Gondola Ride and St Mark's Basilica Tour with Pala d'Oro Upgrade

Venice, Italy

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

Explore our promoted experiences

Venice, Veneto

Enchanting Gondola Experience: 30 Minutes on the Grand Canal

from $81

Venice, Veneto

3.3

(13)

Venice Walking Tour and Gondola Ride

from $191

Venice, Veneto

Direct transfer from Punta Sabbioni to San Marco with ISLANDS TOUR

from $30

Viator earns higher commissions on experiences featured here

Overview

Nothing says Venice like a gondola ride—or a visit to the gilded interior of St. Mark’s Basilica. This combination tour offers both with skip-the-line access included, so you can dodge the usual wait. See the Rialto Bridge, La Fenice Theater, and other attractions from the water during a lagoon cruise, and enjoy a guided tour of the iconic Byzantine-influenced cathedral.

Enjoy a unique vantage point from the water during a gondola ride
Beat the crowds with skip-the-line access to St. Mark's Basilica
Late-morning departure times let you sleep in, or plan other activities
Check off many of the city's main attractions in just a couple hours

What's Included

30 minutes shared gondola ride
Skip the line access and guided tour of St. Mark’s Basilica

Gratuities
Entry ticket to the Treasure
Entry tickets to the Pala d'Oro (only included with the specific 'Basilica + Pala d’Oro' option)
Entry tickets and access to the Museum and the Terrace

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 (Poste Italiane), behind Correr museum.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

Piazza San Marco (Pass By)

Basilica di San Marco

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Teatro La Fenice (Pass By)

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Infant seats available
Not recommended for travelers with back problems
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travelers can participate
If you choose the tour departing at 10:45 am, there will be a break of approximately 3 hours between the visit to the St. Mark's Basilica and the gondola ride (Basilica 10:45 - 11:45; Gondola 15:00 - 15:30).
If you choose the tour departing at 9:15 am, there will be a break of approximately 1 hour between the visit to the St. Mark's Basilica and the gondola ride (Gondola 9:15 - 9:45; Basilica 10:45 - 11:45).
Please provide the full names of all travelers when booking. Failure to present a voucher with all travelers’ full names at the ticket office prior to entry may result in denied entry to the attraction.

Each traveler must present a valid passport or ID document that matches the name provided at the time of booking for successful entry to St.Mark’s Basilica.
In cases of religious ceremonies, exceptionally high tides or other special occasions, access to St. Mark's Basilica may not be permitted.
To visit St Mark's Basilica it is necessary to dress appropriately (no shorts, vests or tops) and backpacks are not allowed for safety reasons.
This is a collective tour, which means there might be other participants going on the tour with you.
Please note that, due to the particular morphological structure of Venice and the logistic problems resulting from it, we cannot guarantee that the whole tour is accessible to people with limited mobility. This means that people with walking difficulties and wheelchair users could not be able to access some parts of the itinerary.
The gondola ride might be suspended in case of bad weather. In such cases, you are required to go to the tour departure point in order to know whether the tour takes place or not and any alternative ways to use the service.
Please make sure to arrive on time so you don't miss out! We are unfortunately unable to offer refunds or credits for late arrivals or no-shows.
On certain dates, most travelers staying outside of Venice who are planning to visit for the day will be required to pay +an access fee. For further details (including exemptions) and to learn what days this fee is applicable, please visit: https://cda.ve.it/en.
Entrance fees reserved for tour operators and guides: €12.00 for St. Mark’s Basilica and €24.00 for the Basilica plus Pala d’Oro (Golden Altarpiece).
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 25 travelers

Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 3 days 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)

Featured review

Michelle S

This tour was so fun! We started with the Gondola Ride. There are about 6 to a gondola and it was so cool to see the narrow passageways and see Venice from this perspective. Then we went to St. Mark's Basilica. You can't take pictures inside, but it is really beautiful and our tour guide was EXCELLENT. She gave us so much information without it feeling like an overload and was entertaining, too. Overall, I highly recommend this tour. It's a great way to spend a few hours in Venice!

Reviews

3.4

based on 63 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Book elsewhere

India_G, Sep 2025

In the beginning, it was very unorganized. We arrived at the meeting spot, received our radios for communication with the tour guide and the tour guide just proceeded to walk off. No follow me, no keep up, no nothing. Also, share in the notes a little clearer that having knees covered is a must depending on who you are. They also need to ensure it’s clear upon booking when they say “break” that includes a couple of hours between the Basilica and the Gondola ride. The guy afterwards asked are we doing the 3pm or 5:15 ride, we weren’t aware there were options and planned to do it all in one setting. Overall, the ride was decent 15-20 mins on the gondola was enough and all provided.

