Venice: Exclusive After-Hours Tour of Saint Mark's Basilica

This was the BEST tour of our whole Italy trip! St. Mark's is a beautiful basilica, inside and out, and the after hours tour helps you appreciate it with no crowds. Our tour guide, Romy, was outstanding, starting with a brief tour of the square/exterior of the Doge's palace, and explaining the history of Venice. Then she gave great details about the outside of the basilica, before taking us inside. The "light show" was less impressive in summer when it's not dark out (our tour started at 7), and that day not all the lights worked, but the tour was still amazing. The crypt with St. Mark was technically closed to visitors, because the lights weren't working, but Romy moved the ropes, and took us down there anyway with her flashlight! (Another guide did the same). This tour does not include the loggia, so we got the 10-20 euro tickets to see them the next day.

It was wonderful. For us it was a once in a lifetime experience that I will remember always. Our guide Lara was very enthusiastic and spoke excellent English, we didn’t miss a thing she said. The time in the Basilica away from the crowds of tourists was priceless. If you love beautiful art and/or christianity, this is a very emotional visit.

One of the best tours I've ever done. Absolutely amazing experience, and I had been in the cathedral once before (but it was full of crowds that time). To be able to see it almost privately, and have someone share the stories and details, was incredible. Moreover, our flight was delayed by so many hours that we almost missed the tour. The tour component worked with me to find a nearby luggage store and was even trying to be as flexible as possible with the arrival time. We could not have asked for a better experience.

This was probably the highlight of our trip to Venice. It’s so beautiful and peaceful inside at night without all the crowds. The balcony isn’t on the tour at night but that’s okay. The crypt was really cool. Because you are in a smaller group on this tour, you can wander around a lot more than on the day tour which is very regimented on where you go. Also, they light up all the nights at night so it sparkles off the mosaics. They don’t do this during the day. This is a tour you shouldn’t miss.