St Mark's Square (Piazza 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 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

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

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

the weather was not to good very wet and windy, but the guide was really good and we had a great morning with no waiting at the basilica, and we were shown all the wonderful buildings and little plazas, we lso had a very good fish meal next to the fish market. thanks for every thing, really recommend your guide.

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

Had to really press our guide to explain more details about the square and explain the history of the architecture. Our guide was friendly but things felt a little rushed. That said, going back to San Marco a second time as very helpful especially after doing the walking tour. If I have one criticism it is that St Marks really deserves a tour in its own right along the lines of that to the Doges Palace. Although we could have done this on our own, we found the observations of a guide a better investment.

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

We been on about 20 Viator tours and his was the first bad one. Check in was chaos. They got us in the wrong group and forgot to give us audio phones. Once we got them they didn't work well. Saint Mark's was closed for a special so what head of line got us was seeing the outside one vestibule. That wasn't tour company's fault, but they made no attempt to have people come back later for the tour. We went back on our own the next day and it took 30 seconds in line to get in (we admit that is unusual). Rest of tour was a fast 3 mile walk through the streets of Venice with a guide whose English wasn't the best. We'll give benefit of the doubt they were having a bad day, but this tour was a poor choice.

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

We thoroughly enjoyed our guide and her knowledge of the history of St. Mark's and the bell towers and old buildings and how the city was built was just what we were looking for. We would book Viator tours again defintiely!

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

This was a good tour despite the fact that it poured rain for half of it! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about what she was telling us and remained very upbeat through the downpour! She took us to some very interesting places and we really enjoyed the visit into St. Mark's Basilica.

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

This is a great way to see Venice if its your first time there. We had a great tour guide that was very informative. You really need someone to tell you about the city as you walk around otherwise you just miss out on a lot. St. Marks is beautiful inside.

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

This was a terrific introduction to the Grand Canal and the areas not too far from St Mark's Square. We had two female guides, both terrific -- knowledgable and energetic. I would recommend this tour, at least with these guides!

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