Skip the Line: St Mark's Square Highlights Tour

Venice, Italy

Venice is like an open-air museum, and for first-time visitors this one-hour highlights walk of St. Mark's Square is a must. The tour focuses on grandeur of St. Mark's Square in Venice with external visits of the square, Doge's Palace, the Sansovino library, the Bell Tower, the incredible legends of the Clock Tower.

Enter St. Mark's Basilica to discover the awe-inspiring gold mosaics. Your talented guide will unlock its secrets as you walk through to one of the main highlights of the Basilica the "Pala D'Oro" (golden altar) with masterpieces by generations of Venetian goldsmiths.

St. Mark's Basilica is free of charge to enter and we guarantee that you'll skip any long lines as part of this tour. Venice is subject to flash floods and occasionally the Basilica is closed to the public (without notice) because of high water or festivities.

You'll hear fascinating stories and learn anecdotes and this remarkable city and its historical characters, Casanova, Marco Polo to name two. Tours are conducted in small groups (maximum 25 people) with an English-speaking guide who can personally cater to you, ensuring your visit to Venice is a special and unforgettable experience.

USD $19.15

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Leonard L	March 2012
excellent and good English speaking guides.

Review by: carlos	March 2012
Excellent. The guide was very knowledgeable and engaging which made for a very interesting tour. And of course, the star of the show is the interior of the Basilica: utterly amazing._br/_ Tip: once the tour is over, you can go round again on your own - go upstairs to the museum to see the original bronze Horses of St Mark and then outside on to the loggia where you can get some good photos of the Piazza and Piazzetta.

Review by: Mary T	November 2011
Good tour, pretty short. The meeting pojt with the guide was hard to find as it was not described adequately

Review by: William F	October 2011
Our guide was knowledgeable but the audio was difficult to understand not sure if it was the equipment or the microphone. There was a lot of background noise and the sound was not clear to understand and get full value of the tour.

Review by: Anton	September 2011
A very good tour indeed. Our guide was informative. She explained the intricate details of the church.

Review by: Hana	September 2011
Skipping the line is worth the money to see this church!

Review by: William C	September 2011
Excellent tour! It was a small group and the guide was fabulous! She was very knowledgeable, energetic, and kind. We really enjoyed the tour!

Review by: gandjnelson	September 2011
Great. Our tour guide was wonderful very informative.

Review by: Brenda S	August 2011
The tour was great and the guide was very interesting. She was also very considerate. It was a very hot day and I was having some problems breathing. She found me a seat in St. Marks and let me rest while she continued on with the tour. My son found the information very informative and after resting I got to rejoin the tour. Thanks, Brenda Schmidt

Review by: Daniel M	August 2011
Unfortunately, we were late, and the tour left without us.

Review by: Rosanna D	August 2011
Good tour however very hard to understand guide and to follow her. She did not have a flag or something to identify her. We needed to rush fast to ensure we would not loose her. Plus, hard to understand her due to her accent. She even answered her cell during the tour. Not sure if I would recommend this tour.

Review by: Amy T	August 2011
The tour guide was very knowledgeable but rushed us through the tour.

Review by: Tramm	July 2011
Diuplicate of the other skip the line tour. The descriptions were misleading.

Review by: valerie p	July 2011
Very professional guide. Easy pick up in St. Mark's Square. Short queue in to Basilica for us, everyone else was suffering from the heat in the hot square._br/_ Valerie and Vanessa Peters June 28,2011

Review by: Farina A	July 2011
Very good tour guide and we could hear her clearly because of the headsets. However there was an extra €6 charge for the headsets that came as a surprise!

Review by: lou	June 2011
brief

Review by: jsulpice	June 2011
Our tour guide into St. Mark's was good. I appreciated the Skip the Line aspect, as the line was very long, however she took us on a quick circuit of the church and then out. I would have liked to stay and see the upper parts. Also, the entrance fee is not included and the guide from the service requested 3 Euros each for entrance. When we got to the counter, the sign clearly stated an admission fee of 2 Euros each.

Review by: golfguy	June 2011
Was very difficult to understand the guide and therefore sure we missed a fair bit. The queue was not all that long so value for money to skip the line probably not there.

Review by: DonLegere	June 2011
This tour was also provided by the same company as our Doge's Palace tour. We had a great guid, it was just unfortunate that the headsets they used were substandard

Review by: Carol J. T	May 2011
our guide was both personable and very well acquainted with her surrroundings .her knowledge was as great asher personality

Review by: Ciaran K	May 2011
Great to jump the line, some interesting facts. The directions to find them where alittle loose.

Review by: Cheryl W	April 2011
The guide was very knowledgable about St. Marks square. However, due to a lot of static, it was difficult to hear her at times.