Disappointing!

Vikki_O, May 2025

It’s says it’s 3 hours long however the tour of the Basilica was just over an hour and the gondola ride was 25min and not very scenic. Could have been so much more. An overpriced tour! Sadly wouldn’t recommend this activity. Only positive thing was that customer service helped us rebook part of the tour for the following day.

Great experience

Mary_P, Sep 2024

It was great! The length of the ride was perfect. Well organized too. We would have enjoyed a little singing by the gondolier driver.

Think twice

Roxanne_E, Jul 2024

Gandula experience was not enjoyable. It was so uncomfortable riding while the other 2 people sat comfortable. We were a party of 3 and sat on chairs. Totally not worth it. They so t make it fun at all. It was also crowded. The church guide was very knowledgeable but He just left us in the church. It’s over and then we had to wait a while for the gondola tour. Not sure I would recommend this tour. It’s all about the business not about a quality experience.

Distressing and depressing

Ashok_B, Jun 2024

Indifferent guide, who made public a physical discomfort of one of us in a manner that was unprofessional and embarrassing. We decided to withdraw from the tour since the guide was maintaining a speed that was too fast for us. The gondola ride started almost 45 minutes after the scheduled time. The manager did not care to inform the guests the reasons for the delay. Depressing guest management practices.

Poor tour experience

Thomas_R, Feb 2024

St. Marks tour was not good. Tour guides English was not easily understood and your earphones are very low quality which made the experience difficult. Gondola ride was acceptable.

Expensive for what we received.

Tonya_M, Oct 2023

Tour guide was good, Mark, but the meeting point and crowds were difficult to maneuver. The tour company seemed disorganized, radios had several issues and the gondola ride was less than 15 minutes around the block. Wouldn’t book again.

Meeting Place Disaster

Kevin_L, Oct 2023

My wife and I arrived in Venice around 9.30am via train. With assistance from some locals we eventually found the designated area for meeting the tour. For early October the whole area was manically busy with an excessive number of other tour groups. Prior to the meeting time we hurriedly moved around these crowds for 15 minutes looking for our guide, who was meant to be dressed in a particular coloured outfit and be holding a listed flag. We never found this guide, to our extreme disappointment & sadness at missing our much awaited tour.

Just not good.

Megan_C, Aug 2023

We got to the tour and the guide was knowledgeable but the sound was super scratchy and a lot of feedback so it was hard to understand anything. Then we were told to go back to the meeting point for the gondola ride. The kiosk was all boarded up. When I called support they called someone who said they forgot to tell us the gondola ride portion wouldn’t be for another 3 hours. Nowhere in the tour description did it say the gondola ride was that much later in the day. We weren’t able to make it for the gondola ride because of this. Waiting to see if my partial refund request was approved.

The travel guides had to...

Elena_S, Jul 2023

The travel guides had to make quick changes to this itinerary since it started to rain pretty heavy and the gondola ride was not possible. They rescheduled the ride until late afternoon and switched the tour of St. Mark's Basilica so we were able to do both. Quick thinking and coordination to make sure we didn't miss either.

horrible experience save your money

Antoinette_E, Jul 2023

They ripped us off. The tour was supposed to start at 11:45 it didn’t start till 3 and the gondola ride was literally 7 minutes and I paid for 45 minutes, so unfair along with the bad treatment

Well worth it!

amy, Jul 2023

This tour was a must see while in Venice! Beautiful canals and we really liked hearing the live music from a couple of the boats!

St Marks Basilica good. Gondola rip off.

CraigRhys_B, Jun 2023

St Mark’s tour was a fantastic experience start to finish. Very knowledgeable guide. Incredible place. No queue. Gondola was a joke. You have to share. Other couple were in comfy seat. My partner and I on awkward little stools. Ride advertised as 35 mins. Actual time: 20 mins. Gondolier made no chit chat or entertainment whatsoever. Total rip off. Extremely annoyed by experience.

Excellent gondola ride...

Lily_B, Dec 2022

Excellent gondola ride and overall experience <3 This is really a must what one should experience while in Venice <3

Awaiting refund of St Mark portion

Charlie_A, Nov 2022

At mark was not available due operator did not receive change from morning tour to afternoon tour from Viator. Operator said we would be refined. If I receive refund for St Mark portion I will be happy to share.

St Mark's great, skip the gondola.

