Venice's squares, bridges and canals: what's free and what you pay for

In Venice, the most photographed places have no ticket office. St Mark’s Square, the Rialto Bridge, the Grand Canal and its four bridges are public streets and squares: you can walk through whenever you like, even at two in the morning, and pay nothing. Even the Bridge of Sighs can be admired free from the waterfront. The money goes on what surrounds them: the palace you cross the bridge from, the gondola that glides beneath it, the waterbus that runs up the canal, a staircase or terrace to see everything from above.

This page lines up the city’s landmarks, tells you which are free and which tickets are nearby, with official and partner prices. It then sends you to the dedicated guides, where you’ll find the history, opening hours and practical advice for each one. All prices were checked at the last update and can change.

Free or paid: the overview

The general rule: walking is free, going up and going on the water costs money. On a tight budget you can see almost every landmark without spending a cent. If you want one extra experience, choose by what interests you most: the inside (the Doge’s Palace), the water (a gondola or line 1) or the view from above (the Campanile, the Bovolo, Palazzo Pisani).

St Mark’s Square

Venice’s only “piazza” (every other square is a campo) is also where the tickets cluster. Around the same space you’ll find the Doge’s Palace, St Mark’s Basilica, the Campanile, the Museo Correr and the Clock Tower. The square itself is open and free day and night. In the evening, once the tour groups have left and the historic cafés’ little orchestras are playing, it feels like a different place.

Two things to know before you go. The Basilica can only be visited with a timed booking, from €10 for the basic ticket on the official site. And sitting on the steps of the Procuratie, on the wellheads or on the ground is forbidden, as is feeding the pigeons. Everything about tickets, cafés and rules is in our St Mark’s Square guide.

Bridge of Sighs

The white stone bridge linking the Doge’s Palace to the New Prisons over the Rio di Palazzo has no ticket of its own. You only cross it within the Doge’s Palace route, which passes through the prisons and returns along the bridge’s other corridor. The ticket is the St Mark’s Square Museums one: €35, or €30 if you buy online at least 30 days in advance.

From outside you can see it free from the Ponte della Paglia, on the Riva degli Schiavoni, a few steps from the Piazzetta. You can also see it from the other side, from the quieter Ponte della Canonica. And you can pass beneath it by gondola: several shared rides leave from the St Mark’s area and go along the Rio di Palazzo. History, prisons and photo tips are in our Bridge of Sighs guide.

Rialto and the Grand Canal

The Rialto Bridge is the oldest of the four bridges over the Grand Canal: the stone arch, with its two rows of shops, dates from the late 16th century. On the San Polo side is the Rialto market, with the Erbaria (fruit and vegetables) and the Pescheria (fish), lively only in the morning and closed on Sundays.

The Grand Canal is about 3.8 km long and runs through the city in an S-shape. The cheapest way to see all of it is vaporetto line 1, which calls at every stop: €9.50 on a 75-minute ticket. The shortest and most Venetian option is the traghetto, the two-oared gondola that crosses the canal for €2. Stops, palaces to spot and the market are covered in our Rialto and Grand Canal guide.

The other Grand Canal bridges

Besides the Rialto, the Grand Canal has three bridges, all free and all less crowded.

• Accademia Bridge. It links Campo Santo Stefano (San Marco) with the Dorsoduro district, right in front of the Gallerie dell’Accademia. It is made of wood, with a single span. From the middle you get the classic view down the Grand Canal towards the dome of the Salute and the mouth of St Mark’s Basin: the postcard everyone recognises. It’s crowded at sunset, but worth the stop.
• Scalzi Bridge. Made of Istrian stone, in front of Santa Lucia station and the Scalzi church it is named after. It’s the first bridge you meet arriving by train: cross it and keep going towards the Rialto and you’re already on your way into the centre.
• Constitution Bridge. The newest of the four, designed by Santiago Calatrava, links Piazzale Roma with the station. Its steps are glass and stone with uneven risers: take care with a suitcase or in the rain, because they get slippery.

All four are on vaporetto line 1, which passes under each of them. For the districts they connect, see our Dorsoduro guide.

