St Mark's Basilica tickets: €10, named and timed, with a strict bag rule at the door

💡 The Short Version: The Basilica is €10, sold by the Procuratoria di San Marco at tickets.basilicasanmarco.it, in a name, for a time slot, and tickets go on sale 90 days ahead. €20 adds the Pala d’Oro or the Museum and its terrace; €30 is everything; the Campanile is a separate €15. Rucksacks and bags over 40 x 30 x 20 cm and all wheeled cases are refused, and shoulders and knees must be covered. On Sundays the Basilica opens at 14:00. Or book a tour: the Basilica and Doge’s Palace tourad is from €72 and the Doge’s Palace, New Prisons and Basilica tourad from €79.

The tickets

The Procuratoria di San Marco, which runs the Basilica, sells at tickets.basilicasanmarco.it. Search results for “St Mark’s Basilica tickets” include sites with the Basilica’s name in their web address that say on their own pages they are independent or unofficial. The Procuratoria’s terms say tickets bought from unauthorised sellers are not valid for entry.

• Half price for ages 10 to 18, students up to 26 and over-65s. Young children go free, and so do Venice residents and the residents of a few nearby towns, with ID. The Procuratoria’s prices page has the exact ages.
• Tickets go on sale 90 days before the visit, and each account can buy up to five a year.
• Every ticket carries a name, and photo ID must match it. Tickets cannot be transferred, changed or refunded, except when the Procuratoria cancels or moves the visit.
• Entry is only in your booked slot. Arrive on time: the terms allow 15 minutes either side, the ticket-office FAQ says about 5.
• Add-ons on the day. With a Basilica-only ticket you can add the Pala d’Oro, the Museum or the Campanile at the Basilica.
• Entrance. Private visitors use Porta San Pietro, and groups with a guide use Porta San Clemente.

Basilica entries sold by other providers cost more than the Procuratoria’s: the cheapest Basilica-only listings on GetYourGuide start at €12, against €10.

Which ticket to buy

• Buy the €10 Basilica ticket for a short visit. It covers the church, with its gold mosaics and the floor.
• Add the Museum (€20) if you want the terrace. The Loggia dei Cavalli looks over the Square, and the €20 ticket is cheaper than the €10 Basilica ticket plus the €15 Campanile, which is €25.
• Add the Pala d’Oro (€20) only if you want to see it. It is 3.34 m wide and 2.12 m high, with about 250 enamels and 1,927 gems, and it is behind the high altar. The Procuratoria’s group rules allow about 10 minutes there.
• Take the €30 ticket for all three. Each add-on is €10.
• On a Sunday the Basilica opens at 14:00, so book a slot from then. Before that the Museum and terrace (€14) are the only part open.

The Pala d’Oro behind the high altar. Photo: Daperro, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The same ticket, within six months of the purchase date, also opens Torcello’s cathedral, the sacristy of the Salute basilica, the Pinacoteca Manfrediniana, the paid spaces in about forty churches and the Home of The Human Safety Net, in the Procuratie beside the Square. Venice churches says which, and the free churches need no ticket at all.

Tours worth paying for

A guided tour includes the entry, so you pay for the guide and one booking instead of two. Booked separately, the official Basilica and Doge’s Palace tickets are €45: €10 here and €35 at the Doge’s Palace. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

Basilica and Doge’s Palace tour

From €72 · 3 hours · 3,951 reviews

Venice: St. Mark’s Basilica & Doge’s Palace Tour with Ticketad is run by Walks In Europe in English, as a small group or privately, with headsets. The price includes the Basilica and Doge’s Palace tickets, a guide, and entry to the Correr Museum, the Archaeological Museum and the Marciana Library rooms. It meets at the Colonna di San Marco, and the listing allots 30 minutes to the Basilica and 2 hours to the Palace. Cancel up to 24 hours ahead for a full refund.

Doge’s Palace, New Prisons and Basilica

From €79 · 2 to 3 hours · 1,106 reviews

Doge’s Palace, New Prisons & St. Mark’s Basilica Guided Tourad is run by Crown Tours in English, Italian, French and German, in a private or small group, with a wireless headset. It covers the Palace, the Great Council Chamber, the Bridge of Sighs, the New Prisons and the Basilica, with the Basilica terrace as an upgrade. The price includes a three-day ticket for the Correr Museum and two other museums. It is not suitable for wheelchair users. Cancel up to 24 hours ahead for a full refund.

What to see

St Mark’s is the cathedral of Venice. It was the Doge’s chapel until the Republic ended on 12 May 1797. The Procuratoria’s group rules cap the walk through the Basilica at about 20 minutes.

St Mark’s Basilica from the Square, with the Doge’s Palace on the right. Photo: Jorge Franganillo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

1. The Basilica. The gold mosaics, the floor and the narthex, which floods first in high water, when the Procuratoria sets an alternative route.
2. The Pala d’Oro. The altarpiece of gold, enamel and gems behind the high altar, on the €20 and €30 tickets.
3. The Museum. It fills the rooms above the narthex and the former banquet hall. The original gilded-bronze horses of the Quadriga stand here, with Paolo Veneziano’s painted altarpiece cover for the Pala d’Oro, Persian carpets, tapestries and fragments of mosaic taken down in restorations.
4. The Loggia dei Cavalli. The terrace over the Square, reached from the Museum. Children up to 12 must be held by the hand there, and pushchairs go up folded.

The Square from the Basilica’s terrace, the Loggia dei Cavalli. Photo: Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What to skip: the Pala d’Oro if you are paying for the Museum and short of time. Both are €10 on top, and the Museum has the terrace.

Rules at the door

• Bags: rucksacks and bags larger than 40 x 30 x 20 cm are refused, and so are all wheeled cases. There is a metal-detector check.
• Dress: shoulders and knees covered, no low necklines, no bare feet, and men take their hats off.
• Silence, and no food, drink or chewing gum. No sitting inside. Photos are for personal use only, with no tripods, drones or professional kit.
• Shoes: avoid heels. The access rules warn of some very narrow and steep passages.
• Services: paying visitors cannot go in during services.

Hours and getting there

• Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 17:15, last admission 16:45. On Sundays and public holidays the Basilica opens at 14:00, last admission 16:45, closing at 17:15, and the Museum and Loggia open at 9:30.
• Where: Piazza San Marco. The vaporetto stops are San Marco Vallaresso and San Zaccaria, both on line 1.

The Doge’s Palace is next door, and the Campanile is the other ticket on the Procuratoria’s site. The Museum Pass covers the Palace but not the Basilica. Best views in Venice compares the terrace with the towers. What to book before you go to Venice has the closed days for every sight, and Venice in one or two days puts the Basilica slot first. To stay beside the Square, see hotels near St Mark’s Square and where to stay in Venice.