Venice walking tours compared: donation-based walks, city walks from €24, Basilica and Doge's Palace tours, and crime and Brunetti walks

💡 The Short Version: For a first orientation, Venice Free Walking Tour runs two English tours a day, at 10:00 and 11:00, for a donation, and booking online is mandatory. Paid city walks are from €24 for 2 hours, and the St Mark’s to Rialto walk with a Spritzad is from €27. For the Basilica and the Doge’s Palace with a guide, the 3-hour tour with pre-reserved ticketsad is from €72, against €45 for the two official tickets; the Palace’s own Secret Itineraries tour is €40. Crime and Brunetti walks are €39 and €133. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices for one adult and move with the date.

The tours, compared

Donation-based walks

Venice Free Walking Tour

Donation · 10:00 and 11:00 daily · English · booking mandatory

Venice Free Walking Tour runs two tours every day on its own site. At 10:00 “Hidden Venice: Secrets and Stories” meets at the old well in Campo della Maddalena, with a guide carrying a red flag, and takes about 2 hours 15 minutes through Cannaregio, past the Rioba and Moor statues and the church of Madonna dell’Orto, ending in Campo del Ghetto Novo. At 11:00 “Venice through the centuries North” meets at the old well in Campo SS Apostoli and takes about 2½ hours through eastern Cannaregio and western Castello, ending near the start. The nearest vaporetto stop to both is Ca’ d’Oro, 3 to 5 minutes’ walk away. You decide what the tour is worth at the end. The day tours do not include St Mark’s Square or the Rialto Bridge. Groups of 6 or more must contact the organisers before reserving (venicefreewalkingtour.com).

Venice’s municipal regulations prohibit loudspeakers for guides, so the 11:00 tour uses radio transmitters and earphones that the organisers provide.

The Rio della Misericordia in Cannaregio. Photo: Wolfgang Moroder, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

GuruWalk

Tip-based · start times from the morning to mid-afternoon

GuruWalk lists tip-based walks by independent guides, mostly 2 hours, among them a 2¼-hour walk through the mysteries and legends of the city at 10:00 and 10:30 and a 1 hour 45 minute walk around St Mark’s. Each listing shows its language, meeting point and the times for each date.

City walks

Highlights from San Polo to St Mark’s

From €24 and €25 · 1,594 and 1,181 reviews · 2 hours · English

Venice: City Highlights Walking Tour with a Local Guidead (€24) and Venice: Guided Walking Tour of the City’s Must-See Sitesad (€25) both meet at Campiello dei Squelini in Dorsoduro, pass the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and the Frari from outside, cross the Rialto and finish in Piazza San Marco. They are small-group tours in English only. Entrance fees are not included, and the €25 tour offers a private group.

St Mark’s to the Rialto

From €27 · 3,692 and 2,486 reviews · 1 to 3 hours

Venice: St Marco – Rialto Walking Tour & Spritz Like a Localad starts at the Venice Tours desk by Piazza San Marco and walks to the Rialto by Santa Maria Formosa and Marco Polo’s house, with a Spritz in a bacaro. A 30-minute gondola ride and entry to the Fortuny Palace are options on the booking. Venice: City Centre Historical Guided Walking Tourad is also from €27, passes La Fenice, and offers a gondola ride and a virtual-reality gallery as options; entrance to the monuments is not included. For gondola prices, see the gondola guide.

Tours with the sights inside

Two official tickets, the Doge’s Palace at €35 and St Mark’s Basilica at €10, are €45 together; the guided tours below add a guide and a fixed time. If the Palace is one of several civic museums you plan to see, the €50 Venice museum pass includes it.

St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace

From €72 · 3,951 reviews · 3 hours · fast-track entry

Venice: St Mark’s Basilica & Doge’s Palace Tour with Ticketad is run by Walks In Europe as a small group or a private tour. It includes pre-reserved priority tickets for the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica, headsets and pre-reserved tickets for the Correr Museum, the National Archaeological Museum and the Marciana Library, which the guide does not tour. Doge’s Palace, New Prisons & St. Mark’s Basilica Guided Tourad is from €79 (1,106 reviews), 2 to 3 hours, with the Bridge of Sighs and a 3-day ticket for the Correr and two other museums, and a terrace upgrade at the Basilica. See St Mark’s Basilica tickets and Doge’s Palace tickets for the official prices.

A guide does not change the Basilica’s rules: shoulders and knees covered, and bags over 40 x 30 x 20 cm and wheeled cases refused.

The courtyard of the Doge’s Palace, with its two bronze wellheads. Photo: Wolfgang Moroder, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Secret Itineraries

From €109 · 541 reviews · 3 hours · up to 20 people

Venice: St Mark’s Basilica, Doge’s Palace & Secret Passagesad by Walks of Italy includes the Doge’s Palace tickets, the Secret Itineraries (secret archives, Casanova’s cell and the torture chamber) and the Basilica. The Palace’s own Secret Itineraries tour is €40 with the Palace entry included, in English at 10:00, 11:30 and 13:00; the extra on this tour is the Basilica and a longer, historian-led walk. See Doge’s Palace tickets.

Themed walks

Crime and legends at sunset

€39 · 1,138 reviews · 1½ hours · small group

Venice: Crimes, Legends and Mysteries Sunset Tourad starts in Campo San Polo and walks by Campo San Silvestro, the Rialto, Corte Seconda del Milion and Campo de la Fava, ending at the church of San Canciano. It is in English, and the dark and macabre stories make it unsuitable for children.

Campo San Polo. Photo: Didier Descouens, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Commissario Brunetti

From €133 · 529 reviews · 2 hours · private or small group

Venice: The Footsteps of Commissario Brunetti Walking Tourad covers the places in Donna Leon’s novels and the television series, including the Ghetto and Cannaregio, and the police headquarters from the show. It meets at the COMBO centre in Campo dei Gesuiti and is run in English and German.

Which tour

• Free: Venice Free Walking Tour at 10:00 or 11:00, booked first; a GuruWalk walk.
• Cheapest fixed price: the 2-hour city walk, €24.
• A drink included: the St Mark’s to Rialto walk, €27, with a Spritz.
• The Basilica and the Doge’s Palace with a guide: the €72 tour; the official tickets alone are €45.
• The Secret Itineraries: the Palace’s own tour at €40, or €109 with the Basilica and a historian.
• After dark: the sunset crime walk, €39.
• For the Jewish Ghetto: see the Jewish Ghetto guide.

For a walk with food, see the Venice food tours. What to book before you go to Venice lists the sights that need tickets and the days they are closed, Venice in one or two days fits a tour into the days around them, and Venice public transport covers the boats to the meeting points. Where to stay in Venice compares the areas.