Booking Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica Tickets in Venice

Every first visit to Venice comes down to the same two buildings on the same square. The Doge's Palace, seat of the Venetian Republic for centuries, and St. Mark's Basilica, the gold-mosaic church next to it. Both are ticketed, both are timed in different ways, and both fill up by mid-morning from April to October.

This guide explains how each ticket works in 2026, what the official hours are, what else your ticket opens, and the order that gets you through both before the square is at its busiest.

Two buildings, two ticket systems

The Doge's Palace is run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. The ticket is the St. Mark's Square Museums ticket, which covers the palace plus the Museo Correr, the National Archaeological Museum and the monumental rooms of the Marciana Library across the square. Buy it online at least 30 days ahead and it is discounted. A MUVE app audio guide is included.

St. Mark's Basilica is run by the Procuratoria di San Marco. Entry is by timed slot booked on the Procuratoria's official ticket site, tickets.basilicasanmarco.it, with add-ons for the Pala d'Oro altarpiece, the museum and loggia, and the bell tower.

A guided tour that includes both handles the two systems for you. Our Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica guided tour does exactly that, with skip the line entry to both.

Doge's Palace tickets: the rules

• Hours: April 1 to October 31, 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, last admission 6:00 pm. November 1 to March 31, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, last admission 5:00 pm. Closing procedures begin 30 minutes before closing.
• Online discount: the online price applies only to tickets bought at least 30 days before the visit date. Inside 30 days you pay the standard price.
• Untimed tickets enter from noon. Holders of St. Mark's Square Museums tickets without a specific entry slot are admitted to the palace from 12:00 pm onward. If you want a morning visit, book a timed slot.
• Guided tours leave on time. Arriving more than 15 minutes after the departure time of a booked guided tour means exclusion from the tour.
• No suitcases or bulky bags. Luggage whose three sides add up to more than one meter is not allowed in, and there is no storage for it. Medium bags and backpacks are fine.
• Reduced tickets for children 6 to 14, students 15 to 25, visitors over 65 and holders of the Rolling Venice card, with ID. Children under 6 and visitors with disabilities and a companion enter free.
• Special itineraries: the Secret Itineraries tour (the administrative and judicial rooms behind the state rooms) and the Doge's Hidden Treasures tour (the doge's private chapel rooms) are separate guided tickets that also include the standard palace visit and the other three museums.
• Museum Pass: a six-month pass to all the civic museums of Venice, including the palace, with one admission each and no reservation required.

Our Doge's Palace guided tour with Bridge of Sighs access covers the state rooms and the crossing over the Bridge of Sighs into the prisons with a licensed guide.

St. Mark's Basilica tickets: the rules

• Hours, Monday to Saturday: the basilica, Pala d'Oro, museum and loggia open at 9:30 am, last admission 4:45 pm, closing 5:15 pm.
• Sundays and public holidays: the basilica opens to visitors at 2:00 pm (mornings are for services), last admission 4:45 pm, closing 5:15 pm. The museum and the loggia with the horses open at 9:30 am as usual.
• Timed entry. Admission to the basilica is permitted only during the booked time slot.
• Bell tower (Campanile): separate ticket. Summer: opens 9:30 am, last admission between 8:00 and 8:30 pm, closes 9:15 pm. Winter: opens 9:30 am, last admission 6:00 to 6:45 pm, closes 7:15 pm. Times shift with events and weather.
• Dress and behavior: it is a working cathedral. Shoulders and knees covered, no large bags, silence inside. Visitor access can be suspended for religious services.
• Accessibility: visitors with disabilities and their companions enter free; show documentation at the entrance. Wheelchair users enter through the Porta dei Fiori on the left side of the basilica, which has a ramp.

Our St. Mark's Basilica guided tour with terrace and museum includes the timed entry, the museum with the original bronze horses, and the loggia over the square.

