Doge's Palace Guided Tour

Venice, Italy

1 to 2 hours (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

See the Doge's Palace, which served as the center of power in the Venetian Republic, with this skip-the-line 1-hour guided tour. Marvel at the artistic treasures in the palace, including paintings by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. Walk through ornately-decorated halls and imagine Venice in its so-called Golden Age. Walk across the Bridge of Sighs from the Doge's Palace into the infamous prison, where Casanova was once held. Enjoy personalized attention from a knowledgeable local guide.

1-hour guided tour of Doge's Palace in Venice
Enjoy skip-the-line access to avoid waiting in the often-long queue
Take in the glorious art of masters such as Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese
Admire the beautifully-decorated rooms and halls
Walk across the famous Bridge of Sighs
See typical cells in the prison, where Casanova was once held

What's Included

Guide
Doge's Palace Skip-the-line ticket

Food and drinks
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Calle larga de l'Ascension, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
The meeting point is ten to fifteen minutes before the start of the tour at the TURIVE meeting point, located on Calle larga de l' Ascension, near the post office.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

Palazzo Ducale

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Piazza San Marco (Pass By)

Basilica di San Marco (Pass By)

Campanile di San Marco (Pass By)

Museo Correr

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Not recommended for travelers with back problems
Most travelers can participate
Please arrive at the meeting point at least 15 minutes before tour departure time

At the tour departure point, you will meet a representative who will check your voucher and give you information to do the tour
No credit or refunds will be given in the case of a no-show (if you don't show up at the meeting point at the time indicated on your voucher)
This is a group tour, which means there might be other participants on the tour with you
Please note: Due to the particular morphological structure of Venice and the logistical problems resulting from it, it cannot be guaranteed that the whole tour is accessible to people with limited mobility. This means that those with walking difficulties and wheelchair users might not be able to access some parts of the itinerary
On certain dates, most travelers staying outside of Venice who are planning to visit for the day will be required to pay a €5 access fee. For further details (including exemptions) and to learn what days this fee is applicable, please visit: https://cda.ve.it
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 999 travelers

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Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

3.8

based on 292 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Very good information on...

Elizabeth_W, Oct 2025

Very good information on the history of the palace and of Venice in general. Going later in the day was good because it was less busy.

Our tour was not as advertised! Waste of money.

Michaela_L, Sep 2025

This tour was not what we paid for. It did not deliver what was advertised or what we paid nearly AUD$275 for. The tour inclusions said this included walking over the Bidge of Sighs and the Cells (where Casanova was held). The older woman turned up late, then at 4pm walked us into the courtyard of Doge Palace where we stood outside in the sun until 4:20pm. She wasted so much time in headsets & lockers. Once inside she gave the most boring tour of 3 rooms of Doge Palace and as we entered the 4th room and the hour was nearing an end we asked if she was taking us to the Bridge and Cells (which is were the main things our kids wanted to see) and she said “no” that we would need to get separate tickets and take ourselves there! WHAT! We were very annoyed that we wasted this hour with her. Finding this out at 5pm was frustrating. Honestly this did not deliver as advertised and we’d like our money back!!

Great!!

Rob_D, Apr 2025

Great tour ! Very informative , was on time and the audio guide was very helpful to hear our in-person guide. We learned a lot!

Perfect tour

Richard_G, Oct 2024

We had a wonderful time exploring the Doge’s Palace and learning about the great history. Our guide was fantastic.

Disappointed in customer service

Michael_S, Oct 2024

Disappointed that the tour guide did not call, email, or text to see where we were as we were running 15 minutes late due to lack of info as to meeting site. Missed the tour and still no follow up.

Fabulous, highly recommend

Ruth_B, Oct 2024

It was amazing the knowledge shown by our guide was incredible. The palace was fabulous, the tour was a little rushed, as my husband did not have the time he wanted to look at everything, but we thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend as a must see/do.

Doges tour

susan_h, Sep 2024

The guide was informative and fun. Thought there would be a bit more to the torture room than just using your imagination.

Doge Palace review

Kellie_H, Sep 2024

The start location was easy to find. The guide was kind and knowledgeable. It felt a little bit rushed at the end but we were able to go back and explore.

Nice tour

Marylin_G, Sep 2024

The tour guide Anatola was very good. Informative & interesting. Her English was very good & easy to understand.

