Welcome to Venice:
Walking tour, St. Mark's, and gondola ride
Destination
Venice, Italy
Duration
3 hours
Tour size
Max 20
Language
English
Overview
Venice was built on the water, and this tour shows you why. In three hours, you'll walk from the Rialto Bridge into the back canals of Cannaregio, step inside St. Mark's Basilica, and close on a half-hour gondola ride through the side canals.
- •Cross the Rialto Bridge, the structure 16th-century critics swore would collapse
- •Pass through the Rialto Fish Market, where Venice has unloaded its catch onto stone slabs since the 11th century
- •Walk Cannaregio's back canals, past a bookshop that stores its books in bathtubs
- •Step inside St. Mark's Basilica with skip-the-line entry, under 8,000 square meters of gold mosaic
- •Climb into a traditional gondola for a half-hour ride through the side canals
What's included
- Skip-the-line ticket to St. Mark's Basilica
- A 30-minute gondola ride, with up to 5 other passengers
- A local English-speaking expert guide
- Headsets
You will visit
- The Rialto Bridge
- The Rialto Fish Market
- The Grand Canal
- A famous Venetian bookshop
- Cannaregio's back canals
- Palazzo Grimani (exterior)
- St. Mark's Square
- St. Mark's Basilica
- A traditional gondola ride
Get a taste of Welcome to Venice
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What to expect
The Rialto: 430 years of a bridge that wasn't supposed to hold
You'll meet your guide at the Rialto Bridge, the stone arch that critics in the 1500s warned would collapse within a generation. It's still standing 430 years later, with the same shop arcades it opened with. Your guide will walk you past the Rialto Fish Market and into Cannaregio, where the day-tripper crowds thin out, the buildings lean a little, and washing hangs above the calli.
The bookshop: where the books are stacked in bathtubs
In the heart of Cannaregio, you'll stop at one of Venice's most beloved bookshops, where decades of acqua alta have shaped the entire layout. Books are piled in bathtubs, rowboats, and a full-size gondola to keep them above the floodline. A few resident cats sleep on the stacks. Your guide will give you a few minutes to wander and ask questions.
"When people ask me where to go after the tour, I send them back to Cannaregio. Now they know the way in."
Chiara,
WalksDevour Venice guide
"The gondoliers learn the canals before they learn to row. I tell guests to listen for the calls between boats — they're how gondoliers signal a turn or a tight passage."
Valentina,
WalksDevour Venice guide
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Frequently asked questions
Our guides love answering your questions. Here are some things they’d like you to know before you arrive.
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