Unusual Perspectives of St Mark's Basilica & optional Pala d'Oro

Venice, Italy

45 minutes (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Get an in-depth look at one of Venice's most spectacular sights with this tour of St. Mark's Basilica. Visit St. Mark's Museum to see scale models of the cathedral. Take in the awe-inspiring golden mosaics inside the basilica. See the bronze horses, which came from Constantinople, replicas of which now overlook St. Mark's Square. Enjoy the extraordinary opportunity to walk onto the loggia to get your own unique view over St. Mark's Square and its buildings viewed from above.

45-minute tour of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, including the loggia
See a scale model of the basilica in St. Mark's Museum
Marvel at the intricate golden mosaics inside the basilica
Get an up-close look at the famous bronze horses
Look over St. Mark's Square from above with a visit to the loggia

What's Included

Guided tour
Skip the Line access to St Mark’s Basilica main floor
Entry ticket to the Pala d’Oro (included in the afternoon visit 13.15)

Gratuities
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Entry ticket to the Treasure
Entry ticket 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, behind Correr museum

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

Piazza San Marco (Pass By)

Basilica di San Marco

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Palazzo Ducale (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
Access to the Basilica is only permitted to visitors with suitable attire (no shorts or vest or tops) and backpacks are not allowed for safety reasons.
At the end of the tour you can continue the visit inside St. Mark’s Basilica on your own. Please note that the church closes at 5pm.

The Procuratoria di San Marco reserves the right to prohibit visits and access to the basilica at any time and without notice for reasons of force majeure (e.g. high water) and/or safety reasons.
In cases of extra liturgical ceremonies, exceptional high tides or other special occasions, access to St Mark's Basilica may not be permitted and therefore the tour will not take place
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.
On certain dates, most travelers staying outside of Venice who are planning to visit for the day will be required to pay up to 10 € 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

This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.2

based on 17 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Enjoyable, fact-filled, interesting side stories tour.

Diane_A, Apr 2025

You are on your feet the whole time, so wear comfy shoes. There is one very steep, long staircase up and then down. Don't go around a religious holiday because access is limited and the crowds gather in smaller areas. Our guide was very knowledgeable and polite. She was interesting and animated which made her enjoyable to listen to.

Not as good as other tours

Jacqui_C, Jul 2023

Seeing the basilica was amazing but felt that the guide was a bit unwell and wasn’t at her best hard to understand some of what she was saying Think perhaps it would have been better just to pop in ourselves

Great Views and Info!

Jessie_R, Mar 2022

Great tour with excellent views. We were very pleased to find a tour that took us to the terrace of the basilica but we didn’t have to endure Doge’s Palace (had been before and was not my cup of tea). Elisabetta was excellent!

Worth booking this tour to avoid the...

Ruth A, Aug 2017

Worth booking this tour to avoid the long queues and view the basilica and Square from different angles. Informative guide explained things we wouldn't have known about the history and construction of the building, etc.

Delighted i booked this tour as i...

Shirley H, Aug 2017

Delighted i booked this tour as i dont think you would get the real feel of the Basilica on your own,Our guide was a local who loved her job and you could feel the love she had for venice, We learned alot about the histort here also you can stay on after the tour is over and take a while on your own and to get some beauitful photos

Would definantly recommend as seeing...

Gemma M, Jul 2017

Would definantly recommend as seeing the queues to get in where huge we skipped all this and you get the added bonus of being able to go right up the top and see great views of st marks square.

We loved our guide, Selene. She is a...

Virginia K, Oct 2016

We loved our guide, Selene. She is a young spunky archaeologist and also works for the Church, so is passionate and knowledgeable about her subject. We loved the perspective from the upper floor and the proximity to the recently cleaned mosaic of Christ Pantocrator.

Very interesting tour. Tour leader was...

Joseph G, Sep 2016

Very interesting tour. Tour leader was very knowledgeable.

We Enjoyed this tour very much, the...

Susan_M, Jul 2016

We Enjoyed this tour very much, the time allowed to really look at things and especially the view from the Loggia over St Marks Square. I found the history very interesting and our tour guide was very helpful.

Alicia was punctual and kind...

Paulo_F, Jun 2016

Alicia was punctual and kind. Furthermore, she really knew about her topic and provided us with a lot of interesting information, which made the tour an experience that we definitely recommend.

After some confusion about where to...

Elf, Oct 2015

After some confusion about where to join the tour there are several different tours that all meet in the same place outside of the Basilica at the same time we were lucky enough to have the most charming guide who was only to keen to share her passion for the Museum and Basilica. I recommend this small group tour without hesitation.

We enjoyed this activity quite a...

Monalee, Aug 2015

We enjoyed this activity quite a bit. The group size was very manageable, our tour guide was very pleasant and informative. I wish I had realized you could not take photos inside the Basilica. I feel like the tour ended abruptly up on the outside balcony, and wish we could have had more information within the basilica. Overall, a good tour, and worth the very reasonable price. Very good instructions on where to meet, and what to bring.