momlettinggo

I see that Doges Palace is open until 11 on Friday and Saturday. Will we do better going late since others will be enjoying the night scene or home with kids?

Hoping to stay flexible and not book a tour and still see this main attraction. We leave for a 1 week cruise after our 3 nights in Venice and we are booked for shore excursions at fixed times for the next 4 days with no wiggle room. Plan A was a morning guided tour where we could skip the lines. The Plan B is beginning to emerge of going to Doges at night, but there will only be audio tours not guided ones, it appears.

Will I miss seeing some wonderful things after dark? Like the Bridge of Sighs view (unless we start and go there before sunset)?

Pretty sure the special tour rooms are not available, but that isn't an issue for us.

Is the guided tour experience with Q& A that much better? We will be cruising with people very familiar with Venice and I think we can get our unanswered Q&A during the cruise if we miss a guided tour and rely on audio guides. And I think my husband would prefer fewer "appointments" on the vacation.

If Plan B seems best, should I still pay for a skip the line pass? Or is a 7 or 8 pm entry a slam dunk? Feedback ?

annhig

What time of year are you visiting Venice, momlettingo?

I would be surprised if you had to wait to get into the Doge's palace on either Friday or Saturday evenings but it's conceivable that the Tintoretto exhibition [starts 7th September] will affect this. The website certainly shows plenty of availability in September. We did the Secret Itineraries tour with our kids a few years ago [you would have to prebook for that] and i would say that the guide was pretty good for that, but the ordinary tour which I did with a school party would be fine with an audio-guide. And you can always go and look at the Bridge of Sighs from the outside during the day if you like. [it's really not that exciting, IMHO]

If you are going to go at 7 or 8 pm, when are you going to eat?

momlettinggo

Thanks, we are just going for the ordinary tour. We will be there August 23-26 so the September exhibit won't be a problem. We are both vegan and we usually eat early. And that day we will eat a hearty lunch and a light dinner. European late dinners are a challenge for us as we usually eat dinner at 6 at home. Besides, we are going on a cruise starting the 26th, so we can definitely afford to skip a dinner one night. We will probably be going to La Tecia Vegana r for a hearty lunch the day of late night Doges and get some takeout for a light dinner.

annhig

Obviously there are no guarantees but all the cruise ship trippers will have gone by then, and most self respecting locals and tourists will either be having a pre-prandial spitz and cicchetti or sitting down to eat so I should think you have a reasonable chance of getting in with no problems.


I don't know La Tecia but it looks nice and useful to have a dedicated vegan restaurant, but there will be few restaurants in Venice that won't be able to accommodate your needs, especially in the summer. I don't know where you are staying in Venice but another place you might like is the kosher restaurant on the edge of the Ghetto in Cannareggio called Gam Gam. I had the vegetarian antipasto selection which was excellent and I'm sure that they will adjust any of the options to ensure that it's vegan.

GAM GAM Kosher Restaurant ? Menu

Hope you have a great trip and that the Doge's Palace tour comes off.

momlettinggo

Thank you very much for the review on GAM GAM. It was on my list. I usually rely on yelp for restaurants and then I search the reviews for vegan or vegetarian to see if one of "us" gave it a good review. We are staying at a B&B in Cannaregio so that will be closer than Tecia.

Rubicund

For future reference, try www.happycow.com for vegetarian and Vegan restaurants worldwide.