bkm

We went in June 2005 and I pre-booked St Mark's basilica, the Doges' Palace Secret Itinerary tour, the Accademia and a tour of Wagner's rooms at what is now the casino. The first 3 I booked online and the last I asked our hotel to book.

St Mark's had a long queue whenever we passed it. As per our instructions we entered by the door used by groups, which is the one to the left of the one with the long queue. Don't forget you need to leave any bags in the cloakroom first, down the little street to the left. We then just showed our confirmation e-mail to the attendant, who showed up to open the door at the time we'd booked. They do not time you - you can stay as long as you want.

We toured the 'normal' parts of the Doges' Palace on our own before joining the Secret Tour - and on turning up at opening time, we found no queues anyway, so could have walked straight in even if we hadn't booked.

The same went for the Accademia - no queue at opening time.

Booking for a tour is the only way to visit Wagner's rooms. I asked our hotel to do it as I'd found conflicting instructions online, giving different numbers and times to phone.

bookmark

bookmark

bookmarking. great information

bookmarking

Where is the best place to book reservations for Doge's Palace? Web site or through your hotel in Venice?

Thanks!
Kevin

bookmarking

I've been trying for two days to book my visit to the Basilica but the site does not seem to be working, nor is my email to site getting through. frustrating.

bookmarking

Sapphire,

I just booked my Basilica reservation using this site:

http://www.alata.it/eng/booking/sanmarco.asp

bookmarking

Great info will definitely refer to this for our trip next June. Many thanks.

You might want to look into this tour of Basilica San Marco.

http://www.basilicasanmarco.it/eng/v...6&subcat=4

We did it and it was quite ind-depth and included parts of the Basilica that were roped-off to regular visitors. It's supposed to last about an hour (ours was closer to an hour-and-a-half) and it was time very well spent IMHO

bookmarking

Is there a site for booking the Secret Itineraries tour ahead? We are leaving on the 31st and I am trying to get everything organized.

We land at Marco Polo at 9:40 AM. I am giving us time to get to our hotel, check in, change, have lunch -- and have reserved St. Mark's through Alata for 2:30 PM. How does that timing sound?

Grazie (just getting into practice!)

This is the official site to book the Secret Itineraries tour, in English:

http://www.teleart.org/itinerarisegr...tdate=20070803

As you can see, there are spaces open for Aug, 1, 2, 4, 5th. On Aug. 1st, there's 16 spots at 9:55am. If you want that slot, click on it, and the pop up box will direct you how to pay for your tickets. When it says "type of ticket" you want to click the 16 Euro ticket-which will allow you entrance to the Doge's Palace and the SI Tour.

bookmarking

I have a question: How do you guarantee an English-speaking Tour Guide on this web site.

English and Italian are both on this site, but no indication as to the language spoken on the day/date one chooses.

Or have I missed something?

Because when you hit the "Prenota" button it says "in INGLESE"