Venice, on our own or tour guide

I will be in Venice with my husband next month for the first time. We have 2 days. Should we hire a tour guide or is it easy to tour on your own?

I will be in Venice with my husband next month for the first time. We have 2 days. Should we hire a tour guide or is it easy to tour on your own?

Venice is very easy to do on your own. Get a 2 day vaporetto pass to get around the grand canal and go to Murano and Burano. Also easy to walk around Venice on your own. There are direction signs high on the corner of buildings. Get lost in the side streets. One of our favorite places.

Reserve entry to St. Marks Basilica to avoid the line for tickets. Pay the extra to go upstairs to see the real bronze horses and go onto the roof for a nice view of the square.

If you only have 2 days or possibly less, then you can see the highlights on your own. Our first time we did that. On our second visit, we hired a guide for a 4-5 hour tour. She took us to a couple of the major sites but also showed us many other sites that were wonderful and yet we had either missed or didn't know what we were looking at.

You can see St Marks Square, the Grand Canal and bridges and the islands of Murano and Burano on your own. Plus plenty of time to just shop and enjoy the feeling of being in Venice.

Easy to do on your own. Even if you get lost between Realto and St. Marks, just follow the crowd. You can't get that lost. The two day pass is great advice. Go down the Grand Canal at dusk for some great views.

We've been to Venice several times, and as far as seeing the basic sights, I couldn't agree more that it's a "do on your own" thing. However, we hired a private guide for Accademia Museum. A PhD in art history. Got MUCH more out of it than if we just went through on our own. We also did a waterboat cruise-tour of the lagoon that was VERY enjoyable and informative. Both were booked through Context Travel. So hiring a guide for specific sites/activities may work for you.

Agree - Venice is easily done on one's own. If you are interested in an audio tour, Rick Steves offers some free audio tours that are easily downloaded (you can also download the maps for each tour).

Here is the list:

The Grand Canal Cruise (works great with the Vaporetto line #1)

Frari Church Tour

St. Mark's Basilica Tour

St. Mark's Square Tour

Link to the Rick Steves audio tour website: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/italy

I find that a good guide greatly adds to my enjoyment of a location.

We had the most amazing guide, she showed us Venice in every way, it was the most magical day!Friend in Venice tours.

Having been to Venice 4 times now, it is super easy on your own. You can even take the people mover from the port and save a ton of money at this port. Leaves more money to book the tours at other ports that are more needed. I even take the airport bus to/from the airport. No need for taxi, super easy. The steps with luggage can be tricky but if you are physically able to carry luggage over the bridges (steps) everything is super easy.

Yes, Venice is very easy to DIY. To some DIY means wandering aimlessly, with no plan or research - maybe a tourist map in hand. To others, DIY means doing extensive research and having a "plan of attack". There is nothing wrong with either but you need to have some idea of your expectations.

On our first trip we relied heavily on the Rick Steves audio tours mentioned above - they are excellent and added a great deal to our appreciation of the sites. (We have used them in other places in Europe as well.)

In May we had a clearer idea of where we wanted to focus our efforts. We hired Luisella http://www.seevenice.it/en/

for a completely customized tour. Wow, wish we had started out with her on our first visit!

We are absolutely DIYers, but for depth and enrichment, there are times when a private guide is worth their weight in gold.

In May we had a clearer idea of where we wanted to focus our efforts. We hired Luisella http://www.seevenice.it/en/

for a completely customized tour. Wow, wish we had started out with her on our first visit!

We are absolutely DIYers, but for depth and enrichment, there are times when a private guide is worth their weight in gold.

We will be in Venice in October and I'm looking for ideas as the couple travelling with us have never been to Italy. What did your tour include? What did you see? You always put together great tours...

We will be in Venice in October and I'm looking for ideas as the couple travelling with us have never been to Italy. What did your tour include? What did you see? You always put together great tours...

Thank you for the compliment!

There were eight of us in Venice for three nights in May. It was the first visit for five in the party, so I asked Louisella to propose a tour that would be of interest to all. We began with a private water taxi tour of approximately 90 minutes. We saw many interesting places and things (the hospital, a gondola construction yard...) from that perspective and obtained an overview of the layout of the island. We then had a guided tour of the Doge's Palace and St Marks. (We had missed a Doge's tour on our previous visit and thoroughly enjoyed every second of Louisella's narrative.) I was also pleased to learn some new facts about the Cathedral. She had suggested so many interesting ideas, I am really sorry that we opted for only a half day tour. If we ever return, I will certainly spend more time exploring Venice with her. On our other days we engaged in a great deal of aimless wandering that included frequent stops for gelato!

