Venice - Guided Tour Recommendations

We fly in on July 2nd. Jump on the ship on Monday July 4th.

Looking for a guided excursion, 3 - 4 hours, for Sunday July 3rd.

I'm beginning to think that the "Sunday" thing is my problem.

I'm finding excursions that I would be interested in but nothing on Sunday the 3rd from multiple on line sources.

Someone want to clue me in or have suggestions.

If all else fails, the wife and I will just take off walking.

Staying at the Boscolo Venezia.

Other then a specialty type tour (such as the Jewish Ghetto tour or Secret Doge's Palace tour) there is nothing you cannot easily do on your own with the help of a decent guide book (cheaper than a tour). We usually recommend the Rick Steve's books, and he does have some good info on self-guided walking/vaporetto tours. You should also consider purchasing a vaporetto pass (either 24 or 48 hour depending on your hours in town and preference) which gives you unlimited use of all the vaporettos. Those boats will take you around Venice (in either direction) and also to any of the other islands (Burano, Murano, Lido, etc) in the lagoon. If you are into Museums read about the Peggy Guggenheim and see if it "tickles your fancy."

Hank

You really don't need to spend money on a tour of Venice. It is a small city which is ideal for strolling in. Just get a good guide book.

As others have stated, you really don't need a guide for Venice, it is very compact.

We did take a couple of walking tours (booked on viator dot com). They are a third party vendor, but we had no problems meeting the folks or using the vouchers.

One was an evening Ghost Walking Tour (my friend is into anything that is pertaining to ghosts). The second was in the late afternoon and included a stop at a gelato bar and then a gondola ride at the end. We felt both were well worth the price.

We also purchased a 72 hour vaporetto pass and went to Lido and had lunch there, then went to Murano, visited a glass factory and had lunch there. We didn't make it to Burano as it was windy, rainy and the lagoon was too rough.

Don't give up, keep looking, and as others stated check out Rick Steve's books. I didn't have his for Venice, but I have used his books for a lot of Europe. Have fun planning, then taking your trip!

I have no experience with this company but I've seen it mentioned on tripadvisor. Perhaps they offer something on your travel date.

http://www.bucintoroviaggi.com/index_en.html

I am one of those who does like organized tours in some places in Italy but as others have said this is one that is easy to do on your own. Just do a little reading about the area and you will be fine.

Keith

Rick Steves audio tours are absolutely fantastic and free! We used them during our last visit and found them, in some instances, superior to personal guided tours;comprehensive information, self-paced.

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/italy

I'm not sure if these are the kinds of tours u may be looking for but six people on my July cruise did

Alessandro's Off the Beaten Path tour and the Bar/Tapas tour in Venice. It is on TA. They really enjoyed both tours. The bar one was in the evening though.

I'm not sure if these are the kinds of tours u may be looking for but six people on my July cruise did

Alessandro's Off the Beaten Path tour and the Bar/Tapas tour in Venice. It is on TA. They really enjoyed both tours. The bar one was in the evening though.

We're doing the Urban Adventures Wine & Cicchetti tour on the Saturday evening 2nd July after we arrive for the 2 days prior to cruising- it looks good fun and a good way to get our bearings in the city - if we don't drink TOO much wine! ;)

With your short amount of time in Venice I could see why you want a guide. It's nice to have someone lead you around that knows the history of the place and the various ins and outs so that you can avoid the hordes of tourists and maybe a hidden gem or two.

If you do want a tour guide I can recommend the one we had while in Venice for a day and a half. Her name is Cristina Gregorin and you can find her if you search for Slow Venice. Cristina customizes her tours to her customer's tastes and can include shopping as well as site seeing. For us, we asked for a half day touring the Jewish Ghetto and then on the second half day she took us to Murano and Burano. We had intended to site see on both islands but we ended up glass and lace shopping at shops that were closed to the public that day.

I have a few ideas for you! I recently spent 3 days in Venice and I'm also a travel writer :)

You could check out Doge's Palace and take their Secret Itineraries tour. This takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and then you want an extra 30 minutes or so to check out the rest of the palace. You can read more here: http://justinpluslauren.com/doges-palace-secret-itineraries-tour-venice

Then, next door is St. Mark's Basilica. Be sure to buy a "skip the line" ticket for 2 Euros...you'll still have to stand in a much smaller line with a set time. That's if you're interested in churches and palaces and history...

You could easily explore Venice on your own by purchasing a vaporetto ticket and wandering around on your own. If you're interested to know how transportation works in Venice, please read my detailed article: http://justinpluslauren.com/venice-transportation-guide/

You can easily do a day trip to Murano and Burano (the neighboring islands) on your own via a water taxi. In Murano, you can see a free glass making demonstration (island famous for its glass). In Burano, wander around and check out the brightly painted houses:

http://justinpluslauren.com/colorful-houses-of-burano-italy/

http://justinpluslauren.com/day-trip-to-murano-italy/

You can pre-book a gondola ride (with music) using a Tinggly gift box, here's my experience with doing that: http://justinpluslauren.com/romantic-gondola-ride-in-venice-with-tinggly/

If you have a limited amount of time there, I even suggest wandering around and taking in all of the sights without a tour. It is a fascinating place and it's fun to explore: http://justinpluslauren.com/getting-lost-exploring-venice-on-foot/

Any other questions? Please let me know! I did a lot of research before our trip there :)

We did walks inside Venice and she was wonderful. We had a wonderful guided walking tour and a lovely boat ride through all the canals on one of the beautiful wooden boats. We got 4 other people to go from our roll call and it was very reasonable. One of the best tours I have taken.

Thank you so much Lauren for sharing your excellent posts & pictures! I've bookmarked them for our upcoming cruise in August.

As everyone has said Venice is easy to walk around on your own. We wanted an overview though on our first day there and booked a walking tour with some others from our cruise. The tour guide was Luisella (luisella.romeo@gmail.com) and she was great :-).