Fodor's Travel Talk Forums

P.S. Here's a useful thread - with thanks to Iwannago2:

Author: iwannago2
Date: 04/25/2006, 10:36 pm

I always enjoy taking private tours when I travel to a place like Venice. I find that the tour gives you an effiecient way to see the "must sees", leaving the rest of your time to leisurely explore the areas you liked best and to find new ones.

Here is the collected wisdom from other Fodorites that I have on file for our trip later this year. Some of links will prove challenging (don't know why) but should usally give you enough info to track it down. Try the second portion of the link first. The only one that I have personal experience with is Venicescapes with Michael Broderick. We really enjoyed our day with him and would seek him out again.

Durant Imboden's Venice for Visitors http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/

Venice Secret Gardens tour: I've been on a Secret gardens of Venice walk. You visited three gardens, two of them attached to convents. I also enjoyed the Venice Frari tour walk which had a very interesting and well-informed guide.
http://tours-italy.com/venice/secret_gardens.htm

A guide in Venice http://www.aguideinvenice.com/itinerari/itinerari.html

Venicescapes Cultural Association - reviewed http://www.epinions.com/content_135238291076

Avventure Bellissime tours ghost walk. - wasn't really a ghost walk but very entertaining walk in the company of a charming Italian man, who told us some amusing anecdotes about the city. It made a nice change for one evening - he set a cracking pace. off the beaten track through some small, quiet streets and squares which we might not otherwise have seen.
http://www.tours-italy.com/venice/ghost_walk.htm

Venice Events - really, really liked it. The guides spoke perfect English. Their boat tour was great. Then next evening, we are taking a boat tour around the place. This will be nice and refreshing after being out all day, and the tour shows you so much from the water. The boats are these adorable wooden speed boats. They even give you a cocktail. That tour starts at 5:30 pm.The first morning we are there we are going to take a walking tour of all the highlights and history of Venice. This really gives you an overview of the place. It gets you used to the geography of where everything is and shows you what you might want to go back and see in more depth. The tour is at 11:30 am. The buildings provide a lot of shade. http://www.veniceevents.com

Venicescapes: I doubt you'll find anything more intense than Michael Broderick is a genius, handsome, too. I just wish he could lighten up and have more fun. His custom-made tour books are pure works of art, the finest I've ever seen from anyone. As a collector's piece, it's worth every cent of the cost of a tour, if not more. http://www.venicescapes.org/

http://www.venicescapes.org/guided_w..._of_Venice.htm

Walks in Venice email [email protected] for small groups, charge by the hour, most tours about 3 hours. They have set itineraries, or they will design a tour for you http://www.walksinsidevenice.com/english/introd.html

Organizes English-speaking tours around the city. Tours meet outside Thomas Cook, near the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, every day except Sunday at 1000. Tours take roughly three hours. No reservations are required www.enjoyvenice.com