Venice, water and stone.
Which gondola ride is worth it. How to see St Mark’s without the two-hour queue. Where the cicchetti are still Venetian. Every tour in Venice, reviewed and ranked.
The Venice you came to see.
The Basilica and the Doge’s Palace, a gondola on the Grand Canal, the glass furnaces of Murano and the cicchetti counters of Cannaregio. The handful of experiences every Venice trip is built around, and the best way to book each.
What everyone books in Venice.
Every review →The tours more travellers take than anything else in the city — and what each one is actually like once you are standing in it.
1
Doge’s Palace Reserved Entry Ticket
Skip the line at Doge’s Palace in Venice, then use your reserved entry to visit Museo Correr, the Archeological Museum, and Marciana Library.
From · $41
Read our review →
2
Grand Canal Gondola Ride with App Commentary
from $39
3
Boat Trip: Glimpse of Murano, Torcello & Burano Islands
from $29
4
Grand Canal by Gondola with Live Commentary
from $44
5
La Fenice Opera House Entry Ticket with Audio Guide
from $14
6
Doge’s Palace & St. Mark’s Basilica with Terrace Access Tour
from $123
7
Burano, Torcello & Murano Boat Tour w/Glassblowing
from $28
8
Murano and Burano Boat Tour with Glass Factory Visit
from $34
The gondola, without the tourist trap.
All 89 gondola rides →
A gondola is non-negotiable and easy to overpay for. Shared rides split one fixed fare between strangers; a private serenade adds a singer; the Grand Canal routes trade the hushed side canals for the great palazzi. These three carry the most travellers — the full list sorts the rest by route and price.
Six seats, one fixed fare
The city sets the gondola rate and it is split between up to five strangers — the cheapest way onto the water, and the exact route the private boats take.
Your own boat, and a singer
The whole gondola to yourselves, often with an accordionist and a tenor working the quiet canals behind San Marco. The version people remember — book a sunset slot.
Palazzi from the water
Trade the hushed back canals for the full sweep of Gothic palaces, the Rialto arch and the traghetto crossings. A wider, grander, busier Venice.
St Mark’s and the Doge’s Palace, properly seen.
The Basilica’s gold mosaics and the Doge’s gilded council halls draw the longest queues in Venice. The right tour walks past the line, adds the terrace or the Secret Itineraries, and tells you what you are looking at.
Murano glass, Burano colour, Torcello silence.
Half a day north across the lagoon: the glass furnaces of Murano, the painted fishermen’s houses of Burano, and Torcello’s near-empty cathedral, where Venice began.
All 99 island tours →
Venetian, and nowhere else.
Glass has been blown on Murano since 1291, masks worn through Carnival since the Republic, and Vivaldi wrote the Four Seasons for an orphanage choir a few canals from the Rialto. Three things you can still book today.
The Glass of Murano
When a city built of wood kept catching fire, the Republic moved every glass furnace out to Murano and forbade the masters to leave, on pain of death. Seven centuries on, the furnaces still roar on the island, pulling cristallo and millefiori into shape a few feet from where you stand.
- 1Burano, Torcello & Murano Boat Tour w/Glassblowing★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 10,245 reviews
- 2Murano and Burano Boat Tour with Glass Factory Visit★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 9,527 reviews
- 3Murano & Burano Panoramic Boat Tour w/ Glassblowing★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 6,212 reviews
The Carnival Mask
The bauta covered the whole face so a Venetian could gamble, flirt and intrigue unrecognised for months; the moretta was held silent by a button gripped between the teeth. In a handful of surviving workshops you still shape and paint your own in papier-mâché, the way it was done for the doges.
- 1Carnival Mask Workshop★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,925 reviews
- 2Venetian Carnival Mask Making Class in Venice, Italy★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 525 reviews
- 3Venetian Masks Workshop★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 411 reviews
The Four Seasons, at home
Antonio Vivaldi was born here and taught violin to the orphaned girls of the Ospedale della Pietà, writing concertos for them by the hundred. Baroque ensembles in candle-lit scuole and the gilded boxes of La Fenice keep the sound exactly where it started.
