Doge Secret Palace Tour

Can anyone give me info on this? We'll be in Venice the last day & 1/2 of a 12 day cruise, so DH just wants free time, but I seem to remember people saying this is pretty cool - why, & how long does it take? Thanks!

Lots of information is posted in previous posts on this board. Using the search feature will bring up these.

The English tours are only in the morning and take any where from 75 to 90 min. They cost 12.5 Euros and reservations can be made by call 011-39-041-271-5911. You can also purchae them on-line for a 4.08 Euro fee for 2 tickets at:http://www.weekendavenezia.com/bigphp/mus.php?skin=ve&mus=ducaleveis Tour takes you to Casanov's reconstructed cell, Torture room, attic and secret doors, places you can not go without this tour.

I had reservations for this tour a couple of weeks ago. When we went to the tour, there was a sign on the door saying that the employees were on strike and they were closed. I don't know if the employees are back at work.

We were in venice July 7 and 8 during and post cruise (Millennium 12 day Med). There was a public strike on the 7th and the Doges Palace was closed but it was quickly settled and they were back in business on the 8th. Lbenson, is this when you were there? The Secret Itineraries Tour is wonderful. Also, we booked through http://www.weekendavenezia.com and prepaid. There is a surcharge but having the voucher which I printed off the internet saved us from standing in a very long lineup. It easily saved us an hour if not longer. If you book, make sure you book an English tour (or your language of preference)- there are only 3 a day.

If you use the phone number given in earlier in this thread, you can make your reservations ahead of time with no surcharge and no advance payment. We encountered no lines when we got there. The receptionist gave us a piece of paper that indicated to the ticket seller we had a reserved spot and they sold us the ticket which was only 3 Euros more than the regular self-guided admission.

Our guide was fantastic. I did not get her name, but she was a slight woman in her 30s with a very musical kind of accent. I could have listened to her all day. She was very knowlegeable even in questions that weren't part of the tour, and seemed genuinely proud and interested in her work. A good guide makes all the difference.

I highly recommend this tour!

The phone number for reservations is 041 271 5911.

We went on the tour in May. Tickets were reserved over the phone from the US using the number Mike Andrews had provided (Thanks, Mike).

The tour is very interesting, and after the tour spend some time seeing the rest of the fascinating building. We encountered no long lines.

I liked the fact we did not have to pay in advance because the ship could have been delayed and we would have been out the money.

Making the reservation took less than two minutes, no surcharge and very simple. The woman at the other end spoke English; I'm sure they are accustomed to us non-Italian speakers calling.

We love Venice and I am sure you will also.

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies! I have one more question: if we book using that phone # & then decide we just don't have the energy for all those stairs at the end of the cruise, can we just not show up & not pay? I know it's inconsiderate & I'd try to call them the day ahead, but if cell phone doesn't get through, I want to know if we'd still pay.

No - you don't pay. Although they give you a confirmation number to quote at the desk, they don't ask for any sort of deposit or credit card details.

If you don't show,nobody would know who you are

PS There aren't all that many stairs and the pace is quite slow

I just booked the Secret Itineraries Tour for August. If you're booking more than 20 days away, you have to call a different phone number. Here is that number: +39 041 520 90 70 .

The other number (+39 041 271 59 11) is for booking within the next 2 days.

Hope this helps!

We were ready to place the phone call for the "Secret Itinerary Tour" when I read the following post. We were disappointed and decided maybe we should not book it.

Secret tour and stairs If you have a problem with steep stairs and a lot of them, do not take the secret tour. Otherwise it is well worth the time. My favorite part was the attic. But wife had a real problem with the stairs.Phil

Now I'm reading this post:

PS There aren't all that many stairs and the pace is quite slow

How many stairs are there? Would appreciate an approx. like 5 flights of 30 steep stairs each flight of stairs, etc.

I'm not disabled but broke my pelvis and back in January and don't want to cause a problem where won't be able to do all of the extensive walking - Athens, Rome, Florence, etc. - that our cruises will require. Would you say it would be better to just do the regular tour?

Regarding the regular tour: Were there long lines for tickets to get in and do they limit the number each 15 min. or so?

Thank you so much for your specific answers.

