St Mark's Basilica (Basilica of San Marco)

As a first time visitor I was looking for a tour to provide me with a background and some history of Venice. This tour fitted the bill absolutely perfectly.

The tour was split in two elements, first of all an hour boat trip on a taxi boat around the north part of the island and Grand Canal. Our guide Christina, for this section was engaging and very informative.

The second part of the tour was a two hour walking section lead by Barbara; a detailed description of the square and St Marks Basilica was provided, inside the basilica we were taken upstairs to the balcony area to see the piazza in all its glory. After the basilica we were taken on a walk up to the Rialto area. Along the way were provided with a commentary on all the important and interesting buildings and how Venice has changed over the centuries.

I have joined other tours managed by Dark Rome (as this one is) and found their guides to be extremely informative, as mentioned above, both guides were excellent and really helped make this a fantastic tour.

Doing what: Small-Group Tour: Best of Venice Walking Tour and Grand Canal Water Taxi Ride

This tour had morning and afternoon sessions. We unknowingly scheduled this tour for 25 April, which is a national holiday and San Marco's (St. Mark's, the patron saint of Venice) feast day. We took a train in from the outskirts and were unable to get on the first four or five trains that came by so we arrived 10 minutes late, but the Avventure Bellissime coordinator easily handled the situation for us and others and placed us with a tour already starting. Because it was the saint's feast day, we were unable to tour the basilica. However, the tour was very interesting and informative, and we got an excellent overview of Venice from the land. The afternoon tour was a boat tour of the Grand Canal. It actually covered part of the lagoon and several side canals before returning via the Grand Canal. Again, it was a very good overview of the waterways of Venice. There was some concern that the tour was late or that we misunderstood the directions about where to meet, but at the appointed hour the tour magically began. Overall, this was a great overview of Venice.

Doing what: Skip the Line: Venice in One Day

Great two-part tour. Part one walks you around the main plaza and into St. Marks. Our guide was engaging and interesting. The line that we skipped wasn't that long, but that was April.
Part two was on a boat. This was the best. Venice is huge. Seeing it on a boat really helped show the scale and size of this mind blowing city. The quality of the guide can make or break the tourist experience. Ours was great.

Doing what: Skip the Line: Venice in One Day

This was the first tour of 3 that we scheduled and it started our trip off perfectly! Although Venice ( and St. Mark's Square) was under water the day we arrived, the next day we started the one hour tour with just some drizzle. It certainly did not stop the tour guide ( I don't remember her name but she had red hair) was knowledgeable and made the area come to life for us. Going in to the Basilica was a special treat and the guide explained everything very well. She did such a great job that we opted to continue on with her and signed up for the Doges Palace tour that followed. There was still plenty of time left over to wander around on our own. I would definitely recommend this tour !!!

Doing what: Skip the Line: St Mark's Square Highlights Tour

It was a lovely tour, even though it was crowded we were taken ahead of the queues straight into St Marks Basilica and afterwards taken through the back streets away from the crowds. The tour guide was very informative and we learned interesting things about the history of venice. The second part of the tour, the boat trip, was lovely and we got to ride in a Venice water taxi!! Again the guide had lots of interesting facts about Venice. The boat ride took us into the back waters and also down the grand canal. We were lucky the weather was absolutely beautiful on the day of our tour because we had rain and thunderstorms the previous day. We arrived on Saturday and Sunday was the tour before we caught a flight back on Monday so we were so pleased to see they have tours on a Sunday as well!!! It was definitely worth the price!

Doing what: Skip the Line: Venice in One Day

Skipping the line and visiting St. Mark's is the way to go. Our guide was great and informative.

Doing what: Skip the Line: Venice Walking Tour with St Mark's Basilica

This was a great tour - only 6 of us. The first part was an hour boat ride through the canals. Guide was very informative. Then 2 hour walking tour through St Marks Basilica and the streets of Venice. This guide was also very knowledgeable although harder to understand. I would recommend this tour to get a good grasp of Venice.