- 1La Fenice Opera House Entry Ticket with Audio Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 11,742 reviews
- 2Interpreti Veneziani Concert at Church of San Vidal★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 3,256 reviews
- 3Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Live Classical Music Concert★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 2,524 reviews
Eat the way Venice actually eats.
Skip the canal-side set menus. The real meal is cicchetti — small plates eaten standing at a bacaro over a glass of wine — worked bar to bar between the Rialto market and Cannaregio. These are the food tours that get you to the counters locals use.
- 1Eat Like a Local: Venice 3-Hour Small-Group Food Tasting Tourfrom $107
- 2Street Food Tour with a Local Guide and Tastingsfrom $57
- 3Venice Bacaro Food Tour: Eat and Drink like a Venetianfrom $83
Venice empties at dusk, and gets better.
All evening tours →
Sunset Walking Tour with Food and Wine Tastings
Read our review →
Venice Ghost Stories, Legends and Anecdotes Tour
Read our review →La Fenice Opera House Entry Ticket with Audio Guide
Read our review →What your money buys in Venice.
Every tour on the site, sorted by what it actually costs. A good Venice day can start at the price of two spritzes.
Cicchetti crawls, a shared gondola, skip-the-line tickets and the island vaporetto — the everyday best of Venice.
The classic days out: small-group island tours, food-and-wine evenings, guided Basilica-and-Palace mornings.
Private gondolas with a singer, chartered lagoon boats and the long day up into the Dolomites by car.
Book these before you reach Venice.
Most of Venice you can arrange the night before. These you cannot — they run on timed tickets, small quotas and calendars that do not care when your train pulls in.
- 01Doge’s Palace Prisons & Secret Itineraries Guided TourThe Doge’s Palace Secret Itineraries lead tiny groups through the prisons and the old torture room — a handful of slots a day, gone weeks ahead.
- 02Doge’s Palace & St. Mark’s Basilica with Terrace Access TourSt Mark’s terrace and after-hours visits run in small timed groups once the Basilica closes to the day crowds.
- 03Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Live Classical Music ConcertConcert and opera seats — Vivaldi in the scuole, a night at La Fenice — are dated tickets that sell by the evening, not on arrival.
- 04Carnival Mask WorkshopCarnival experiences and the better mask workshops book out months before February.
When the acqua alta comes, Venice goes indoors.
From autumn into winter the tide pushes up through the drains and the raised passerelle walkways go out across San Marco. It is also when Venice is best under a roof: the Basilica’s mosaics, a glass furnace, a cooking class, a Vivaldi concert. High water cancels none of these.
Beyond the Piazza — day trips & the lagoon
Day Trips from Venice42 tours
The Dolomites18 tours
Prosecco & Valpolicella55 tours
Murano & Burano99 tours
The Outer Lagoon35 tours
The Grand Canal22 tours- All Venice tours →
By experience — what kind of day is it?
A perfect day, San Marco to the lagoon.
St Mark’s
Doge’s Palace
Rialto & cicchetti
A gondola
SunsetLatest Venice tour reviews.
All recent →
One-Day Venice: Skip-the-Line St. Mark’s Basilica, Walk & Gondola
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Shared Departure Transfer: Venice Hotels to Venice Train or Bus Station
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Secret Venice, an unusual walk – Private Walking Tour
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Self Guided Tours Venice With 100 Captivating Audio Stories
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Another Side of the City: Discovering Authentic Venice
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Venice Walking Tour with Audioguide on Your Smartphone
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The Secret Venice + Cicheti & Wine Private Tour
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Saint Marks Basilica, Doge’s Palace and Gondola tour in Venice
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Private Venice Family Tour with Saint Mark’s & Doge’s Palace
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Skip the Line: Best of Venice Private Tour Including San Marco Doges’ Palace and Gondola Ride
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