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→ One day
Venice in one day: what fits, in what order
A day is not enough for Venice and it is what most people have. The good news is that a day here works better than a day in most cities, because everything is walkable and nothing is far. This page is an order that works, the two things not to try together, and what to book if you are arriving from somewhere else entirely.
Quick answer
One good day in Venice: the Basilica and the Doge’s Palace in the morning on one tour from $79, the Rialto and the back lanes in the afternoon, and a food tour from $50 after six. That is roughly six hours of booked time and it covers both halves of the city. If you are coming from Milan for the day, the full-day tour at $164 handles the travel as well.
One day in Venice, at a glance
- Morning
- Both monumentsfrom $79, about three hours
- Afternoon
- Rialto and the lanesfree, and the best part of the day
- Evening
- A food tourfrom $50, about two and a half hours
- From Milan
- $164twelve and a half hours with a boat ride included
- With a gondola
- $89ten tastings and a thirty-minute ride
- Getting about
- On footthe vaporetto for the Grand Canal and the islands
- The one to skip on a single day
- Murano and Buranothey are half a day on their own
- Walking
- A great dealflat, but constant, and every bridge has steps
- Arrive at
- Santa Luciathe train station is in the city, unlike the airport
- Cancellation
- Freeon every tour here
An order that works
Monuments early, lanes in the middle, food at the end
San Marco early, the lanes in the middle, the bàcari at the end.
Morning: Piazza San Marco. Take a tour that includes both tickets and go early. The Basilica queue builds from about nine, the Piazza fills with day-trippers by eleven, and three hours at $79 has you out the far side with the two hardest tickets in the city already used.
Midday: walk north. Do not eat near the Piazza. Head towards the Rialto and cross the bridge, or go up into Cannaregio, and have lunch somewhere with no photographs outside it. This is also when the day-trip crowds are thickest on the main routes, which is a reason to be off them.
Afternoon: get lost on purpose. This is the part people cut and then regret. Venice is one of the few cities where wandering with no destination is genuinely the best available activity, and the lanes two turns off the signposted route are empty even in August.
Evening: eat. The bàcari fill from six, and a food tour from $50 turns the meal into the second half of your sightseeing. The light along the Grand Canal in the hour before sunset is the best of the day, which is why the sunset tour at $93 has 1,607 reviews at 4.9.
What not to attempt
Five ways to spoil a single day
Each of these is a common plan and each of them costs more than it gives.
- Murano and Burano as well
The islands are lovely and they are half a day with the boat each way. On a single day in Venice they replace the city rather than adding to it.
- Two monument tours in one day
The Basilica and the palace are one booking for a reason. Adding a third ticketed building means watching a clock through all of them.
- Lunch near the Piazza
The most expensive ground in Italy, and the food follows the rent. Ten minutes of walking solves it entirely.
- A gondola at four in the afternoon in August
Peak heat, peak traffic on the water, peak price. Early morning or after dinner is a different experience of the same thirty minutes.
- Arriving by car and parking on the mainland
It works, but it costs an hour each end that a day trip cannot spare. The train comes into Santa Lucia, which is in the city itself.
If you are coming from Milan rather than staying, the full-day tour at $164 covers the travel, the boat and a guided walk — twelve and a half hours, 315 reviews at 4.7.
All nineteen tours compared→Book direct
Four bookings for a single day
The two monuments, an evening food tour, the day trip from Milan, and food with a gondola.
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→ 
From Milan12.5 h
12.5–13 hFrom Milan: Venice Full-Day Guided Tour With Boat Ride
★ 4.7 · 315 reviews
- 12.5 to 13 hours
- Day trip
- Longest tour here
- Free cancellation
$164$12.86 / hour
Check availability→ 
With a gondola10 tastings
2 hVenice Food Tour: 10 tastings with a 30 Minute Gondola Ride
★ 5.0 · 1 reviews
- Two hours
- Day trip
- Mobile voucher accepted
- Free cancellation
$89$44.50 / hour
Check availability→ Which day
A weekday, a weekend or a market morning
The day of the week changes a Venice day more than the month does.
Tue–Fri
A weekday
The fish market is open, the bàcari have their regular crowd, and the day-trip numbers are lower than at the weekend. The best single day to have.
Saturday
The weekend
Busiest. The Piazza is full by mid-morning and the main routes between San Marco and Rialto move at a shuffle. Everything still works; it is simply more crowded.
Sunday or Monday
Market closed
The Rialto fish hall is shut both days. Food tours run and reroute, but a market tour is a different tour, so check the listing against your date.
Common questions
Venice in a day, answered
Is one day enough for Venice?
It is enough for a very good day, and it is not enough for the city. You can comfortably do the Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, the Rialto, several hours of wandering and a food tour. What you miss is the islands, the smaller churches and the hour when the day-trippers have left.
What should I book if I only have one day?
The tour that covers both monuments with tickets, from $79, and a food tour in the evening from $50. Leave the middle of the day unbooked.
Can I do Venice as a day trip from Milan?
Yes. The full-day tour at $164 runs twelve and a half hours with the transport and a boat ride included, and carries 315 reviews at 4.7. It is a long day but it removes every logistical decision.
Should I go to Murano and Burano too?
Not on a single day. With the boat each way they are half a day, and they replace the city rather than adding to it. Keep them for a second visit.
How do you get around?
On foot, almost entirely. The vaporetto is useful for the length of the Grand Canal and essential for the islands, but within the city walking is faster than it looks.
Which day of the week is best?
A weekday, and ideally Tuesday to Friday: the fish market is open and the day-trip crowds are lighter than at the weekend.
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.
VerdictThe best tours in Venice
Nineteen ranked for one decision, with a straight answer for each kind of visitor.
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.
