St Mark's Basilica & Doge's Palace with Secret Passages Access
Recommended by 91% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Venice, Italy
- 3 hours (approx.)
- Group discounts
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
No visit to Venice is complete without taking in the Doge’s Palace, but this Gothic masterpiece has vast sections that most visitors never see. With this tour, enjoy exclusive skip-the-line access behind the scenes to explore the palace’s secret archives, torture chambers, and attic prison cells with a guide.
- Save precious vacation line with handy skip-the-line access
- A guided walk provides context you'd miss out on if exploring solo
- Visit locations many travelers miss out on
- A small group means more attention from your guide
What's Included
- Special access to the Doge’s Palace Secret itineraries
- Skip-the-line Doge's Palace tickets
- Expert tour guide
- Small group of maximum 20 pax
- Skip-the-line access to St. Mark's Basilica (12€)
- Private tour (if option selected)
- Gratuities
- Hotel Pick-Up/Drop-Off
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Museo CorrerP.za San Marco, 52, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
Please arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of your tour, your guide will be holding a green Walks sign. This tour meets at Correr Museum in Piazza San Marco 52. Your guide will be waiting under the portico just outside the entrance of the museum.
End point
- Piazza San MarcoP.za San Marco, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
Itinerary
1
Palazzo Ducale
2 hours 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
2
St. Mark's Basilica
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- Due to Doge's Palace regulations, children under the age of 6 are not permitted inside the secret itineraries and therefore cannot take this tour.
- Unfortunately due to the nature of this tour it is not suitable for guests with mobility impairments or with wheelchairs, or strollers.
- No refund will be provided if high tide prevents certain parts of the tour, but adjustments to the route will be made for client safety and comfort.
- If access is restricted due to private events inside the Doge's Palace, we cannot be held responsible. This is a situation beyond our control. No refund will be issued.
- This tour is not suitable for people who are claustrophobic.
- This is a walking tour. Guests should be able to walk at a moderate pace without difficulty.
- Guests should be prepared for a moderate level of physical activity, including standing for extended periods and climbing stairs, which may not be suitable for travelers with certain health conditions or mobility limitations.
- All guests must supply their full name that matches a valid ID at the time of the booking. Should you fail to provide these, your reservation will be canceled. Name changes are not permitted.
- St. Mark’s Basilica can be subject to closures due to particular liturgical celebrations, especially during major religious holidays such as Easter or Christmas. In the event that the Basilica is closed, explanations will be provided from the outside.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 3 days in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.7
based on 222 reviews
Catherine_L, Sep 2025
An interesting and informative tour. Our guide was excellent and extremely knowledgeable. We would definitely recommend this tour.
Martin_M, Sep 2025
Very knowledgeable tour guide. She provided helpful insights on all the areas we toured, including important historical facts.
merrelyn, Aug 2025
This was one of the best tours we have been on. Marco was a wonderful guide, Great communication skills and very knowledgeable. This tour has it all. I highly recommend it.
Stephanie_T, Aug 2025
Mose was knowledgeable in Doge’s palace, going thru the secret passages was cool too! Not sure it’s worth the extra cost.
Jessica_D, Jul 2025
Very interesting tour. If you’re going in summer, remember the palace and jail are not air conditioned, so be prepared to be hot! There are 100 stairs to climb at one point. We were fine but noticed others were uncomfortable. Very cool history of the palace, Doges, and Casanova’s experience as a prisoner. Definitely worth checking out!
Judith_G, Jun 2025
We had an excellent tour jam packed with stories and historical information. Georgia, our enthusiastic and very knowlegable guide was wonderful and easy to understand. The tour includes lots of narrow stairs throughout the prisons and back rooms of the palace, but all have secure handrails. An excellent tour!
Laura_H, Jun 2025
Small group made this experience wonderful and worth it!. Fantastic tour and guide. Highly recommend the tour.
Kelly_B, Jun 2025
Wonderful guide. Very informative and once in palace we entered areas not open to general public. Worth every penny
HELEN_L, Jun 2025
Alexandro our guide was very passionate in his explanation and brought the tour to life. Very interesting tour.
Lori_K, Jun 2025
giulilani was extremely knowledgeable, entertaining and a great guide. definitely recommend him to anyone. thank you.
Alison_J, May 2025
This is a must do. I’ve toured the Doges Palace a few times. An interesting layer was added with the behind the scenes from stories of various prisoners to seeing supports to hold the ceiling.
wcszen, May 2025
Well arranged meeting location, nearby the Doges Palace but away from crowds. Emmanuel, our guide, provided us with great commentary. We were able to see locations within the palace that are not normally accessed. The tour was accompanied by a person who I assumed was a museum staff members to supervise us as we went through normally unaccessible rooms. On our tour we saw the cell that housed Casanova during his imprisonment. In addition we learned about the history of the Doges and the engineering of the building. We also accessed the attic above the grand hall to see the infrastructure that allows for the large room without column support below. Patrons without the best mobility should consider the 2 1/2 hours length of the tour which includes many stairs and tight spaces. There is little to no opportunity to sit. We enjoyed the tour but were worn out by the end
Amanda_L, Apr 2025
Excellent behind the scenes tour providing access to areas not previously seen. Our guide Susan was excellent. Would highly recommend.
John_S, Apr 2025
If you wish to experience the whole of the dogo palace then this is the tour for you. Interesting to see the contrast between the prisons and the palace.
