We will be spending 3 nights/2 days in Venice in May. It will be our first time.
Would you suggest we take a tour such as: Venice In a Day: Basilica San Marco, Doges Palace & Gondola ride which is available on Viator or just tour these places on our own?
We were planning on taking a 1/2 day tour on our 2nd day: Murano & Burano Islands Guided Small-Group Tour by Private Boat.
For those of you who have been to Venice, please let me know if this sounds good.
Thank you!
Many don't realize that Viator is a 3rd party consolidator and does not run the tours themselves. On the Viator site you can go to the "Additional Information" section, click on more and see who the tour provider actually is. If I do a tour I try to book directly with the tour provider if they have a website.
As to the Venice in a Day, I'd probably just do the things you have listed on your own.
You'd want to try and get into St Marks about 11A to see the lights turn on the ceiling mosaics. I enjoyed doing the whole nine yards...seeing the small area behind the altar (extra charge) as well as the museum upstairs (extra charge) which are on the combined ticket bought directly from the church's ticketing website. I loved seeing the ancient bronze horse statues up in the museum as well as stepping out onto the balcony for the view of the Square. The horses date from either 2nd-3rd century AD back to possibly 4th-5th century BC.
For the Doges Palace, I did the Secret Itinerary but you can see a lot if you just buy the general admission. Again, I purchased directly thru the Doge ticketing site.
On the gondola, there are a number of gondola "stations" dotted around. If there is not one near your hotel, there is one just off St Mark's Square by the Hard Rock Cafe, lol.
I've not gone out to the islands in my 3 visits to Venice. Too much to see, lol!! BUT you do you!
I've never felt the need to take a guided tour on any of our visits to Venice. Just buy whatever ticket you need and go at your own pace. Have a decent guidebook and/-or an audio guide. Rick has both, including an audio tour of the basilica. You can rent an audio guide for the Doge's Palace if you want it. And you can take any gondola ride just by walking to the nearest gondola station. Similarly, you can do the islands on your own with a guidebook and riding the vaporettos there and back.
I'd be wary of a gondola tour offered by Viatour. You might be packed together with other tourists and maybe go on the Grand Canal for a rocky ride with all the boat traffic there. Pick your own gondolier (they are pretty good salesmen) and travel the back canals on your own.
I agree with the guidance to just go to those places on your own.
Re: the 1/2 day tour via private boat to Murano and Burano, for me the charm of those two islands is walking on them. You can easily, and much less expensively, take the public boat out to them and tour on your own. Watch the glass blowing on Murano; walk the little streets, look at crafts, have snack or meal on Burano (we liked El Gato Nero).
Been to Venice a number of times and have never felt the need for any type guided tour. If you do a reasonable bit of research before you go, you should be able to do it all own your own. Grab a good guide book and / or go on line and start looking. You'll be amazed at the amount of info that is available to help you do the things that interest you by yourself. Murano & Burano do not, in my opinion, call for a guide. Easy to get there using public trasit and you can take your time and not be rushed. Just get an early early start to avoid the crowds.
We were in Venice this past September. I'm not a fan of Viator. First, the places you list, can all be done on your own. If you feel the need for a tour of Doge Palace, you can book one directly from them. We did the Secret Itineraries. If you would feel more comfortable with recommendations for a Gondola ride, talk to your hotel.
We went to Murano and Burano on our own using the public Vaporettos. I'd pick up a Rick Steves guidebook and follow his recommendations. Incidentally, the guidebook has at least four self guided walking tours for the city that worked well for us. There also is extensive information for visiting the Basilica San Marco.
We booked advance tickets for the Basilica on their website.
There are numerous strategies for handling crowds. One would be to book the basilica and Doge's Palace in advance. Another is to get away from the relatively small area around the Piazza San Marco and the Grand Canal that are busy. The rest of Venice is fairly sparsely visited by tourists. We are not early morning people, but we got up early in Venice. We were out doing walking tours and viewpoints by 7am. You will also find that even during the busiest parts of the day, few folks are in the museums or churches (other than the San Marco.)
I agree with the comments above. We visited Venice a couple years ago and saw St. Mark’s, Doges Palace, Correr Museum and Campanile on our own with no problem.
We also took the vaporetto to Murano, then hailed a water taxi to Burano because the line was so long. It was a fixed price for up to 8 people and we only had 2 so fortunately some other folks liked the idea of skipping the line and joined us. One thing I’ve learned is to balance time vs money and be willing to pay more (still within the overall budget) when it yields a significant time benefit.
