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Italy
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Veneto
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Metropolitan City of Venice
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Venice
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Tours & Activities
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Doge’s Palace with Hidden Secret Itineraries & Prison Skip the Line Tour
1h25
Popular
Skip The Line
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About this activity
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Piazza San Marco, 31024 Venice Italy
Built in the 14th century, the Doge’s Palace was once the governing base of the former Venetian Republic’s powerful rulers, the doges. Meet your guide in St Mark’s Square, and admire the palace’s magnificent Venetian Gothic architecture before heading to the front of the long entry queue.
Duration: 15 minutes
Stop At: Doge's Palace, Piazza San Marco, 1, 30124 Venice Italy
Built in the 14th century, the Doge’s Palace was once the governing base of the former Venetian Republic’s powerful rulers, the doges. Meet your guide in St Mark’s Square and admire the palace’s magnificent Venetian Gothic architecture before heading to the front of the long entry queue.
Wander through awe-inspiring public rooms adorned from floor to ceiling with gilded carvings, murals and opulent décor. Your guide will point out Renaissance masterworks by painters Tintoretto and Veronese, including the famous ceiling fresco Juno Bestowing her Gifts on Venice. See the Trial Chambers of the Council of Ten and learn how this room was used to dispatch the fearsome secret service to investigate traitors of the republic.
Ascend to the attic and step inside the secretive chambers of the Piombi prison — a network of cells directly beneath the palace’s lead roof that was generally reserved for upper-class inmates and political prisoners. Let your imagination run wild in this part of the palace that is rarely open to the public and hear how the legendary Venetian lover Casanova was imprisoned here and later made a daring escape.
Next, cross the famous Bridge of Sighs into the New Prison complex, built in the 16th century. Wander the harrowing network of cells on your own, and then breathe a sigh of relief as you step back into the open air of St Mark’s Square at the end of your 1.25-hour tour.
Duration: 1 hour 25 minutes
Pass By: Ponte dei Sospiri, Piazza San Marco, 1, 31024 Venice Italy
Passing by during the walking tour
Stop At: Piombi - le Prigioni, Piazza San Marco Palazzo Ducale, 31024 Venice Italy
Ascend to the attic and step inside the secretive chambers of the Piombi prison—a network of cells directly beneath the palace’s lead roof that was generally reserved for upper-class inmates and political prisoners. Let your imagination run wild in this part of the palace that is rarely open to the public, and hear how the legendary Venetian lover Casanova was imprisoned here and later made a daring escape. Next, cross the famous Bridge of Sighs into the New Prison complex, built in the 16th century. Wander the harrowing network of cells on your own, and then breathe a sigh of relief as you step back into the open air of St Mark’s Square at the end of your tour.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Basilica di San Marco, San Marco 328, 30124 Venice Italy
Choose to upgrade your tour with the unique combination of the Secret Itineraries of the Doge’s Palace, usually closed to the general public and the skip the line access to St. Mark’s Basilica, including the terraces.
The first part of the tour start at 9am and it combines a guided visit to the Secret Itineraries with a free visit to Doge’s Chambers, assuring you get the most complete tour of the Doge’s Palace.
Then you will meet again at 2pm to visit St. Mark's Basilica and its Terraces. The queues here can be long but no worries, we have Skip the Line Access!
Your expert guide will take you inside this cavernous space for an extended tour, pointing out mosaics that date all the way back to the 11th century and beautiful artworks.
Then it’s up to the second floor for some stolen time inside this busy basilica. The terraces of St. Mark’s Basilica are stunning and worth a visit in their own right, not to mention the incredible views they offer over bustling Piazza San Marco below, the Doge’s Palace and the lagoon.
Duration: 1 hour
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Show less
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Piazza San Marco, 31024 Venice Italy
Built in the 14th century, the Doge’s Palace was once the governing base of the former Venetian Republic’s powerful rulers, the doges. Meet your guide in St Mark’s Square, and admire the palace’s magnificent Venetian Gothic architecture before heading to the front of the long entry queue.