Doing what: Small-Group Tour: Best of Venice Walking Tour and Grand Canal Water Taxi Ride

Good tour. I enjoyed the informative Italian tour guide who knew alot about St Mark's. He kept it interesting with all the stories about the history. Would recommend to others

Doing what: Skip the Line: St Mark's Square Highlights Tour

It certainly helped to skip the line. However I felt that the St Marks Basilica could have been covered more extensively. We didn't get an opportunity to walk around the Basilica. This is what we were able to do when we actually stayed in the line just as the Basilica was opened to the public on Sunday afternoon. The line moved quite fast and we were also able to see the gorgeous precious stone studded screen behind the high alter for 3 Euros.

Doing what: Skip the Line: Venice in One Day

Walking part. St Marks Square included a " Skip The Line" into the main church... but we felt it was a bit rushed and we didn't have time to look at everything and wasn't offered to go up to the higher levels. It is a lot to take in and we saw things we probally would not notice if we walked around ourselfs. A trip up the Campanille tower ( in the lift !!) would have been good .. but I can understand the group would have probally taken at least 2 trips. But overall we enjoyed it.
Canal Tour. After breaking for about 3 hour break we met in a smaller group to go on a private taxi. This was interesting looking from a different point ( from the canal) and again we enjoyed that too...
All in all informative and enjoyable

Doing what: Skip the Line: Venice in One Day

Brilliant guide, very interesting and worth doing. Went through St. Marks Basilica very quickly, would have like bit more time inside if possible.

Doing what: Skip the Line: Venice in One Day

The walking tour was quite good however I think the company should make people aware who are going on this that you cannot take back packs into St Mark's Basilica and try to discourage them from bringing them. We had to wait 5/10minutes whilst the 6 people who had them, lodged them in a depository about 100m away and again 5/10 minutes whilst they picked them up.This was actually longer than we spent inside. The tour of the Basilica was disapointing, we didn't really go all round. I would estimate our tour inside at 15 minutes,tops. The rest of the walk was very good and interesting and took in lots of back streets and squares. The grand canal tour in the afternoon was excellent with a maximum of 8 people in a private water taxi with an expert guide.

Doing what: Skip the Line: Venice in One Day

This tour was not very good at all! The picture on the voucher is not of the bridge looking at the Bridge of Sighs (where we were suposed to meet). It is of the Rialto bridge. That picture was misleading and I was forced to run around with my guest and find the tour. I almost lost my money. The tour guides weren't even holding a sign up high when we finally spotted them. Then, the tour itself was horrible. We got into a very small motorboat which blocked almost all of our views of the Grand Canal and the narrow canals of Venice. Also, the guide, while being polite and sweet, was not talking correctly into the mic and the mic itself kept on cutting in and out. Finally, on our walking tour, we walked for about 2.5 hours and I didn't really see anything interesting besides St. Marks Basilica. Overall, I was VERY disappointed with this tour...

Doing what: Small-Group Tour: Best of Venice Walking Tour and Grand Canal Water Taxi Ride

I was not happy with the guide for the reason that she was talking too much because of which she did not take us as she planned to take us. She had her own agenda and was talking all non-essential things than what is really needed to inform us. She did not take us to Realto and we were in St. Mark's Basilica hardly for 5 minutes. I was not happy at all with this guide.

Doing what: Skip the Line: Venice Walking Tour with St Mark's Basilica

A great tour. The first hour was with a guide in a water taxi and was very interesting. The second hour was with a different guide around St Mark's Square and inside the beautiful Basilica. The third hour was a fascinating walk through the wonderful, narrow alleys of the relatively quiet eastern part of Venice, finishing near the Fish Market and Rialto Bridge.

Doing what: Small-Group Tour: Best of Venice Walking Tour and Grand Canal Water Taxi Ride