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Skip The Line: Full Day VIP Venice
See all of Venice’s top sights in the most exclusive way possible with our Full Day VIP Venice Tour including the Doge’s Palace Secret Itineraries Extended tour and the Best of Venice Semi Private Tour including a water taxi trip.
Our day begins at the Doge’s Palace or Palazzo Ducale. The Doge’s Palace features the very best and the very worst of Venice’s history– from vast paintings by Tintoretto and Veronese to the wooden slot wherea ccusations of treason were slipped to the fearsome Secret Police. To wander the corridors of the Duke’s palace is to understand the Republic of Venice and all of its intrigue.Our tour of the palace visits all the best sights open to the public, but for all the splendor that its corridors hold, you would never guess what is hidden in the attic upstairs in the Palazzo Ducale. Follow your guide to the attic prison where Venice’s famous lover and writer Casanova was kept for months before he managed a successful escape. Peering around this dark room, considering the security that must have existed, it’s almost impossible to imagine how he did it. Never mind, our guides have the answers.Casanova was not the only man to see the Doge’s palace on less than favorable terms. After your tour ends,you’ll have the opportunity to visit the Bridge of Sighs – so named for the prisoners that walked its length on their way to cells across the canal. As they took their last look at beautiful Venice they couldn’t help but sigh. You’ll hardly be able to stop yourself either or help but recall the work of the master of apocalypse Hieronymus Bosch that you saw in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio.
After a short break for lunch (not included), it’s on to the Venice walking tour portion of your visit. We’ll wander Venetian bridges and alleyways in groups of 10 people maximum. With such a small group your guide will have more time to answer questions and tailor the pace of the tour to suit you.
Our Best of Venice Semi-Private Tour is perfect for visitors with only a short time in Venice or for anyone wishing to use their time here to explore off-the-beaten-track sights, such as the Bovolo Staircase. In just one afternoon,we will have taken you to see the highlights of Venice along with some lesser-known gems, using skip the line access to whisk you past long queues so that you make the most of every precious second in Venice.
Our tour starts on the Grand Canal, the city’s main waterway which snakes its way past no less than 50 palaces, six churches, four bridges and two open-air markets. We’ll take to the water for a tour of all these wonderful sights. With only 10 people in the boat, you’ll feel like a VIP and the guide will have loads of time to answer all the questions you can think of.Next it’s back on dry land– well, kind of. The on-land section of our tour is a head-spinning journey past some of the best-known sights of Venice along with some of our unlikely favorites.
We’ve spent countless hours hunting all over Venice to get the right balance of major landmarks and quaint beauty. We’ll visit the Bovolo staircase, whose spiral clings desperately to the walls of a historic palazzo. We’ll stop by Marco Polo’s house and hear about the Venetian son who went to sea one day and came back with stories of China and a world in the East that few had ever seen. We’ll see lively Campo San Luca and Campo SSGiovanni Paolo where locals carry out their daily lives in the shadow of spectacular architecture. We’ll see the Goldoni Theatre (from outside), Venice’s lesser known but hardly lesser loved opera house. Of course,we won’t miss the Rialto Bridge, a favorite among many visitors for its sleek marble lines and the beautiful way it reflects in the water. Be sure to lean over the edge to capture a photo of the reflection; this is a picture you’ll see on many Venetian postcards and one you’ll be dying to frame when you get home.Then we’ll make for Venice’s main square – Piazza San Marco. Here orchestras abound (in Venice even the street artists are classy) and cafés spill out onto the square. Basilica San Marco dominates the piazza with its spectacular East-meets-West architecture.
This is what many people come to Venice to see, and for day-trippers, it’s often the start, middle, and end of the agenda. This wonderful structure took 800 years to build, with relics and monuments inside brought (or stolen) from all over Europe and Asia. Even St. Mark’s remains came here through dubious means when Crusaders stole them from Egypt.
The queues here can be long but no worries, we have skip the line access! Your guide will take you inside this cavernous space for an extended tour, pointing out mosaics that date all the way back to the 11th century and beautiful artworks. Then it’s up to the second floor for a closer look at the sparkling golden mosaics. Included in the price of your tour are special tickets for the second-floor terraces at St. Mark’s where you’ll find the mosts pectacular view over the bustling piazza below.