Earl_S, Aug 2022

Tour of St Mark's was great. Silvia was a great guide. Was difficult finding the kiosk to meet at by following the printed out map I had our ticket on. The kiosk is not in the square but on a street behind it. Zoom in on the map on your phone to see exactly where to meet. The title "Gondola Ride and St Mark's Basilica Tour" is deceiving. You do not go on a gondola ride and then visit St Mark's with the same guide. You Take a tour of St Mark's with a guide (Ours at 1045 for an hour) then you go on your own somewhere for awhile and meet back at the kiosk at 3 pm. Where another person quickly walks you to the beginning of the gondola line. The description when booking states "See the sights of the canal city from the water during a 35-minute gondola cruise, followed by a guided tour of the Byzantine jewel of St. Mark's." If I had it to do over we would definitely only book St. Mark's as the gondola ride was not worth the time and if the sites the description stated were on the gondola route we took....we did not see them.

Great tour of St Marks

Laura_H, Jun 2022

The actual tour of St Mark's was great, the tour guide was amazing, very knowledgeable and made the tour extremely enjoyable and easy to follow. We did find the communication by the tour company pretty poor. We didn't realise when we booked or collected the ticket that whilst the St Mark's tour was in the morning the Gondola ride was not until later in the day. It was only when we finished the tour and went back to the ticket desk that we found it. Luckily we had not made any other plans so we were free, but this needs to be communicated a lot better.

Great value

Seena_T, Jun 2019

This combo was a great value for time and money. I only wished the gondola guide talked a little. Great to skip the lines!

AWFUL!

Lori_B, Mar 2019

This was the worst tour that we have ever taken!! It was total chaos as the guides separated us by our sticker color. There was no direction by the guides on what the plan was and where we were headed. It was 'orange stickers here, green stickers there....' Once in our sticker group, we were ushered to a gondola. Again, no communication of what we were doing. LITERALLY no words spoken. Once on the gondola, our captain spent the majority of the time on his phone. He said absolutely nothing to us - NOT ONE WORD! When we were ushered off of the gondola, some guy pointed us to go around a corner. We assumed that we would be meeting a guide to continue our tour to St. Marks. There was no one there!! And there was no one anywhere to question what we should do to get to our skip the line tour of the Basilica. Terrible experience all around!

Gondola ride was really fun. St...

Elizabeth_V, Mar 2018

Gondola ride was really fun. St. Mark's Basilica tour at 1 hour was good timing for us as we were traveling with a teenager. Church tour guide was very nice, knowledgeable and spoke perfect English however, would have preferred a bit more information on the history of the Church, e.g., construction who, when, etc., as it appeared that much of that information had been shared in an earlier tour that preceded ours. In any case, we still recommend this tour - skip the line was really helpful - and seeing the mosiac art and other beautiful works were incredible.

This tour was so fun! We started...

Michelle S, Jan 2018

Unable to do due to wife getting...

Geoffrey G, Nov 2017

Unable to do due to wife getting sick, however watching the gondolas go past our hotel on the grand canal was fantastic

The Gondola ride was nice and...

starbrid, Oct 2017

The Gondola ride was nice and relaxing. The tour of St Mark's was great, the guide was excellent and explained what we were looking at with great knowledge.

Skip ihe gondola ride. Almost total...

Frederick_S, Oct 2017

Skip ihe gondola ride. Almost total waste of time. Course was crowded narrow back channel route with no scenery whatsoever out onto the Grande Canal where gondoliers just sat side by side chatting with each other killing time to fill the 30 minute commitment. The St. Marks tour was fantastic!!!!

This tour was not coordinated well at...

Tessa B, Oct 2017

This tour was not coordinated well at all. There were 2 different meeting locations, but no one knew which one was correct. The guy wed up late to meet us. The coordinator then said meet us at the tower after the ride for the tour. The Gondola ride was nice. Then we went to the tower and had a hard time finding the group. St Marks tour was very crowded. We could barely hear the tour guide as he kept up front and there was static. He then started talking politics and Trump. The tour lasted forever and the last 30 minutes were all politics while sitting. Not effective and not worth the money.

Very romantic ride on the water...

Jane R, Sep 2017

Very romantic ride on the water. Although it was hard to take a picture because we had to balance each side, we still manage to take it but not all of us in the photo.

Gondola ride was ok but the St...

Russell B, Sep 2017

Gondola ride was ok but the St. Mark's Basilica tour was very unorganized. I would not recommend this tour!

The gondola ride was awesome, a must...

Mark_W, Sep 2017

The gondola ride was awesome, a must do when in Venice, but the tour thru the basilica was very busy, and hard to hear what the guide was saying even with head phones, due to the amount of people in the basilica. Ok but not great

Loved, loved, loved the Gondola...

Nicole S, Aug 2017

Loved, loved, loved the Gondola ride. It was relaxing and one of the highlights of my trip to Venice. St Marks Basilica Tour was long and it was quite warm inside of the church, but extremely beautiful.