Doge's Palace, Venice: tickets, hours and what to see

For centuries the Doge’s Palace was the doge’s residence and the place where the councils, courts and prisons of the Venetian Republic met and worked. It is the city’s signature museum and, if you only have time for one, this is the one to choose: in a single visit you walk through the halls where laws were voted, stand in front of Tintoretto’s Paradise, cross the Bridge of Sighs and go down into the cells of the New Prisons.

A Doge’s Palace ticket is never just for the Doge’s Palace. It’s called St Mark’s Square Museums and also covers the Museo Correr, the National Archaeological Museum and the Monumental Rooms of the Biblioteca Marciana. Below you’ll find official and online prices, the time-slot rule many people only discover at the door, and the guided visits worth booking.

Doge’s Palace tickets: official and online prices

All prices are per person and can change: always check before paying.

The reduced ticket applies to ages 6–14, students 15–25, over-65s and Rolling Venice Card or ISIC holders. Entry is free for children up to 5, residents of the Comune di Venezia, and disabled visitors with a companion. Online you can only buy the age-based reductions; other concessions are issued at the ticket desk on showing ID. Families should know the “Seniors + Junior” offer: with 2 adults and at least one young person up to 16, every paying member of the group gets the reduced price.

The only way to pay less than €35 as an adult is to buy on the official site at least 30 days ahead: the price drops to €30. If you’re planning well in advance, do it at muve.vivaticket.it.

On Tiqets the fast-track entry costs €35, the same as the official full price, and is rated 4.6 out of 5 by almost nine thousand reviewers. It covers the same spaces: the Palace, Armoury, Bridge of Sighs, first floor of the Correr, Archaeological Museum and Biblioteca Marciana. It is non-refundable. It makes sense if you’re booking less than 30 days before your visit, when the official site costs €35 anyway, and if you’d rather manage everything in one app. If you book earlier, the official channel saves you €5 a head.

The 12:00 rule

MUVE states it clearly: St Mark’s Museums tickets without a time slot are only admitted to the Doge’s Palace from 12:00. That applies to people buying at the desk without a slot, to untimed passes and to many combined tickets. If you want to go in at 9:00, when the Palace is quieter, book a slot and check that the time is printed on your ticket. With the Museum Pass, which has no time slot, use the morning for the Correr and leave the Palace for the afternoon.

How to book and when to go

• Official site: muve.vivaticket.it, or the MUVE call centre (848082000 from Italy, +39 041 42730892 from abroad).
• On Tiqets: fast-track entry, Secret Itineraries and the guided tour, with the ticket on your phone.
• At the ticket desk: possible, but without a time slot you only get in from 12:00 and in high season the queue can be long.

The best times are opening, at 9:00, or the last couple of hours of the afternoon, once the tour groups have left. On summer Fridays and Saturdays, roughly from May to late September (dates change every year), the Palace stays open until 23:00, last entry 22:00: the lit halls and the courtyard at night are a different experience, with far fewer people. Closing procedures start 30 minutes before the posted time. For Christmas and New Year MUVE publishes a separate calendar each year.

Guided visits: Secret Itineraries, Hidden Treasures and tours

Secret Itineraries

This is the visit everyone remembers. In about 1 hour 15 minutes a guide takes you into the spaces where the Republic’s administrative and judicial machine worked: the Pozzi, the ground-floor cells; the offices of the Ducal Notary and the Deputato alla Segreta; the Secret Chancellery; the Torture Chamber; the Piombi, the cells under the lead roof where Giacomo Casanova was held before his famous escape; the attics; the Chamber of the Inquisitors and finally the Chamber of the Three Heads.

It costs €40 (reduced €20) both officially and on Tiqets, and includes the self-guided visit of the Doge’s Palace, Correr, Archaeological Museum and Marciana: you don’t need another ticket. Groups range from 2 to 25 people. There are only a few departures a day in English, Italian and French, and they change with the season, so book ahead. Children under 6 are not admitted, and the tour isn’t recommended for people with mobility problems, claustrophobia, vertigo, heart or breathing conditions, or during pregnancy. The Tiqets listing gives a duration of one hour; the official page says about 1 hour 15.

