you have not already considered it (and assuming no fear of tight places), I highly recommend the tour of the clock tower that is in the square---and would drop the Dodges Tour if I had time for only 2 of the 3. Here is the info for the clock tower: https://torreorologio.visitmuve.it/en/home/
Posted by
32 posts
@Reederman, the Secret Itineraries might be around 2h (it's officially 1h15), but did you also count the regular visit of the palace that follows? The tour takes you through the secret rooms of the palace but it doesn't cover the typical visit itinerary which is a good 2-3h on its own.
Posted by
Massachusetts, USA
1977 posts
We were in Venice a week ago, and we spent 2 hours in st Mark’s Basilica. It is amazing! We bought the pass that includes the gold altar, the museum and the loggia. We used Rick’s audioguide which is excellent.
We spent about 1.5 hours in Doge Palace. Rented their audio guide. It was interesting for about an hour then it became monotonous with so many rooms filled with paintings. After an hour we stoped listening to the audioguide. We did not do the Secret Itineraries tour. I read that tour included a lot of walking up steep narrow staircases. And we didn’t want to be indoors all day. We had glorious weather.
If you have the time, take the elevator to the top of St Mark’s bell tower at sunset. Amazing!!!
Agree with Tod. Venice is amazing! Be sure to spend some time in the Dorsoduro district. It is
much quieter than San Marco, and it’s lovely. Visit Zatterre along the Guidecca Canal.