Visit the Palazzo Ducale in Venice

We did the "Secret" tour last Sept. It was very good, separate from the regular tour. I reserved it ahead of time. If you are early you won't know where to wait. They don't open a line up until right before the tour starts. We were in the walls of the Palace!! Up to the 4th floor Amazing how they rebuilt the palace with the help of ship builders!!!. We saw prison cells, conference rooms and a torture room. We saw Casanova's cell!!! While it was memorable, we missed the "downstairs"! We didn't take time to go through the regular tour of the Dodges Palace. I also thought we were allowed to go into St Mark's at illumination time at 11:30 when the tour was over but we would have had to get into the long line. I loved it but thought we did a bit of a trade off. Maybe, if I'm very lucky, next time!!!!

Entry is not free, and museums generally are not free. The Doge Palace is about 10 euro
There is the "Secret Itinerary" tour for the Ducal Palace, which costs 20 euro. After the tour you are free to wander through the palace.

If you do the regular, €10 entrance fee, you have access to the grander parts of the palace and are "self-guided," so you can pretty much stay as long as you like. As others indicated, if you book the Secret Itineraries tour, you see extra areas together with a guide, usually first, and after that portion you're free to continue on your own through the other open rooms.

You can go to Correr museum first which is in the "square" itself, opposite from San Marco church. Buy a combo. ticket. Visit Correr first and use the bathrooms there. If you want lunch, eat at the small sandwich/ salad cafe in Correr and enjoy a nice view of square from a window. It's not cheap, but still a better value than much else on the square. Then, take your ticket across the square and breeze through the "reserved tickets" line. Enjoy the Doge Palace. It's huge and has a strong history and some great art. I believe you can go to the Mariani Library as well with the combo. ticket. This info. is in the RS book chapter on Venice.

Thank you everyone! These were a great help! Can't wait for the trip to Rome and Venice!

Eileen

What is this "regular" tour you are referring to?

Regular Tour is just where you show up, buy a ticket, and walk inside with no guide.

OK thanks. I don't really call that a tour, personally.