My other suggestion would be a food tour with Eating Italy - although their website still says coming soon, I would hope they are almost ready to begin booking. We took their tour in Rome and it remains one of our favorites.

Thanks, Dona!

Sounds like it was an amazing tour! I'll see if we can arrange a tour for October. My sister and I did Urban Adventure's Cicchetti & Wine tour in 2015, very good! http://www.urbanadventures.com/Venice-tour-Cicchetti-and-wine-tour-of-venice (Jim and I did two Eating Italy Tours - Twilight Trastevere and Taste of Testacchio in 2013, both were awesome but our favorite was Trastevere).

Happy travels,

Jackie

We did Venice the first time with a tour guide. She made things easier than if we had done it ourselves. She would take us into some church or other and then proceed to read to us from a guide book...the same one I had at home, but hers was the Italian language version. But, she did get us on a traghetto, which we wouldn't have done otherwise, and she took us over to Murano (which we probably would have skipped). So having a guide was good for us.

I will also say, if you see something in a shop window that interests you, stop right then and check it out. Chances are you won't find that shop again, even retracing your steps.

Have fun.

I will also say, if you see something in a shop window that interests you, stop right then and check it out. Chances are you won't find that shop again, even retracing your steps. Have fun.

Boy, isn't THAT the truth!! haha

We had the most amazing guide, she showed us Venice in every way, it was the most magical day!Friend in Venice tours.

Hi Zoey, I realize this is from last summer but I hope you are still around (or anyone who might know)......

I am sailing out of Venice in July and it is my first time visiting there. I sail solo and although most of the

research shows Venice can be a DIY place, I am interested in a tour. I found A Friend In Venice and emailed them. Do you recall how long it takes for them to respond? The tours sound intimate which is a good thing......

Smaller size groups are always nicer for touring:)

Any other information you can offer would be appreciated.:)

I would also suggest you consider one of the 'Free Venice Walking Tours' that are available. You can search for them, there are 3 or 4 with different starting points and lengths. They give an excellent walking tour of the notable highlights, including many you would be unlikely to see with a hired tour but are nonetheless very interesting. Plus, they only cost the price of your tip. Here is one link:

http://www.venicefreewalkingtour.com

 

I will also say, if you see something in a shop window that interests you, stop right then and check it out. Chances are you won't find that shop again, even retracing your steps.

Have fun.

Oh boy is that the truth. The buildings all start looking the same and you feel like you are walking through a maze at times. If you see something you want to buy, buy it - you may not find the store again. There is an exception to this rule. If your significant other wants to buy a leather purse which is way overpriced, then you just say "I am sure we will be back at this store several times, we will buy it then."

Hi Zoey, I realize this is from last summer but I hope you are still around (or anyone who might know)......

I am sailing out of Venice in July and it is my first time visiting there. I sail solo and although most of the

research shows Venice can be a DIY place, I am interested in a tour. I found A Friend In Venice and emailed them. Do you recall how long it takes for them to respond? The tours sound intimate which is a good thing......

Smaller size groups are always nicer for touring:)

 

Any other information you can offer would be appreciated.:)

Hi Lois,

Friend in Venice was amazing, we had Linda, whom I cannot recommend highly enough! It was a private tour, very pricey but worth every penny, we had a magical day with her.

I would suggest posting on your rollcall to find a few others ( in my experience, I try and keep private tours to no more then 6-8 people)

I’m thinking by the time you read my reply you will have heard back, if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Wendy

Hi Lois,

Friend in Venice was amazing, we had Linda, whom I cannot recommend highly enough! It was a private tour, very pricey but worth every penny, we had a magical day with her.

 

I would suggest posting on your rollcall to find a few others ( in my experience, I try and keep private tours to no more then 6-8 people)

 

I’m thinking by the time you read my reply you will have heard back, if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Wendy

Hi Wendy, I did hear back:)...thanks so much. There is nobody on my roll call right now. I am sailing on a smaller ship and the roll calls are very quiet. Actually, Nadia said it would just be the 2 of us:D

Hi Wendy, I did hear back:)...thanks so much. There is nobody on my roll call right now. I am sailing on a smaller ship and the roll calls are very quiet. Actually, Nadia said it would just be the 2 of us:D

Hi was hoping you would get Linda but I believe it’s Nadia’s. Company and they are good friends, they will show you an amazing day!

We signed up for a free walking tour of Venice. I wanted to see more of the "off the beaten path" streets than just hitting up St. Marks.

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