Duration: 15 minutes
Stop At: Doge's Palace, Piazza San Marco, 1, 30124 Venice Italy
Built in the 14th century, the Doge’s Palace was once the governing base of the former Venetian Republic’s powerful rulers, the doges. Meet your guide in St Mark’s Square and admire the palace’s magnificent Venetian Gothic architecture before heading to the front of the long entry queue.
Wander through awe-inspiring public rooms adorned from floor to ceiling with gilded carvings, murals and opulent décor. Your guide will point out Renaissance masterworks by painters Tintoretto and Veronese, including the famous ceiling fresco Juno Bestowing her Gifts on Venice. See the Trial Chambers of the Council of Ten and learn how this room was used to dispatch the fearsome secret service to investigate traitors of the republic.
Ascend to the attic and step inside the secretive chambers of the Piombi prison — a network of cells directly beneath the palace’s lead roof that was generally reserved for upper-class inmates and political prisoners. Let your imagination run wild in this part of the palace that is rarely open to the public and hear how the legendary Venetian lover Casanova was imprisoned here and later made a daring escape.
Next, cross the famous Bridge of Sighs into the New Prison complex, built in the 16th century. Wander the harrowing network of cells on your own, and then breathe a sigh of relief as you step back into the open air of St Mark’s Square at the end of your 1.25-hour tour.
Duration: 1 hour 25 minutes
Pass By: Ponte dei Sospiri, Piazza San Marco, 1, 31024 Venice Italy
Passing by during the walking tour
Stop At: Piombi - le Prigioni, Piazza San Marco Palazzo Ducale, 31024 Venice Italy
Ascend to the attic and step inside the secretive chambers of the Piombi prison—a network of cells directly beneath the palace’s lead roof that was generally reserved for upper-class inmates and political prisoners. Let your imagination run wild in this part of the palace that is rarely open to the public, and hear how the legendary Venetian lover Casanova was imprisoned here and later made a daring escape. Next, cross the famous Bridge of Sighs into the New Prison complex, built in the 16th century. Wander the harrowing network of cells on your own, and then breathe a sigh of relief as you step back into the open air of St Mark’s Square at the end of your tour.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Basilica di San Marco, San Marco 328, 30124 Venice Italy
Choose to upgrade your tour with the unique combination of the Secret Itineraries of the Doge’s Palace, usually closed to the general public and the skip the line access to St. Mark’s Basilica, including the terraces.
The first part of the tour start at 9am and it combines a guided visit to the Secret Itineraries with a free visit to Doge’s Chambers, assuring you get the most complete tour of the Doge’s Palace.
Then you will meet again at 2pm to visit St. Mark's Basilica and its Terraces. The queues here can be long but no worries, we have Skip the Line Access!
Your expert guide will take you inside this cavernous space for an extended tour, pointing out mosaics that date all the way back to the 11th century and beautiful artworks.
Then it’s up to the second floor for some stolen time inside this busy basilica. The terraces of St. Mark’s Basilica are stunning and worth a visit in their own right, not to mention the incredible views they offer over bustling Piazza San Marco below, the Doge’s Palace and the lagoon.
Duration: 1 hour
Included
- Professional guide
- Skip the Line Access
- Choose to upgrade your tour with St. Mark's Basilica and its Terraces (only when option is selected)
- Entry/Admission - Doge's Palace
- Entry/Admission - Piombi - le Prigioni
- Entry/Admission - Basilica di San Marco
Not included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Gratuities
- Food and drinks
Additional
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Children under the age of 6 years are not permitted on this tour
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
Features
Tourism
90%
Cultural
75%
Original
20%
Reviews
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You get exactly 1 hour and 15 minutes and the quality of the 1 hour depends somewhat on the intelligence of the other 24 people in your tour and the enlightening or really dumb questions that are asked. I was not satisfied with our guide and all the time she took to explain how she was going to explain the history. Please just begin.
