Disappointing Tour Experience – Not Worth the Extra Cost Unfortunately, we would not recommend this tour. We had significant difficulty understanding our tour guide because of her heavy accent, and the earpiece provided to us had a lots of statics and was poor quality. We tried to be patient and respectful, but we did not want to finish the tour without understanding what we were seeing. At the Doge’s Palace, we asked a staff member for help accessing the MUVE app, which provides audio guides. The ticket code provided by the tour operator was not the actual ticket barcode needed to access the app. Fortunately, a very kind staff member shared a code with us, allowing us to start following the tour and understand at least some of the information. Unfortunately, the same problem occurred when we visited St. Mark’s Basilica. Once again, we could barely understand our guide, and by that point, nearly one-third of the group had already left the tour. We approached the Basilica staff to ask for the original ticket barcode so we could use the MUVE app. This time, we were told to ask our tour guide instead. When our guide noticed us asking the staff for help, she became upset and told us we should have approached her instead. Despite paying more than the price of a regular admission ticket, our guide was unable to provide the necessary code. Eventually, we had to explain directly that we were having difficulty understanding her. Her response was, “We are Italians.” She then blamed us for not informing her of the problem at the beginning of the tour. However, shouldn’t a professional tour operator anticipate potential communication and audio equipment issues and explain the available alternatives at the beginning? This would have allowed guests to prepare accordingly. Given that nearly one-third of the group had already left midway through the tour, we believe our experience may not have been an isolated incident. We paid extra for a guided experience but ended up struggling to understand the information, troubleshooting audio issues ourselves, and feeling uncomfortable when we asked for help. The lack of practical support and the guide’s response made an already disappointing experience even worse. Our recommendation: Save your money and purchase regular admission tickets instead. Use the MUVE app for the audio guide, and you can explore the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica at your own pace without the frustration we experienced. We hope the tour operator takes this feedback seriously and improves its audio equipment, communication with guests, and customer service. A guided tour should help visitors appreciate these incredible historical sites, not leave them feeling frustrated and excluded.
St. Mark's Basilica & Doge's Palace: Guided Tour
Two-hour tour with a professional guide of Venice’s most important venues
Included
- Skip-the-line entry to the Doge's Palace
- Skip-the-line entry to the St. Mark's Basilica
- Access to the ground floor of Basilica
- Access to the Basilica della Salute and Basilica Santa Maria Assunta
- Guided tour of the Doge’s Palace
- Guided tour of the St. Mark’s Basilica
- Headset to hear the guide
Ratings & reviews
Valentina was an excellent guide. She mixed knowledge with humour and was very sensitive to the needs of the group. There were some elderly people in the group and she always made sure they were safe and not rushed.
La guia era muy amable atenta. Era de Venècia y conocia bien la ciudad
Notre visite fut très intéressante et je donne 5* à notre guide, par contre le site Web n'est pas suffisamment clair pour trouver le point de départ. Nous avons faillit tout rater.
The guide didn’t introduce her name and she did not start the tour in an official way by welcoming everyone- she just walked off expecting everyone to follow whilst seeming to address her voiceover to the person in front. It was a very busy tour and although she seemed very knowledgeable she didn’t do a good job of controlling the group, directing them where to go. When we first arrived we stood in the square for ages then all of a sudden all the people with backpacks were informed to put them in the luggage then all of a sudden it was a rush. When we’d been stood there for about 20 mins. She didn’t sign post the toilets or keep the group together. At several points she seemed to have one to one conversations with members of the group about where they were going next and other random things. All in all a disappointing tour when it should have been a highlight to our trip to Venice.
Lively tour guide and a very interesting introduction to the history of the Doge’s palace and the Basilica.
Avions réservé une prestation pour un groupe de dix maxi guide francophone a 100€ par personne palais des doges et basilique. Nous avons été affecté a un groupe de 30 personnes !!!! Avec des écouteurs pour entendre .......parfois les commentaires de la guide .......maîtrisant plus ou moins le français. Nous n avons pas pu visiter ni le chœur , ni la crypte, ni monter en haut de la basilique : notre ticket n étant pas prévu pour ces endroits !!!!! Prestation lamentable. Correcte pour le palais des doges.
Bien bonne organisation. Guide donatela agréable. Tous ca gâché par un système audio de très mauvaise qualité. Commentaires inaudible
Jenny ha sido una guía excelente y nos ha explicado la Basílica de San Marcos y el palacio ducal con todo lujo de detalles y una gran amabilidad. 100% recomendable
