The Best of Venice: San Marco Highlights & Gondola Ride

Badge of Excellence

Venice, Italy

3 hours (approx.)
Group discounts
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Discover the sights and secrets of Venice on a private 3.5-hour tour. After a stroll around Piazza San Marco, enjoy guided visits to Doge Palace and San Marco’s Basilica. Cap of your authentic Venetian adventure with a gondola ride down the canals. The half-day excursion is also a great opportunity to orient yourself to the city for future independent exploring.

Experience the exclusivity of a private tour with a local host
See a side of Venice that's usually reserved for locals
Get a quick overview of the city’s main sights
An ideal choice for lovers of history

What's Included

Private guide
CO2 Neutral: all tours carbon emissions are offset

Entrance tickets to landmarks are not included
Hotel pick-up & drop off
Gondola Ride - Guests must pay upfront to the host

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

P.za San Marco, 57, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
In front of Caffè Florian

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

Doge's Palace

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Piazza San Marco

40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Basilica di San Marco

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Gondola Danieli (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate

Private tour: only you & your local guide
CO2 Neutral: all tours carbon emissions are offset
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 is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Supplied by

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

4.5

based on 28 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Excellent experience...

Jimmy_A, Dec 2024

Elisabetta was excellent. She not only showed us around and provided excellent historical information but also made sure we saw everything in our one day trip. She made sure we got back in time to take our flight back to Rome. Superb costumer service...

Amazing tour with Marco!

Catherine_L, Jul 2024

We had a great tour with Marco! He gave us the history of San Marco and walked around areas of town, sharing background stories along the way. He took us through side streets that were less crowded (and in the shade!) and we got to see many areas we would have never if we were exploring on our own. Great tour and highly recommend!

Great Tour! Message your guide beforehand for the best experience!

Slater_D, Jun 2024

Marco was an excellent guide. As a local Venetian, he offered amazing information on the history of the city as well as the area surrounding Saint Mark’s square. The best part about this tour is that he caters to your interests. I HIGHLY recommend messaged the guide beforehand and informing them on your interests. As a history buff, I messaged Marco beforehand and let him know we were interested in history and he catered the tour around that.

Guide was great. Tour needs work on add.

Jeffrey_C, Jun 2024

The trip was advertised incorrectly. No provision to get into the cathedral. Waited 45 minutes for a gondola ride. During the three hour guided tour. Should have been planned better for the price we paid. Guide stated he has this problem with a lot of the visitors, understanding the ad. Guide was good very knowledgeable not his fault tour went so bad. Change your advertising to guided tour only. Don’t say skip the lines at the cathedral or take a gondola ride.

Response from Host, Jul 2024

Dear guest, Thank you for sharing your feedback about "The History of Venice: San Marco Highlights Private Tour." We apologize for the inconvenience and frustration caused by the miscommunication regarding the tour details. To investigate this further and help our guide plan better based on the tour plan, please contact us directly at info@withlocals.com and share your booking ID. Your feedback is invaluable in ensuring we improve our services and accurately represent our tours. We appreciate your understanding and patience. Best regards, Withlocals team

Fantastic tour

Christopher_M, Jun 2023

This was a fantastic private tour. We learned a lot and really enjoyed learning the history and stories about Venice.

Customized intro to Venice

Brandon_T, Mar 2022

When the sites we planned to see were not exactly what we wanted, our guide Nicolleta pivoted with us and did an amazing job of giving us an overview of the city, drilling into interesting details about the palace, Venice history, and St. Mark's. She showed us local things you won't find in the tour books as well as gave us the right level of interesting information on the major landmarks. This was the perfect way to see Venice! I'd recommend doing this at the beginning of your stay.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Kathy_R, Mar 2022

AVOID AT ALL COSTS - NOT AS ADVERTISED - book instead through "with local" for much cheaper and same experience!!! Gondola ride is NOT included and will cost 120 EU extra for an hour ride. Tickets to Basilica and Doge Palace also NOT included even though under the tab of what to expect it says they are included. Horrible company to deal with. Viator says nothing they can do and up to the local tour operator. local tour operator says read our web page which has conflicting information on it.

Response from Host, Mar 2022

Hi there, I am Lieke from Withlocals and I am part of the quality and support team. At Withlocals we really want our customers to receive the best experience of their trip so we are very disappointed to find out about your negative experience. As we cannot directly get in touch with you from here, please email us at info@withlocals.com and we will make sure to understand why this happened, to see that you are at least compensated for this bad experience, or to offer you a better experience instead. We really look forward to your email! Thank you and please accept our apology on behalf of Withlocals! Have a great day, Lieke @ Withlocals

San Marco Tour

Angelica_O, Feb 2022

Nicoletta was a great guide for our tour of St. Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace. She is very knowledgeable and has a deep passion for all things Venetian.

A tour to remember!

Mike_H, Oct 2021

Getting to tour Venice with Mattia was like seeing your favorite relative and having them show you the best parts of town. He took us off the beaten path and showed us a Venice we never would have ever seen. It was the highlight of our two week tour of Europe and was something we will never forget!