We were a family of 4 including 2 teenagers and the group was maybe 25 people which we thought was probably too large. It was relatively easy to find the guide. Instructions were clear, but some how we walked right past the meeting point. Clearly our mistake, but we didn't have this problem with any other tour that we took. The guide provided earpieces so that we could hear very clearly. She spoke very good English and had a detailed knowledge of her subject. The tour itself was a little disappointing. The 'hidden secret' was certainly not accessible to the general public, so this tour was essential in visiting and hearing about this section of the palace - including the story about Casanova. But the tour ONLY covers the secret section. We were left to freely explore the palace, the bridge of sighs and the prison on our own. We would have much appreciated a guide to help us better understand all the other aspects of the palace that the general public get to experience with a normal ticket. We booked this tour because we wanted to see the "darker" side of the palace and we got most of that. It's just it would have been nice to have at least a brief guided tour of the public sections too. Finally, there is a lot of standing on this tour. Given the nature of the building, seating is very limited (or prohibited) and of course there is no A/C so can get very hot. There is a water fountain on route.
The Doge's Palace with Hidden Secret Itineraries and Prison Skip the Line Tour was great. Our tour guide was excellent and well-informed. We were able to be inside the prisons and the palace before the crowds of people. After the tour ended, we were able to stay in the palace and explore at our own pace and leisure.
Not too long not too short! Hided places where you cannot enter with standard ticket. Interesting stories, nice and trained guide.
This tour gives great access to the clerks' offices, torture rooms and prison cells (including the ones Casanova was held in). Our tour guide was knowledgeable and lively. There were about 20 people in our group and we were given headphones so that we could all hear the tour guide. The only problem is that when climbing the stone staircases, the thick stone walls prevented the signal reaching the people at the tail end of the group as they were sometimes still a floor or two below the tour guide when she started talking. It might be better to reduce the number of people in each tour because of this. The tour guide was very considerate and kept opening windows or positioning us near fans for her talks (we were there during the worst heatwave since 1947 apparently). After the tour we were left to explore the public areas of the palace on our own. The tour guide told us that you actually cross the Bridge of Sighs twice and that it is not obvious when you are making the crossing as it looks just like a corridor. Luckily she did this or we might not have realised that it was actually the Bridge of Sighs. All in all, the tour was a good experience.
Most of our tour was about the prison within the palace. It did not include several other public rooms, including the Doge's apartment. This was not our understanding of what the tour was to include. Also, our guide had a very thick Italian accent and was very difficult to understand. While I have a hearing issue, a friend without similar issues had the same reaction.
you spend entire tour in back offices and under ceilings and in stairwells. Last 15 mins are in the palatial apartments. The actual tour of the palace is not incl. In tour. You do it by yourself w/o the guide. Guide was otherwise funny and personable in her presentation of the history
We loved this tour! It provided us with great knowledge about Venice's past and our guide was excellent. It is super warm inside the Palace and prison, so bring water, but it is so worth seeing.
We had an early start to this tour which was very good as it avoided crowds and the heat of the day. Our guide was very knowledgeable and she took her time to show us round and describe the history of the palace. Seeing and hearing about the hidden secret itineraries and prison was very interesting and we came away knowing so much more about the palace. A very worth while tour.
This was the only tour we did in Venice and it was wonderful! Very informative and entertaining! Highly recommend.
I loved our guide. Very informative, entertaining, and knowledgeable. I learned so much and touring the palance absolutely wouldn't have been the same without the tour. I higly recommend!
Missed the tour time due to bad weather. After that could not find any tour official to change my date and time or even an entry ticket for self guided tour. At Doge palace ticketing office could not get a ticket as it was sold to a 3rd party. My money was wasted.
Excellent tour, guide was very knowledgeable and organisation was good
It was well organized, conducted, and clearly explained. Compliments!