mjf_081007

I am in the proccess of planning my itinerary for three days in Venice. Due to an overwhelming number of reccommendations on Fodor's, I booked the Secret Itineraries tour of Doge's Palace. The tour is scheduled for 9:55 AM, and I want to book tickets for St. Mark's for immediately after the Doge's Palace. From different threads on Fodor's, I have picked up that the Secret's Tour lasts somewhere in the range of 45-90 minutes, and that afterwards I should plan 45-60 minutes to tour Doge's Palace on my own. My question is, what time should I schedule my St. Mark's tickets for to make sure I have enough time to make it there after Doge's Palace (I don't want to feel extremely rushed, but at the same time don't want to waste precious time waiting around). I am not sure how far the walk is from Doge's Palace to St. Mark's, but it seems that it is common to go both attractions back to back.

A couple of related questions- When you reserve tickets for St. Mark's, it is for a 10 minute block of time. Do they really push you through in 10 minutes, or can you really tour the church for longer?

Second, when I went to book the Secret Itineraries Tour of Doge's Palace, I went through the process of selecting the date/time/number of tickets, and put in my personal and credit card information, and then when I finally submitted I got an error message that said my request could not be processed and to contact the webmaster. I just forwarded the error message on to the webmaster and am waiting on a reply. Hopefully all will be resolved soon, but was just curious if anyone else has experienced the same problem in the past and if it was remedied easily.

Lastly, because my wife is studying for the Bar Exam (which she takes in a couple of weeks), I am stuck with the job of doing all the itinerary planning on my own for our trip (and this is my first time going abroad!). It is a bit overwhelming trying to come up with enough things to do in each city and book without overbooking at the same time. Is it better to schedule TOO much to do so we are not trying to figure out what to do while we are there (I figure it might be better to have too much stuff planned and if we don't get to everything, that is okay)? In terms of Venice, is there any other "must-see" or must-do's" besides Doge's Palace and St. Mark's? I saw Rick Steve's video on Venice, and it looked like exploring Venice by walking would be a nice adventure. Is there any way I can find a walking tour online ir in Venice so I am not walking around blindly? Is there a gondola factory/place we can observe? Sorry so many questions, but I have been getting an IMMENSE amount of help from posts on this site. Thanks!

Mike

vivi

It is OK to walk around blindly in Venice! That is the #1 activity in my opinion! Ditto a vapretto ride down the glorious Grand Canal.

Doges Palace and San Marco are practically next door to each other. I made a reservation for ST Marks and the
"reserved" line was so long that I gave up (bad timing as ther were lots of tour groups.) I went back at 4:45 which is right beofre closing and walked right in. Inside the church pay the extra money to see the Golden Altarpiece which is magnificent, also you can linger in this area. If you really want to linger in St Marks, attend the 6:45PM mass (enter on the side via a security guard.)

A "must see" is Piazza San Marco at night, spring for some very pricey drinks, sit and enjoy the music and the ambience.

I also loved the Rialto vegetable and fish market in the early morning.

I had just read City of Falling Angels so La Fenice Opera House was a must on my list.

J62

It's about 30 feet (as in 10 paces) from the exit of the Doge's palace to St. Mark's. The secret itineraries tour takes about 75min to complete. The tour ends not back on the ground floor, but lets you out inside the Doge's palace apartments where you can tour the rest of the palace. You can't (without finding creative shortcuts) exit the palace without following the 1 way path through the apartments and prison section. If you are in a hurry you can zip through in about 7min 20sec, +/-, otherwise you can stroll at your leisure.

There is no such thing as wasting precious time waiting on St. Mark's square. It is THE center of Venice. If you have extra time you can watch or feed the pigeons (1Euro for bag of corn), browse the souvenir shops, listen to the dueling musicians, or simply enjoy watching the boats, sights and crowds.

If you are going to Venice you will surely make several visits to the piazza throughout your stay.