One basilica ticket, 30 more churches

This is the detail most visitors miss. A St. Mark's Basilica ticket also admits you, within six months of purchase, to more than 30 other churches across Venice, from Madonna dell'Orto in Cannaregio to San Giacomo dell'Orio in Santa Croce, plus the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello island, the sacristy of the Salute basilica and the Pinacoteca Manfrediniana at the Salute. It also gives free entry to the Home of The Human Safety Net in the Procuratie on the square.

Keep the ticket after your visit. It turns any walk through Venice into a church itinerary, and it means the Torcello basilica on a Murano and Burano island day is already covered.

What you see inside each

The Doge's Palace

The palace was the residence of the doge, the elected head of the Venetian Republic who held office for life, and the seat of its government and courts. The wing facing the water is the oldest, rebuilt from 1340; the wing on the Piazzetta took its present form from 1424; the canal-side wing with the doge's apartments and government offices dates from 1483 to 1565. Fires in 1483, 1574 and 1577 led to rebuilding that kept the Gothic exterior and filled the interiors with Renaissance and Mannerist decoration.

Visitors enter through the Porta del Frumento under the 14th-century facade on the waterfront. Inside, the route takes in the institutional rooms where the councils met and the doge's apartments, and crosses the Bridge of Sighs into the New Prisons built in the 17th century. After the Republic fell in 1797, the palace housed the Marciana Library from 1811 to 1904, became a public museum in 1923 and joined the Civic Museums network in 1996.

Allow two hours.

St. Mark's Basilica

The first church of St. Mark was consecrated in 832 to hold the relics of the evangelist. The present building was begun in 1063 under Doge Domenico Contarini and consecrated in 1094; the mosaic decoration began in 1063 and continued for centuries. After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, marbles and treasures from Constantinople arrived, including the four bronze horses, the Madonna Nicopeia icon and the enamels of the Pala d'Oro.

The basic ticket covers the basilica floor with its gold mosaics. The Pala d'Oro, the jeweled gold altarpiece behind the high altar, is an add-on. The museum upstairs holds the original horses, and the loggia opens onto St. Mark's Square. Allow 45 minutes to an hour with the museum.

The best order for one morning

1. Doge's Palace at 9:00 am, when it opens, with a timed ticket or a tour. Two hours.
2. St. Mark's Basilica at 11:00 or 11:30 am, on a timed slot. An hour with the museum and loggia.
3. Lunch away from the square, then the Campanile in the afternoon if the sky is clear.

On Sundays, flip it: basilica museum and loggia at 9:30 am, palace at 11:00 am, and the basilica floor after 2:00 pm.

From April to October the square is at its most crowded from about 10:30 am, so the first palace slot and the first tour of the day matter. Winter is quieter, with fog and possible acqua alta, when raised walkways appear in the square.

Getting to St. Mark's Square

From Venezia Santa Lucia station or Piazzale Roma, vaporetto Line 1 to Vallaresso or San Zaccaria takes about 25 minutes; Line 2 to Giardinetti about 40 minutes, or get off at Rialto (about 15 minutes) and walk 5 to 10 minutes. Lines 4.1 and 5.1 also stop at San Zaccaria. On foot from either arrival point it is 30 to 45 minutes. From Marco Polo airport, the Alilaguna orange line reaches St. Mark's in about 70 minutes via Murano and the Lido, or take the bus to Piazzale Roma and continue by vaporetto.

Ticket or tour?

Book the tickets yourself if you can buy the palace ticket more than 30 days ahead for the discount, you are happy with the audio guide, and you are visiting outside high season.

Book a guided tour if:

• You are inside the 30-day window and slots for the basilica are thin
• You want the council chambers and the prisons explained, since the palace's rooms are not self-explanatory
• You want one booking for both buildings and one meeting point
• You are traveling on a Sunday and need the timing worked out around the services

Our Venice tours include skip the line entry to both buildings, in small groups or private.

Book both, skip both lines

Our Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica guided tour covers both buildings in one morning with a licensed guide and skip the line entry. For each on its own, see the Doge's Palace tour with Bridge of Sighs and the St. Mark's Basilica tour with terrace and museum, or browse everything on our Venice tours page.