Review by: Bonita R	November 2010
Great tour. Hits all the main highlights of the area. I would recommend this tour. We booked four different tours with this company. Be sure to check the time of year for high water. Rain boots are sold at the local kiosk for around 15 euro.

Review by: Victor L	November 2010
for the price and getting a sense of what you arte looking at worthwhile

Review by: Regina F	October 2010
Extremely informative - geat insight to St. Mark's church. It was wonder ful to not wait ont he very long lines.

Review by: Catherine K	October 2010
This was TERRIBLE! We could not hear the speaker at all. She started speaking while the bells were pealing.

Review by: Jemma L	October 2010
Didn't exactly skip the line thanks to the flooding....but a very informative trip!

Review by: Francine G	October 2010
Very good tour guide. The flooding at the Piazza made the tour somewhat exhausting.

Review by: Thomas P	September 2010
Because of flooding in St. Mark's square the "skip the line part" was not available --- everyone used the same door --- while this was unavoidable most of tour time was spent waiting to get in. Although we had head sets our guide's English was still difficult to understand and hard to "follow". She wanted to be successful but the tour was disappointing.

Review by: Joan I	September 2010
I'm sure if there weren't a million people in Venice the week we were there (film festival etc. going on) this might have been a better tour. As it was we couldn't hear our guide, St. Mark's Square was flooded from the thunder storm the night before so we just gave up and left. This may not be a fair review due to the conditions but the group was far too large and if you can't hear, what's the point? Perhaps a different time of year it may be better.

Review by: Gilbert B	September 2010
If you go to St Mark's Square I would recomend this tour. No queing, the Basilica is fantastic. You can hear everything the rep. sayes because of the earpiece that you are provided with. It was very interesting the facts about the history not boreing at all. We did the one hour tour but would have liked to carry on to the Doge Palace mabe next time. Just a note if you have a drink in the square afterwards they charge extra to listen to the music it is 12euro + drinks

Review by: Katherine F	August 2010
We had a very small group because three people did not show. Since there were only four of us, we did not need the headsets and had a fantastic experience! Our guide was very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. I would highly recommend this tour!

Review by: Patience W	August 2010
The info from the guide was poor and she did not welcome questions

Review by: Adekunle O	August 2010
This tour was quite short. The guide is very knowlegeable but the tour was very short, didn't seem like good value for the money. The advantage of paying for the tour is that you can avoid the long lines.

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	July 2010
Skip the line is a great asset

Review by: Jennifer B, Australia	June 2010
Good guide and interesting tour but at end we were ushered outside to finish off and then found we could not get back into St. Mark's to visit shop. Would be better to finish inside.

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	June 2010
Excellent commentary

Review by: Penny D, Canada	May 2010
It was amazing to see inside St. Mark's Cathedral. However, we did have alot of trouble hearing what the guide was saying with our earphones. The guide was knowledgeable and did her best for everyone to understand her.

Review by: Anonymous	May 2010
The guides were real nice and real informative but the tour was basically walking down San Marco square and into the church. You skip the lines, yes, but was it worth the money. Plus, you have to pay an extra 2 just to get inside the alter area which I guess they tell you but it seems like they should cover it. Skip it. Skip San Marco inside. Venice go once, don't go back. Too expensive.

Review by: Savvas R, United Kingdom	April 2010
Excellent.

Review by: Susan S	April 2010
Very good organisation. A knowledgable guide. A good trip!

Review by: Anonymous, United Kingdom	March 2010
We thought it was a good idea for getting to know St Marks Square and a good basis from which to plan the rest of our holiday by creating the tours to our own tastes.

Review by: John N, Australia	February 2010
Well organized and very informative this was an enjoyable tour

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	October 2009
It was great because it got us around the line at St. Mark's which was quite substantial after several days of it being closed due to flooding. Not a lot of time in St. Mark's, but I would definitely recommend it, particularly if you have limited time.

Review by: Sidney R, Australia	October 2009
Skip the long queues are great!

Review by: Kathleen M, United Kingdom	September 2009
Wonderful skip the line tour of the inside of the basilica, including the golden icon picture behind the altar. Out guide was very knowledgeable and was patient in responding to the numerous questions from some of the tourists. Highly recommended. Don't miss the Doge's Palace afterward.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	August 2009
Great tour guide! You could tell she loved the city and knew her history. Very beneficial for a first time visitor!

Review by: Karen C, United States of America	July 2009
The tour was worth it just to skip the long line to get in St. Mark's. Our tour guide was easy to understand and very informative.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	June 2009
This was very informative. I'm glad we did not over-do it on the tours in Venice. It was fun to "get lost."

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	October 2008
Well worth doing especially at the beginning of your stay in Venice. I was travelling with my mother 62 and daughter 4 both of which had no problems with the pace.