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Venice Walking Tour and Gondola Ride: Explore St. Mark's Square and Grand Canal
4.2
21 Ratings
Venezia
Immerse yourself in the beauty of Venice with a walking tour of St. Mark's Square and a gondola ride along the Grand Canal. Discover architectural marvels, charming bridges, and hidden corners while learning about Venice's rich history and modern lifestyle.
Duration:
2 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
-
Piazza San Marco - Explore the lesser-known streets to discover hidden squares between St. Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge.
Commence your journey from campo San Moisè, adjacent to St. Mark’s Square, to delve into the city’s history. Follow your guide through a maze of alleyways, squares, or “campi,” and learn about the city’s past, captivating stories, and the local Venetian dialect.
Pause in front of the awe-inspiring La Fenice opera house to uncover its glorious yet tumultuous history.
Admire the Bovolo Staircase, a splendid Renaissance masterpiece, and one of Venice’s most exquisite architectural gems. This intriguing and intricate spiral staircase forms part of the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, dating back to 1499, located near Campo Manin.
What's Included
- Personal audio system and headset for tour commentary
- Guided walking tour of Saint Mark’s Square and Castello
- 30-minute shared Gondola ride with a Gondolier
- Tours available in English
What's Not Included
- Transport
- Food
- Drink
Additional Information
Take a tour of St. Mark’s Square and admire architectural wonders such as St. Mark’s Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, and the Renaissance era clock tower. Wander around the sophisticated residential area of Castello, traversing appealing bridges, thin alleys, and scenic squares.
Discover campo Santa Maria Formosa and campo San Giovanni & Paolo, the location of the Basilica and burial sites of Venetian doges. Explore Marco Polo’s previous home and the Malibran theatre. Our enlightened guide offers historical details, architectural notable points, and fascinating stories about Venice’s historical and modern lifestyle.
The walking journey concludes at St. Mark’s Square, routing through Mercerie, a shopping avenue linking Rialto and San Marco.
Next, engage in quintessential Venetian experience by embarking on a Gondola ride at the campo San Moisè. Cruise on the Grand Canal and smaller canals, admire outstanding architecture, and discover secret palace entrances and secluded spots.
- IMPORTANT: The tour is not private, it is a shared tour
- The gondola ride is not private but is shared with other participants.
- Each gondola can accommodate a maximum of 5 individuals.
- The seat on the gondola cannot be chosen but will be assigned by our gondolier
- Children up to 2 years old do not pay, only if they do not occupy a seat on the gondola
- The itinerary is subject to change in case of inclement weather.
- When you book, pass us your whatsapp number, we will send you a voucher, via whatsapp, which you must present on the day of the tour.
- Once you arrive at the meeting point, you must enter the Aliguna Ticket Office, show the voucher, which we will send you via whatsapp, and receive the tickets. If you have any doubts, you can ask our desk colleagues.
- Important, we ask you to arrive 20 minutes before the departure of the tour, rightly so because you have to show your voucher at the ticket office, and receive the tickets from our colleagues, ok
- if you don’t arrive in time, or you miss the meeting point you will lose the tour. If you miss the tour, you will not get a refund
- If the gondola tour is canceled due to bad weather, the customer will receive a refund of 30 euros per person.
- The gondola tour has a maximum capacity of 5 people, the walking tour up to 15 people
- 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
Location
Giardini Reali
Piazza San Marco
The meeting point is in SAN MARCO GIARDINETTI c/o ALILAGUNA TICKET COUNTER IN FRONT ILLY CAFFE 5 minutes before the departure of the tour.
Once you arrive at the meeting point, you must enter the Aliguna Ticket Office, show the voucher, and receive the tickets
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.2
(21 Ratings)
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Anonymous
May 15, 2024
Excellent! Informative - Excellent introduction to your beautiful city!
Very informative about the history of Venice and how to navigate the area. Highly recommend Frederica
Review provided by Viator
Marta_p
Mar 25, 2024
The tour guide was nice and took us through many back alleys - The only part I did not enjoy was the gondola ride. The gondolier was constantly smoking. Y couldn’t even take a picture of me and my grandson since he did not sit us at the back!
Review provided by Viator
V2849wmmarcoa
Oct 18, 2023
Top wolk & gondola - Very nice and romantic experience. Very pleasant tour. Going by gondola yes to Venice is a duty. Thank you all for the timely organisation of the tour and for this wonderful day.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nickandkris
Sep 15, 2023
Great walking tour of Venice - Really enjoyed our guide and the tour as a whole. Just the perfect amount of time to see the major sights but not overly drawn out. Really enjoyed the history that the guide shared along the way, how language played in to that history, and how she took us to some out of the way places to show the true Venice. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kirstys19
Apr 15, 2024
A nice introduction to Venice. - Our tour guide Marco was excellent, very funny and knowledgeable. He kept us entertained when there was nothing of interest to look at.
I would have liked the tour to have encompassed a bit more for the price. There was about 15 mins of time that was spent waiting around. You can have a Gondola ride for €39 per person if you wanted to still to a gondola ride but maybe a cheaper tour.
The Gondola ride was fantastic, the real highlight of the tour.
I’m glad I did it though, a very interesting tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Scott_p
Oct 6, 2023
Good tour… arrive early - The guide was informative. The tour was mostly focused on architecture. The tour had a lot of walking and the guide went fast. We had 3 people who couldn’t keep up and they gave up on the tour. This tour company has a lot of tours all starting in the same place at the same time so it’s pretty chaotic, but we eventually got sorted into the right tour. We did a tour with a gondola ride… it’s a shared gondola ride — they just group together parties based on size to get 4-5 people to a boat. The gondola ride was exactly what they said… 20-30 min around Venice including a short stretch on the grand canal.
Review provided by Viator
Bich_t
Sep 25, 2023
Nice info of Venice - Nice walk and great info about the city. The tour company was responsive to my question regarding the meeting point.
Review provided by Viator
Mehar_s
Jun 10, 2024
Not satisfactory - Not satisfactory at all. The guide was walking way too fast and didn't care if the group was following her or not. It's more of a classroom lesson tour and you won't get to see anything from the inside. The gondola ride felt very short and rushed.
Review provided by Viator
C9363iqtinad
Oct 13, 2023
Terrible tour! Don’t waste your money! - Terrible tour! After receiving multiple notice to be at meeting place 20-30 mins early, the guide was late. She took us on a 90 min walk that lasted 75 mins and we never really saw the main sights like St Marks Square. She kept looking at her watch, ended the tour early and was not a helpful guide. At the end of the walk she told us to wait and someone would help us onto our gondolas for a 30 min ride. We finally boarded the ugliest, dirtiest gondolas in all of Venice . Ugh! Don’t take this tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sara_d
Oct 13, 2023
Worst experience, terrible staff, waste of money - I’ve booked twice before vía this app and wasn’t disappointed until this tour and dealing with their staff. If I could give it a zero I would. We went to the bathroom and a waiter threw away our tickets unintentionally. We explained this to the staff and they wouldn’t let us go on the tour w/o the tickets even thought I could show the reservation via app. My husband had to dig through garbage to get the tickets back. But they were willing to sell us the tickets back…? Will never ever again reserve because they didn’t even count the number of people and never checked for who was who on the tour. They just wanted money for a terrible tour… the tour was not even worth it! The gondola ride wasn’t even the stated 30 minutes, it was a barely 15 minute ride and I timed it, they were all beat up and you are sharing the gondola with 5 people. The guide was terrible, I learned absolutely nothing. Safe yourself the time and money And do not book this tour… you’ll be disappointed and if you run into a problem they will be useless and rude.
Review provided by Viator
