Our top pick3,913 reviews
3 hVenice: St. Mark's Basilica & Doge's Palace Tour with Ticket
★ 4.7 · 3,913 reviews
- Three hours
- Guided tour
- Likely to sell out
- Free cancellation
$79$26.33 / hour
Check availability→ Verdict
The best tours in Venice: nineteen compared, and a straight answer
Venice splits neatly in two: the monuments on Piazza San Marco, and the food in the lanes behind it. Most pages list both and rank neither. This one picks — the tour we would book, the best food tour, the best value, and the two we would take only for a specific reason.
Quick answer
For a first visit, take the St Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace tour at $79. Three hours, both tickets included, 3,913 reviews at 4.7, and it walks you past the longest queue in the city. For food, take the street food tour at $50 — the cheapest here and the most reviewed. If you can do both, do the monuments in the morning and the food after six.
The verdict, in ten lines
- Best overall
- $79the Basilica and the Doge’s Palace, tickets included
- Best food tour
- $502,954 reviews at 4.8, and the cheapest here
- Best evening
- $931,607 reviews at 4.9
- Best for the palace in full
- $97with the New Prisons and the Basilica
- Best long lunch
- $107four hours at the Rialto market, rated 5.0
- Best private
- $380four hours, both monuments, rated 5.0
- Best if you are short of time
- $75one hour inside the Doge’s Palace
- Highest rated here
- 5.0the market tour, the secret food tour and the private tour
- Most reviews here
- 3,913the Basilica and palace tour at $79
- Price range
- $50–$380across nineteen tours
The winner
St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace — $79
Both monuments, both tickets, three hours, and the queue skipped.
If you are reading this page and have not already decided something else, this is the booking, and the reasoning is short.
It includes both tickets. These are the two buildings everybody comes to Venice to see, they are thirty seconds apart, and buying entry to each separately is both more expensive and more fiddly than it sounds.
It removes the worst queue in the city. The line for the Basilica runs along the front of the church and round the corner by mid-morning in season. Tours with tickets walk past it, and that alone is most of what people say afterwards.
The Basilica needs explaining more than it looks like it does. It is dim inside, the mosaics cover four thousand square metres of ceiling, and without somebody telling you what you are looking at you will see gold and leave. A guide turns it into a readable building.
3,913 reviews at 4.7. The largest body of evidence on this page by a wide margin, attached to a tour at $79.
What it is not is a food tour. If eating is what you came for, the answer is different.
If you are doing one thing after dark rather than one thing in the day, the answer changes: the sunset food and wine walk at $93 has 1,607 reviews at 4.9.
All the food tours compared→The rest of the field
Six more picks, and who each is for
Worth booking for a specific reason rather than as a default.
- Best food tour — $50
The street food walk with a local guide. Cheapest on the page and the most reviewed food tour here, 2,954 ratings at 4.8. Paying more buys wine, hours and a smaller group, not better food.
- Best evening — $93
Three hours through the best light of the day with food and wine along the way, 1,607 reviews at 4.9. In summer the evening is not a preference, it is the only comfortable time to be walking.
- Best for the palace in full — $97
The Doge’s Palace, the New Prisons across the Bridge of Sighs, and the Basilica. 950 reviews at 4.7. Crossing the bridge from the inside is the part people describe afterwards.
- Best long lunch — $107
Four hours built around the Rialto market with lunch made from what is on the stalls. Rated 5.0 across 390 reviews. Check the day: the fish hall is shut on Sunday and Monday.
- Best private — $380
Four hours with your own guide and both monuments. In lanes where a group of thirty strings out round two corners, a private party changes the day more than it would in most cities.
- Best if time is short — $75
One hour inside the Doge’s Palace. Not the visit we would choose, but it is honest about what it is, and an hour in that building beats another hour on the Piazza.
