joycap.How much fun for you.We are leaving for Venice in August and staying for four nights and three and a half days.We will do just what you said and go to mass at 9 am.Did you have to get tickets to get into St.Marks or did you say you were just going to mass(which we would)and you were able to enter?

No tickets for mass. Just enter through a side door to the left of the building. You are then at a side alter. Be sure to keep walking and veer to the right to the main alter. It seemed like the 8am mass was at the side alter and the 9 at a temporary alter set up in front of the main alter. The 10:30 mass is a full mass at the main alter with choir.

joycap..sorry, one more question.Did you go to mass on a Sunday or was it during the week.
Thanks

how do we (4) get from the airport, with our luggage,to our hotel near the Rialto bridge?

anamaria, St Mark's is free to enter at any time. You can either make a free reservation for a set time (outside of mass) or join the queue outside which sounds as though it could be really long in peak season.
http://www.alata.it/eng/booking/sanmarco.asp

smlri, you need to repost your question as a separate thread as this thread relates to sights in Venice, not transport in Venice. You may also do a search on some old posts regarding Venice transport or vaporettos etc and see what info you find that way.

I waited under 5 minutes the 2 times I have been inside St Marks. IMO, If you are just going into the Bailica there is no need for a reservation.

I was there in Sept. both times.

Last month,I was very glad we had reservations for St. Mark's. The line to enter was quite long.

speckles, I just booked entry for 4 in St. Marks.It was very easy.Thanks for the website everyone!

We enjoyed the Secret Itineraries tour very much----very interesting and educational. BUT, I want to throw something in here that I think people should know ahead of time.

If you have any tendency toward claustrophobia, think twice about taking this tour. You are crowded into very close stairwells with people above and below you, and no where to go once you are in there.

Someone mentioned not being able to leave the group to go to the restroom, and that is correct. But, beyond that, you are in rooms with very low ceilings and there is no where to sit down should you need to do so. You are also literally walking on the rafters in the top of the Doge's Palace, which could unnerve some people.

Like I said, we loved the tour. But while on it, I was thinking that people should know what is in store so they can determine whether it is for them.

ttt

When you make a reservation it gives you only a 10 minute time frame. I have just walked in with 5-10 minute wait 2 times and have stayed longer that 10 minutes. This was in Sept. both times.

With the reservation is it possible to stay over the 10 minutes without problems?

We paid the little bit of money to see the golden altarpiece and to go upstairs to the musuem (the only way to see the original horses and the mosaics up close.) We were there a lot longer than 10 minutes and no one paid a bit of attention to us.

www.alata.it/eng/booking/sanmarco.asp would not work for me. I was unable to complete a prebooking request for San Marco Basilica.
I then tried to send an e-mail to the site but it would not go through.
Has anyone used this link recently or know of another way to complete the pre booking?
Thanks
Martha

topping

Like the most recent poster, this site did not work for us. Any recent experience?

bmk

Just tried the site and it still isn't working. Any advice?

According to the Web site of the Basilica di San Marco, on line reservation service was "temporarily suspended" in February 2006.

http://www.basilicasanmarco.it/WAI/i...8&offset=0

St. Marks have private guides who pans the lines and creates a group to go in a special entrance .The charge is ten euros and you don't have to wait in a three hour line,They also give a wonderful tour with a great deal of history enjoy.

This booking web site is also not working for me http://www.basilicasanmarco.it

miaspapa, where can you book the tour guides for taking you in?

ttt