Amazing experience

Chris_M, Jul 2024

What an amazing experience. Every corner turned revealed another jaw dropping room. The guide was fantastic. A local through and through with hundreds of fascinating stories.

Good value information

Tanja_A, Jul 2024

Really good pace with lots of interesting facts. Guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. Loved the history and beautiful rooms. If you are claustrophobic the bridge of Sighs bit could be challenging.

Excellent

Dan_B, Jun 2024

Henrico was a great guide. The tour was informative and well worth the money. We were able to skip the line and get in fast.

Excellent tour

David_G, Jun 2024

This was an excellent tour with an excellent guide. The meet up is a bit chaotic at a busy intersection and having to traverse a crowded St. Marks Square, but it was easy to follow our guide holding a small flag. It was quick access through the ticket gate and into the palace. The guide was very knowledgeable and kept things moving along at a reasonable pace.

Disappointing

OURANIA_G, May 2024

Could not understand a word the guide was saying. He was speaking italian with a little bit of english.

Painfully tedious

Logan_M, Apr 2024

Inside was simply stunning and awe inspiring. It took way too long to get inside and the guide lost our interest multiple time by waffling instead of getting us to the stunning buildings

Well organized & great tour guide!

Yelena_V, Apr 2024

It was very well organized excursion, we almost got a private tour, only 4 people were there for the English group. Sorry I forgot the name of our guide but that lady was super knowledgeable. It was a good tour with enough time to explore this historical palace.

Perfect

David_V, Feb 2024

Doge’s palace is very beautiful totally worth it, the tour is very well organized, meeting point is easy to find, there plenty of options for languages and the info is very good, very nice

Well worth it!

Jason_R, Feb 2024

Monica was an excellent guide and provided great context to the history of Venice. Being given the history of the art and building itself truly helps to appreciate the significance and its beauty.

Too many stairs/steps

Michael_B, Oct 2023

The number of staircases was very difficult for older people.. should be a caution on how hard it may be

Micro is very knowledgeable

Marisa_P, Sep 2023

Mirco gave a wonderful overview of Venetian history. Politics, culture and art history with a sense of humour! It was stimulating and enlightening. Thank you Mirco!

Informative

James_M, Sep 2023

Veronese's paintings in the palace were amazing. Tour guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the palace. Would definitely recommend.

Great building

cynthia_l, Sep 2023

The palace is an amazing building. In a couple of attempts to move our small group ahead of other groups, I wondered if we were missing elaboration that other groups received.

Excellent Tour Guide

Lauren_C, Aug 2023

Although our tour started late, once it began, it was fantastic! Our guide was energetic, informative, and engaging! Great tour!

Feature of our trip to Venezia

Joel_H, Aug 2023

Great experience learning about the Doges and the history of the palace. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and shared lots of information about what we were seeing.

Impressive palace, poor audio

JoAnn_J, Jul 2023

I enjoyed my tour of Doge’s Palace in 2017, so I made sure to book a tour to take our young adult children on this trip. The palace is impressive, but one of our headsets wasn’t working so we couldn’t hear what the tour guide was saying on 99% of the tour. Disappointing that she didn’t bring any extras. We went on other tours in Italy and the guides had spares.

Excellent visit to the palace

Vijay_g, Jun 2023

Excellent visit of the palace. The guide was extremely knowledgeable, patient and kind. We learnt and enjoyed how the tour and will highly recommend a guided tour

Unhappy!

Ruth_Z, Jun 2023

We didn’t get to go because our travel was disrupted because of flight delays. I tried to change the tour to today and Venus said that she would do that or cancel our tour (I called from Orlando before we left) and she didn’t. So now I am being charged for a tour that we didn’t take. Not happy.

Enthusiastic and Educational Tour

Claudia_L, May 2023

Our tour guide was an enthusiastic lady who went over above to give us the history of Venice and Doge’s Palace. She brought pictures of how the city was constructed so that we had a better understanding how the palace and the clock tower on St. Mark’s Square were originally built. Unfortunately, we ran out of time at the end and skipped many beautiful religious paintings toward the end of the tour. It would be nice if the tour was 1.5 hours long rather than 1 hour. Then, we would not have skipped several rooms that contained beautiful paintings toward the end of the tour.