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3 Hours Walking Tour in Venice Small Group

3.73 reviewsSt. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco)

  • 3 hours
  • Free cancellation up to 24h before
  • Guided in English
  • Instant confirmation

Highlights

Discover the heart and soul of Venice on this immersive 3-hour walking tour, perfect for first-time visitors or anyone wanting a deeper understanding of the city’s history, art, and hidden gems. Led by a professional local guide, this small-group experience brings you face-to-face with the city’s most iconic landmarks, as well as lesser-known corners only a local could show you. Discover the famous Piazza San Marco and hear the legends of the Bridge of Sighs, once the final view for prisoners before entering the dungeons. Explore the history of the Venetian Republic and its unique system of governance. Then, cross the iconic Rialto Bridge, with stunning views of the Grand Canal and its colorful traffic of gondolas and vaporetti. Discover charming canals, tucked-away squares (campi), and artisan workshops. Learn about the local traditions, food culture, and the challenges of life in a city built on water.

Inclusions

What's included

  • Professional guide

What's not

  • Food and drinks
  • Tips and gratuities

Itinerary

  1. Piazza San Marco often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice where it is generally known just as la Piazza ("the Square"). All other urban spaces in the city (except the Piazzetta and the Piazzale Roma) are called campi ("fields"). The Piazzetta ("little Piazza/Square") is an extension of the Piazza towards the lagoon in its south east corner. The two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are commonly considered together.

    30 min

  2. The Doge's Palace is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Venetian Republic, opening as a museum in 1923. Today, it is one of the 11 museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.

    30 min

  3. The Grand Canal is the most important "street" in Venice that can be followed by ferry or gondola. The Grand Canal divides the city centre into two parts, it is older than Venice for this reason the city was built following the path of the river. One end of the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Lucia railway station and the other end leads into the basin at San Marco. It makes a large reverse-S shape through the central districts (sestieri) of Venice. It is 3.8 km (2.4 mi) long, and 30 to 90 m (98 to 295 ft) wide, with an average depth of 5 metres (16 feet).

    30 min

  4. In Venice we can count around 354 bridges. All these bridges were built to transportation issues but they add something special to the beauty of th city. The Rialto Bridge is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice. Connecting the sestieri (districts) of San Marco and San Polo, it has been rebuilt several times since at first it was built with two old ships and than in a wooden structure. The last reconstruction, dated 1591, is the one we can see today.

    30 min

  5. The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: Ponte dei Sospiri) is one of the most particular bridge in Venice. The Ponte dei Sospiri was built using white Istrian stone in 1602 to connect Palazzo Ducale to the Prigioni Nuove, the new Venetian prisons. It has the peculiarity to be entirely covered and is formed by two, wall-separated corridors, leading to and forth the prison.

    30 min

  6. The Basilica di San Marco (St Mark’s Basilica) is the cathedral church of Venice. It is located in the Piazza San Marco, which has always been the center of Venetian public and religious life. The building’s structure dates back to the latter part of the 11th century. Much work has gone toward embellishing this, and the famous main façade has an ornamented roofline that is mostly Gothic.

    30 min

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

3.7

  • 52
  • 40
  • 30
  • 20
  • 11

Ratings come from 3 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

Meeting point
Meeting point is in front of Flying Tiger shop inside Venezia Santa Lucia train station.
Pickup
Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
Ticket type
Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Group size
Up to 14 travellers
Operated by
Rental and Tour
  • Public transportation options are available nearby
  • Suitable for all physical fitness levels

How it compares in Venice

  • Its from-price is 56% below the median of the 1991 experiences we list in Venice.
  • It is longer than most of them.
  • By number of reviews it ranks 824 of 1991.
  • The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Venice

Venice floats on a lagoon of more than a hundred islands, a city of canals, palaces and bridges with no cars, where every walk ends somewhere unexpected.

The Grand Canal sweeps through the city in a great reversed S, lined with palaces and crossed by the Rialto Bridge. Near its mouth, Piazza San Marco gathers St Mark's Basilica with its golden mosaics, the Doge's Palace, the Bridge of Sighs and the tall brick campanile. Water buses and gondolas show the city from the angle it was built to be seen.

Top-ranked sights in Venice: St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco), St. Mark's Basilica (Basilica di San Marco), Grand Canal.

See all 1991 experiences in Venice

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