Every trip, current fare
The whole field, cheapest first
All nineteen with cost per hour and what each one includes. The last column is the one to read.
| Tour | Length | Price | What is included | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venice: Street Food Tour with a Local Guide and TastingsStreet food with a local guide, and the lowest price here | 2.5 h | $50 | Tastings | $20.00 | 4.8 · 2,954 |
| Venice: Cicchetti Street Food and Sightseeing Walking TourCicchetti and the back lanes, rated 4.9 | 2.5 h | $50 | Tastings | $20.00 | 4.9 · 164 |
| Venice: Rialto Area Street Food Tour and SightseeingThe Rialto market area on foot | 2.5 h | $52 | Tastings | $20.80 | 4.8 · 10 |
| Venice: Guided City Highlights and Street Food TourCity highlights and street food in one walk | 2.5 h | $52 | Sights + tastings | $20.80 | 4.9 · 146 |
| Doge's Palace Skip-the-Line Guided TourThe Doge’s Palace with the queue skipped | 1–1.25 h | $75 | Palace ticket | $66.18 | 4.4 · 905 |
| Venice: 1-Hour The Doge's Palace TourOne hour inside the Doge’s Palace | 1 h | $75 | Palace ticket | $75.00 | 4.4 · 98 |
| Venice: St. Mark's Basilica & Doge's Palace Tour with TicketThe Basilica and the Doge’s Palace, our top pick | 3 h | $79 | Both tickets | $26.33 | 4.7 · 3,913 |
| Venice: The Ultimate Food Tour with Wine & SpritzWine, spritz and a long list of tastings | 3 h | $82 | Tastings + wine | $27.33 | 4.9 · 460 |
| Venice Food Tour: 10 tastings with a 30 Minute Gondola RideTen tastings and a thirty-minute gondola ride | 2 h | $89 | Tastings + gondola | $44.50 | 5.0 · 1 |
| Venice: Sunset Walking Tour with Food and Wine TastingsA sunset walk with food and wine | 3 h | $93 | Tastings + wine | $31.00 | 4.9 · 1,607 |
| Venice: Food Tasting Tour with Cicchetti and WineCicchetti and wine, unhurried | 3 h | $94 | Tastings + wine | $31.33 | 4.9 · 559 |
| Doge’s Palace, New Prisons & St. Mark’s Basilica Guided TourThe palace, the New Prisons and the Basilica | 2–3 h | $97 | Both tickets + prisons | $38.80 | 4.7 · 950 |
| Venice: Eat Like a Local Food Tour with Wine & SpritzEat like a local, away from the Piazza | 2.5 h | $97 | Tastings + wine | $38.80 | 4.8 · 1,095 |
| Stroll The Halls of Doge's Palace on a Guided Tour in VeniceThe halls of the Doge’s Palace, guided | 75 min | $99 | Palace ticket | $79.20 | New |
| Venice: Rialto Market Food and Wine Lunchtime TourThe Rialto market at lunchtime | 4 h | $107 | Market + lunch | $26.75 | 5.0 · 390 |
| Venice Secret Food TourThe places most tours do not reach | 3 h | $111 | Tastings | $37.00 | 5.0 · 9 |
| From Milan: Venice Full-Day Guided Tour With Boat RideVenice as a day trip from Milan | 12.5–13 h | $164 | Transport + boat | $12.86 | 4.7 · 315 |
| Venice: Private Walking Tour with Gondola RideA private walk with a gondola ride | 3 h | $317 | Private + gondola | $105.67 | New |
| Venice Highlights: Private Tour with Doge and St. MarkPrivate, with both monuments — and the highest price here | 4 h | $380 | Private + both tickets | $95.00 | 5.0 · 3 |
Book direct
The six picks
Best overall, best food tour, best evening, the palace in full, the market lunch, and a private guide.