Your ticket to the Doge's palace is good for a single entry, so you can't come and go at your leisure. You can arrive early and stroll inside, then convene at the meeting point in the courtyard at the appointed time.

Luisah

<<Is there any way I can find a walking tour online ir in Venice so I am not walking around blindly?>>

Go to Borders, or other large bookstore, and buy a street map. Streetwise Venice is good, a plasticized, foldout map, that has routes highlighted in yellow (e.g., St Marks to the Rialto area). There are other good maps, so it's best to see which suits you. You could also order one from Amazon.com.

While you're in the book store look at guides to Venice. I bought a 4" x 7" Frommers, Venice, Day by Day, which has "Bests" churches, restaurants, museums, etc. It's small enough that I will take it with on my upcoming trip.

mjf_081007

thanks all for the great suggestions!

LAwoman

I'd be surprised if you ever hear from the webmaster. Would wait a couple of days and if your credit card hasn't been charged, try again, or even better - call (you don't have to pay ahead of time if you make a reservation by phone, and the english speaking operator is very easy to understand).

We had a morning Secret Itineraries tour, like you, and reserved St Marks for after lunch, but when we got out of Doge's Palace there was no line for St Marks so we took advantage of it and went right in. It was very crowded inside, though, and the line herds thru rather quickly. We could have taken more time inside if we'd had the energy to swim upstream, but by that time we'd been on our feet for several hours. It's probably best to go late in the day as another poster suggested.

abbydog

Hi! I just did the Doge's Palace 9:55 a.m. secret itineraries tour last week. The palace opened at 9:00, so we arrived then and had plenty of time to look around the public areas before meeting for the tour. We were glad we did because it got pretty warm (and much more crowded) later in the morning. After the tour, we were too tired to do much but wander and look for lunch, so I agree with posters who suggested saving St. Mark's for later. 4:45 is a great suggestion -- just don't wait til 5:00! St. Mark's closes at 5:30, but when I arrived at 5:00 the front door was slammed in my face!

Sassafrass

Your wife will love you for doing all the planning. Venice is so romantic.

Yes, there is a small shop where you can see gondolas being built. There are so many beautiful churches, and museums and neighborhoods.

There are so many guide books, it is hard to sort through. You might choose others to buy, but have a look at these to get more ideas.

For first time visitors, Rick Steves' Venice is pretty good.
Also, Eyewitness has a Top 10 Venice travel guide that has great suggestions and small pictures. It might be helpful.

ira

H Mike,

>(I don't want to feel extremely rushed, but at the same time don't want to waste precious time waiting around). <

You will be in Italy. Nothing happens on schedule. (Our 11:00 tour left at 13:30)

Yes, overschedule yourself and then forget abut seeing everything on your schedule.

I wouldn't bother with guided tours of Venice. Get a guide book and don't expect to see everything.

Leave time for serendipity. Enjoy "il dolce far niente".

What's the rest of your itinerary? I'll give 8:5 that most of the responses will tell you that you are trying to do too much.

tamarackidaho

I may be a hapless or hopeless romantic, but whatever they charge for the Gondola ride is worth it. 20 years ago w/ my new husband, 10 years ago w/ friends and just did one with my teenaged sons, always great. Ditto the vaporetto, as mentioned above. Venice is one huge outdoor museum, it's not possible to waste your time there. Another vote for La Fenice, and the famous restaurant of the same name.

gruezi

I agree with vivi, read City of Falling Angels before or after your trip...

take the Vaporetto to San Giorgio Maggiore and take the elevator up into the Bell Tower for an amazing 360 degree view without the long line in St. Marks plus there are 2 Tintoretto paintings in the church and far from the maddening crowd...

for a peaceful look at some great modern art and a beautiful Palazzo go to the Peggy Guggenheim stay long enough to sit in the garden or on the grand canal and relax...opens at 10 am...

We did a lot of sight-seeing in Venice and still found time to just absorb too...we walked all day and night...

liked the tour guide at the basilica because she pointed out things we never would have noticed that made it even more amazing.

have fun!