Gondolas and traghetti

The gondola is the one Venetian icon that costs more than a museum ticket. The tariff is set by the city: €90 for 30 minutes from 09:00 to 19:00 and €110 for 35 minutes from 19:00, for the whole boat with up to five people. Other durations are charged pro rata. You board at a stazio, one of the gondoliers’ stands with the tariff on display. Alternatively, you can book a private or shared ride on a platform, where a single seat costs less but you share the boat with strangers.

The traghetto is the everyday version: a plain gondola, two gondoliers, a few minutes’ crossing from one bank to the other for €2 per person, in cash. Active crossings and hours change; usually the ones at Santa Sofia (to the market), San Tomà and Santa Maria del Giglio run in the daytime. Prices, stazi and private vs shared rides are covered in our gondola guide.

Venice from above: the paid viewpoints

Venice is flat and dense, so viewpoints are few and nearly all paid.

Scala Contarini del Bovolo. An external spiral staircase of brick and Istrian stone, 26 metres high, tucked away in a courtyard near Campo Manin. Pietro Contarini commissioned it in 1499; bovolo is Venetian for snail shell. At the top there’s a belvedere over the rooftops of the San Marco district. It’s open every day, 10:00–18:00 in the summer season and 09:30–17:30 in winter, closed on 25 and 26 December. The official ticket costs €9 (€7 reduced for ages 12–26 and over-65s, free under 12); on Tiqets it’s €10, one euro more, with entry to the Tintoretto Room listed on the product page. If you’re not in a hurry, the official site is cheaper; Tiqets helps if you want to lock in a time alongside the rest of your day. There are only stairs, no lift.

Palazzo Pisani terrace. The palace, near Campo Santo Stefano, houses the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory. It can only be visited on a guided tour, in Italian or English, in groups of up to 20. The route takes in the frescoed halls and the Pisani family’s former ballroom, now a concert hall. It ends on a terrace at 31 metres, billed as the highest in the city, where scenes from James Bond films and Mission: Impossible were shot. On Tiqets it costs €20 with free cancellation up to your chosen time slot, and is rated 4.9 from over 400 reviews. It is not wheelchair accessible and needs reasonable fitness.

St Mark’s Campanile. The tallest, and the only one with a lift: €15 on the Basilica’s official site, with a time slot. On Tiqets it costs more (€25, with a city audio guide).

Fondaco dei Tedeschi. The rooftop terrace next to the Rialto used to be free with a booking. It closed when the department store shut down, and the building currently opens only for private events. Don’t count on it until a reopening is announced.

How to choose if you’re short of time

Half a day, no tickets. From the station cross the Scalzi Bridge, follow the yellow “Per Rialto” signs (about 30 minutes), stop on the Rialto Bridge, then carry on to St Mark’s. From the Piazzetta walk to the Ponte della Paglia for the Bridge of Sighs, then head back towards the Accademia for the view of the Salute. Cost: nothing, apart from a coffee.

A full day with one ticket. If you can only pay for one thing, choose the Doge’s Palace: you get the Republic’s government chambers, the prisons and the walk across the Bridge of Sighs. Then at sunset take line 1 from Vallaresso towards the Rialto: €9.50 for the Grand Canal from the water.

For the experience. A gondola in the evening (evening tariff €110 for 35 minutes, split between up to five people), or a shared ride by day if there are two of you. If the budget won’t stretch, the €2 Santa Sofia–Pescaria traghetto still puts you on a gondola in the middle of the Grand Canal.

With two or three days, you’ll find a full plan on our things to do in Venice page.

Rules that apply everywhere

City rules are enforced more strictly at the landmarks than anywhere else. No sitting on the ground, on bridge steps, on the embankments or under the monumental arcades of St Mark’s Square. No feeding pigeons or gulls. No swimwear or bare chests, not even on the vaporetto. Fines under the regulation range from €25 to €500. On narrow bridges, and especially the Rialto, step to the side for photos: residents and goods trolleys are coming through behind you.

On the days set by the city each year, mainly spring and summer weekends, day visitors entering the historic centre between 08:30 and 16:00 need the access fee ticket. Guests at a hotel within the municipality are exempt but must register. The calendar and exemptions are explained on our access fee page.