Can someone help me? From the US, what do I dial? (I know the different # for >20 days ahead, but do I dial 39 before the 041, & what is the "+" about?)

Thanks for all this help!

Sorry about that trixie...I'm used to all of these international numbers living in Switzerland and calling the US often. The + means that you have to add whatever numbers you need to call internationally (in your case that's 011) PLUS the country code of the country you're calling (in this case, Italy's country code is 39). Therefore, you should dial 011 39 041...

Hope that helps and sorry for the confusion.

bjs

Sorry to confuse you - I hope somebody else can add more specific info. I really can't remember exact numbers - I know that you go up a flight of stairs to get to the first floor of the Palace, wait a little while for all the Secret Itinerary group to assemble, then open a private door into the "behind the scenes area". There is another flight of stairs at this point. I think you then look around the tiny offices before going up a flight of narrower steeper stairs into the attics

Because I had no disabilities at that time, I didn't think that it was a strenuous tour (the stairs were interspersed with slow moving tours of the various rooms) I now have a knee problem, so can understand how you feel, but even now I would still do the tour as it was the highlight of the Doges Palace.

Hope somebody with a better memory than me is able to help with more details

My recollection is that you will not see much even on a self-guided tour if you cannot climb stairs. The ground floor consists mainly of a courtyard, snack bar, and some small rooms filled with artifacts (columns, statuary). In order to see the bulk of the facility, you will not be able to avoid stairs, as there are a number of floors.

That said, I believe that if you can negotiate stairs but need to do it slowly, you will be fine with the self-guided tour. We did not enounter crowds here, and you could go quite slow without holding anyone up behind you or without being jostled about by crowds going around you (as there weren't any).

The Secret Itinerary Tour also covers alot of the history of the palace and answers questions like "What is a Doge?" "How do you become a Doge?" "How were laws enacted and enforced?" "How were criminals punished?" "What impact did Napoleon have on Venice?" and so on. If you have alot of interest in history, it is a worthwhile tour.

Suekay and Chick's pal thank you both for your detailed answers. Sounds like it isn't a "big deal" with the stairs and a very worthwhile tour to take.

Are we allowed to take pictures? :confused:

I took pictures on the Secret Itinerary tour as well as in the public rooms of the Doges Palace

I got a picture of the Brilliance from the attic room window near Casanova's cell

We did the Secret Tour 3 weeks ago and I enjoyed it. Not too many stairs. Take a small camera with you. We were not allowed pictures in some places, but there were photo ops at the start of the tour and we had been required to check our bag and my camera was in there. Small purses were allowed, but my purse was considered too large and I was required to check it and I forgot my camera. Then there was no way to get back to my purse after the Secret Tour when we were allowed to do our own tour of the building. My suggestion is to have a small camera to take with you if you have to check your belongings.

Donna

We did the tour last week. It was very cool. However, be forwarned it was very hot and humid, particularly at the most upper levels. We carried little battery powered fans from Sharper Image and they really helped.

Hmm.. whats a good time to call to get an english speaking reservationist?

I just tried to call, and after almost a minute and a half of ringing, someone picked up speaking (what I'm assuming italian), and after after asking a few times if anyone speaks english.. I said "Sorry", and he hung up..

The time difference from California should be 10 hours.

It took me three tries to get my reservation set for next week.

Good luck.

Fran

We did the Secret Tour 3 weeks ago and I enjoyed it. Not too many stairs. Donna

We did this tour on August 31, 2004 and there WERE many stairs especially if you are not in good physical condition. I posted the following topic.

"Doge's Palace Secret Itinerary Tour - re:stairs

With much discussion about the stairs on the Doge's Palace Secret Itinerary Tour before we left I decided to count them. There are 160 stairs on this tour with the longest flight, at any one time, being 75 stairs. This would be a very difficult tour for anyone with problems climbing stairs because it is conducted at a fairly fast pace from one stopping point to the next."

whats a good time to call to get an english speaking reservationist?

This was such an informative thread on this subject that I thought I would bring it back to life for the benefit of others making plans to see this place shortly.

Another way to make resverations is to have your hotel make them for you. I e-mailed my request to the hotel [date, time + number of people], asked if they could/would help me with this and they e-mailed back a confirmation number. This seems simplier than trying to figure out the time difference and the hotel seemed very happy they could help.