Venice

[Katemusical]

Hi. We will be staying in Venice for a couple of days before our Greek cruise. I am trying to find a company that 6 of us can see all of the main sites with line passes, plus Burano and Murano. There is a company on Viator that offers it, but only has 2 seats available. Anybody have a company they highly recommend, please.

 

 

[princeton123211]

17 minutes ago, Katemusical said:

There is a company on Viator that offers it, but only has 2 seats available.

Viator isnt an actual tour company-- its a 3rd party seller. It's like booking a hotel through Expedia. Often times you can do better booking directly with a tour company and cutting out the middle man. Things like cancellation policies and even the quality of the tour itself can be better when they aren't paying someone else a commission. 

 

19 minutes ago, Katemusical said:

I am trying to find a company that 6 of us can see all of the main sites with line passes, plus Burano and Murano.

You can do a private tour on the water with a private boat that is the same type of boat that comprise the water taxis. You can have 6 very comfortably and the tour takes a little more than half a day. We've done this a few times-- the last time we did it was last year and the cost was somewhere around $600-700.

 

You will visit Murano and Burano but please keep in mind that virtually no matter what type of tour you do you will get a very hard sell at whatever glass blowing factory they bring you to as well as whatever lace outfit they bring you to-- its part of all of the tour guides commission structure. If you want to buy something (usually pretty expensive) go for it but know you can buy through separate channels for less and you can just say "no thanks". 

 

Also if you do a private water tour consider a stop at Torcello. This is a much sleepier (and very peaceful) island and lunch at either Laconda Cipriani (my personal favorite) or Osteria Al Ponte del Diavolo are a treat and your boat driver will wait for you. One of Venice's great experiences. 

 

Tours for things like the Doge's Palace and St Marks can be easily arranged by your concierge if you are staying in town and will provide you with a timed entry or ability to skip the line. No need for a formal tour for those. 

[kohanfam]

LIV Tours and walks of Italy are very popular

[euro cruiser]

What do you consider "all of the main sites"?  There's no way to see all of them in a one day tour, especially not one that spends hours going out to Burano and back.  Which are you most interested in?

[Katemusical]

Doge's Palace and St Marks for sure

[euro cruiser]

Okay, they are adjacent to one another, so do you really need a tour?  You could set up individual tours to each one on your own and avoid paying a middleman to walk you across the piazza.

 

Basilica San Marco

 

Palazzo Ducale | Doge's Palace | Venice (visitmuve.it)

Edited May 1 by euro cruiser

[edinburgher]

3 hours ago, Katemusical said:

I am trying to find a company that 6 of us can see all of the main sites with line passes, plus Burano and Murano. There is a company on Viator that offers it, but only has 2 seats available.

An astonishing itinerary promise  for one day, so assume that there are no inside visits and that Burano and Murano must be really really brief stops. Any tour offering all that in one day  should have you reading the tour description very very carefully so you are clear about what is included and what is not..

 

And remember that Viator is not a tour providor, only a middleman and your contracted T's and C's will be those of Viator rather than whichever tour company they book you with.

 

You could very very easily complete your wish list independently, by following the advice from eurocruiser in post #6 and taking the public vaporetto to Murano and Burano.  Without a guide you can visit whichever glass factories or showrooms (or none) of your choosing and enjoy a nice lunch somewhere.  You can also go at your own pace.

 

It reads as if this will be your first Venice visit. 

 

Have you read any of the previous threads which mention the excellent and highly recommened website https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/.? It should be your first info source for all things Venice and the more you look into it, the more you will find. In addition to the obvious questions, it will answer questions you didn't even know you wanted to ask.😀

 

 

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, edinburgher said:

An astonishing itinerary promise  for one day, so assume that there are no inside visits and that Burano and Murano must be really really brief stops. Any tour offering all that in one day  should have you reading the tour description very very carefully so you are clear about what is included and what is not..

 

And remember that Viator is not a tour providor, only a middleman and your contracted T's and C's will be those of Viator rather than whichever tour company they book you with.

Any of this new information from what I provided?

[edinburgher]

8 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

any of this new information from what I provided?

For sure the last paragraph, IMHO the most important info source for first time visitors which nobody had mentioned until then, otherwise I had an "oops/senior moment" as had not noticed that I was replicating some of your post albeit in a different way from your own. Sorry you took umbrage as that wasn't my intention.

 

Edited May 2 by edinburgher