Emma_O, Nov 2024
Sarah was a great guide. We found the tour interesting, informative and some insights you wouldn't get otherwise. We loved seeing the secret's of the Doges palace.
Response from Host, Dec 2024
Dear Emma,
Thank you so much for your kind review!
We're so glad to hear that Sarah made your tour of the Doge's Palace so memorable. It’s great to know that you found the tour interesting and informative, with insights that you wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
The secrets of the Doge’s Palace are truly fascinating, and we’re happy you enjoyed exploring them!
We hope to welcome you on another tour soon for more unforgettable experiences!
Best regards,
Sarah
Walks and Devour Tours
AnnB_S, Oct 2024
Great tour!
The guide “Nico” was informative, personable, and engaging with group.
Going inside the prison cells,
And the palace gave it a different perspective. Enjoyed it very much!
Worth the time and money!
Jennifer_R, Oct 2024
Visiting secret passageways and hidden rooms in the Doge's palace...beautifully commentated by our guide
Julie_J, Oct 2024
Grace, our guide, did a wonderful job. We took the secret passages tour of the Doges Palace and she explained it all very well, made it interesting using humor and kept the small group moving along.
Todd_L, Sep 2024
Alessandro’s depth of knowledge made for a fascinating tour. Highly recommended! Great way to learn about historical Venice and see where things happened.
Angela_C, Sep 2024
The night before the tour Venice was experiencing extreme weather, so all the flights were being cancelled or delayed for over 5 hours. I reached out to Viator to request if they could reschedule my tour, or alternatively refund or convert the value to an account credit. Despite providing all the flight info, so that they could verify that it was an event completely outside of my control, they refused to help me in any way so I never got to take the tour and lost over $200.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Dear Angela,
We are sorry to hear about your experience.
Situations like the one you encountered are typically covered by travel insurance.
We recommend that you contact your travel insurance provider to inquire about reimbursement for the tour.
Please note that inside 24 hours from the tour departure time, we are unable to provide a refund as we have already incurred expenses for venue tickets, guide fees, and other arrangements.
However, we understand your situation and would like to assist you further.
You can contact us at feedback@walks.org to discuss this matter in more detail.
We appreciate your understanding and hope to have the opportunity to assist you in the future.
Sincerely,
Jhonas.
Walks and Devour Tours.
Manuela_V, Sep 2024
Our tour guide Roberta was phenomenal! She has an amazing way to talk all things history in an intriguing way and could answer all additional questions easily. It was a pleasure to follow her everywhere as she was super friendly with everyone we had contact with.
Gaspar_Z, Sep 2024
Our guide took the time to share a lot of background and historical details of Venice during the tour. She was very knowledgeable and engaging. The tour was excellent!
Lilybeth_M, Aug 2024
Our guide was very good-entertaining, friendly, high energy got us through the tour on an extremely hot day quickly and with great consideration for our comfort. The sites were very interesting and fascinating.
Jennifer_C, Jul 2024
Excellent tour! Marie-Therese was a personable guide and made the tour interesting. If you want to visit Doge palace, I recommend this tour-you will get much more out of the visit than if you walk around on your own. She pointed out details and explained art work. The secret itineraries was worth it! It does get hot up in the top floors, so plan an early morning tour.
Lynn_O, Jul 2024
This was an amazing experience for us. My daughter and I booked the 8pm grand canal rowing tour and it was absolutely beautiful and worth the price. Anna was our guide and she was extremely kind and so informative about venice and pointed out many sights. My daughter rowed our gondola-like boat under the Rialto bridge!
Sheila_P, Jul 2024
What an incredible tour. Our guide, Pamela was so knowledgeable and friendly. We highly recommend her, as her presentation was full of historical information about the Doge palace and explained the political significance of the doges, noblemen, and bourgeois. Casanova’s imprisonment and escape story was quite entertaining.
We are so glad to have booked this tour.
Luann_B, Jun 2024
After a terrible vaporeto think a bus on water. We missed the tour due to a lack of assistance from the guide from Viators local people. I had paid for the trip and was looking forward to sharing the experience of a prior trip with my family. I purchased 4 tickets to the Doge Palace as I was not going to ruin the day for my family. The Doge place is a must see excursion when visiting Venice.
Response from Host, Aug 2024
Dear Luann,
Thank you for your review.
We apologize for the inconvenience you experienced with the vaporeto and missing the tour.
While we understand the frustration, unfortunately, we cannot accommodate late arrivals due to our set itinerary.
However, we do offer the option to reschedule missed tours.
Please contact us at feedback@walks.org, and we'll be happy to assist you with rescheduling your tour.
We hope to have the opportunity to provide you with a better experience in the future.
Best regards,
Jhonas.
Walks and Devour Tours.
John_P, Jun 2024
Getting a personal, behind the scenes tour of this magnificent piece of history was well worth it. The guide was impressively well versed and handled all of the questions thrown their way. We truly felt like VIPs, being escorted through areas closed to the general public, and learning details that no guide book could provide. Only caution is that the wireless headsets didn't work perfectly in some of the narrow stone prison hallways, so try to be up front to hear everything during this first portion of the tour!
Kim_R, Jun 2024
Really interesting tour and neat to see the prison areas, the attic had a bunch of armor and weapons and we got to see quite a few secret rooms of the palace. Bring a small fan as some areas were small and quite warm. Heard this tour is not offered in late summer months due to the heat. Overall, a really good tour.
Laura_C, Jun 2024
Hearing the history of Casanova's escape and the doges over the centuries. Fascinating tour. Seeing the old cells.
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