Cheapest here2,954 reviews
2.5 hVenice: Street Food Tour with a Local Guide and Tastings
★ 4.8 · 2,954 reviews
- 2.5 hours
- Local Guide and Tastings
- Cheapest here
- Free cancellation
$50$20.00 / hour
Check availability→ 
1,607 reviewsAt sunset
3 hVenice: Sunset Walking Tour with Food and Wine Tastings
★ 4.9 · 1,607 reviews
- Three hours, Food and Wine Tastings
- Guided tour
- Mobile voucher accepted
- Free cancellation
$93$31.00 / hour
Check availability→ 
Both monumentsThe prisons
2–3 hDoge’s Palace, New Prisons & St. Mark’s Basilica Guided Tour
★ 4.7 · 950 reviews
- 2 to 3 hours
- New Prisons & St. Mark’s Basilica
- Guided tour
- Free cancellation
$97$38.80 / hour
Check availability→ 
Rated 5.0Rialto market
4 hVenice: Rialto Market Food and Wine Lunchtime Tour
★ 5.0 · 390 reviews
- Four hours
- Food and Wine Lunchtime Tour
- Guided tour
- Free cancellation
$107$26.75 / hour
Check availability→ 
Highest price hereRated 5.0
4 hVenice Highlights: Private Tour with Doge and St. Mark
★ 5.0 · 3 reviews
- Four hours, Doge and St. Mark
- Private tour
- Mobile voucher accepted
- Free cancellation
$380$95.00 / hour
Check availability→ The top of the price list
Who the expensive tours are actually for
Private buys quiet and pace, not access. The access is available much lower down.
The page ends at $380, and it is worth being straight about what that buys. A private four-hour tour with both monuments covers the same ground as the $79 tour. What differs is that the guide is yours, the pace is yours, and nobody is holding a numbered paddle above their head.
In Venice that argument is stronger than in most cities, because the lanes are genuinely narrow. A group of thirty in a two-metre calle is a traffic jam, and the people at the back hear nothing. If you are four adults, the arithmetic on a private tour is less absurd than the headline suggests.
The private walking tour with a gondola at $317 is a different proposition again: it folds the ride into the tour rather than leaving you to arrange it, which removes the one negotiation in Venice that nobody enjoys.
For everyone else the value sits in the middle of this page, between $50 and $107, where you can buy either monument, either meal, and a group small enough to hear in.
Common questions
The best tours in Venice, answered
What are the best tours to do in Venice?
For a first visit, the St Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace tour at $79, and a food tour through the bàcari from $50. Those two cover the city’s two halves and between them take most of a day.
What is the best food tour in Venice?
The street food tour at $50 for most people — cheapest here and 2,954 reviews at 4.8. For the evening, the sunset walk at $93 rates 4.9 across 1,607 reviews.
Which tour is the best value?
The street food tour at $50 on the food side, and the Basilica and palace tour at $79 on the monument side, because the two tickets it includes are most of its price.
Is the most expensive tour the best?
No. The tours at the top of this page cover the same buildings as tours a quarter of the price. What they add is a small party and a pace that bends to you, which matters more in Venice than elsewhere but is still not access.
Should I do a monument tour or a food tour?
If you have one slot, take the monuments — the queue and the tickets are the harder problem to solve yourself. If you have an evening as well, the food tour is the one people talk about afterwards.
How many reviews should I want to see?
Enough that the rating means something. The tour at $79 has 3,913 and the cheapest has 2,954. Several listings here are new and carry fewer than ten, which is not a mark against them but is much weaker evidence.
Go deeper
More on visiting Venice
Food tours
Venice food tours
Nineteen tours compared, and what a food tour in Venice actually walks you into.
Doge’s PalaceThe Doge’s Palace
What the ticket covers, the route through it, and the bridge everyone photographs.
The BasilicaSt Mark’s Basilica
The gold, the horses, the Pala d’Oro — and which of them your ticket opens.
CicchettiCicchetti and the bàcari
What cicchetti are, how a bàcaro works, and how to order without hesitating.
Street foodVenice street food tours
The cheapest way to eat well in Venice, and what the guide is actually for.
Food & wineFood and wine tours
An ombra, a spritz, and the wines the Veneto actually drinks.