The Doge’s Hidden Treasures

Less well known and strictly limited (maximum 10 people), this tour covers the private side of power. It starts at the Porta della Carta, passes the Foscari terrace and loggia, the Sala dei Forzieri where the treasure was kept, the Doge’s terrace and apartment, Titian’s St Christopher fresco (1523), and ends in the doge’s small private chapel. It also lasts about 1 hour 15, costs €40 (reduced €20), includes the self-guided visit and doesn’t admit children under 6. It can only be booked through the official channel.

Guided tour of the main route

MUVE does not sell a standard guided tour of the main rooms. On Tiqets there is a €59 guided tour with headsets (4.3 out of 5) that takes you through the institutional rooms to the Bridge of Sighs. Compared with the plain ticket plus the MUVE audio guide, which is already included via the app, you pay €24 more to have a person telling the story and answering questions. It’s worth it if you’re travelling with teenagers or if Venice’s political history interests you more than the paintings.

Doge’s Palace and Basilica together

The Tiqets Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Basilica combo costs €76.50. Through the official channels you’d pay €35 for the Palace and €10 for the Basilica alone, so €45, or €65 with the full Basilica ticket including the Pala d’Oro and the Museum. The difference covers the added services, starting with hosted entry to the Basilica: check the listing for exactly what’s included. The Basilica has very strict sales rules (named tickets, a maximum of 5 per account per year), which is why resellers offer packages rather than the bare ticket. Read our guide to St Mark’s Basilica before you decide.

What to see inside the Doge’s Palace

The route follows a set order. From the Porta del Frumento entrance you step into the courtyard, dominated by the Giants’ Staircase (Scala dei Giganti), the old ceremonial entrance, with the colossal statues of Mars and Neptune carved by Sansovino in 1565, symbols of Venice’s power over land and sea. On the ground floor, the Museo dell’Opera keeps the original capitals and sculptures removed during restoration in six rooms.

You go up to the loggia and then by the Golden Staircase (Scala d’Oro), with its gilded stucco vault, which led to the Doge’s Apartments and the government halls. On the upper floors come the Square Atrium, the Sala del Collegio, where the doge received ambassadors, the Senate Hall and the Hall of the Council of Ten, the court for crimes against the State. Look out along the way for the bocche di leone, the “lion’s mouth” slots in the wall where anonymous denunciations were posted.

The high point is the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, the vast hall where the assembly of all the patricians met. On the wall behind the doge’s seat hangs Jacopo Tintoretto’s Paradise, painted between 1588 and 1592 with his son Domenico and the workshop: it measures 7.65 by 24.51 metres and is one of the largest canvases of the Renaissance. It replaced Guariento’s 14th-century fresco, damaged in the fire of 1577. The message was political: Venice as the earthly image of the heavenly order.

Next come the Armoury, with the Republic’s weapons and armour, and the picture gallery, with works by Giovanni Bellini, Carpaccio, Titian, Giambattista Tiepolo and an apocalyptic vision attributed to a follower of Bosch. From the Sala del Magistrato alle Leggi a small staircase leads to the prisons.

Bridge of Sighs, New Prisons and Armoury

The Bridge of Sighs has no ticket of its own: it is part of the Doge’s Palace route. Built in the 17th century together with the New Prisons, it has two separate internal passageways; you cross it on the way to the prisons and again on the way back to the Palace, looking out at the Rio di Palazzo and the lagoon through the stone grilles. The New Prisons, according to MUVE, are among the first buildings in Europe designed specifically as a state prison: narrow corridors and cells with thick stone walls.

On Tiqets you’ll also find a €9.90 visit to the “Prison Palace” entered from the Riva degli Schiavoni: it’s a separate product from a different operator. The New Prisons are already included in the normal Doge’s Palace ticket, so this isn’t the only way to see them.

For the view from outside, the classic spot is the Ponte della Paglia on the waterfront, a few steps from the entrance. Or from the water: many gondolas pass right under the bridge, and gondolatour.venice.it has routes and fares for gondola rides.

A little history

The palace you see is the result of centuries of rebuilding. The wing on St Mark’s Basin is the oldest, rebuilt from 1340. The Piazzetta wing followed from 1424. After the fire of 1483 the Renaissance wing along the canal was built, completed in 1565. Two more fires, in 1574 and 1577, destroyed some of the halls and their art, which is why almost all the canvases you see today date from the late 16th century. The New Prisons and the Bridge of Sighs came in the 17th century. With the fall of the Republic in 1797 the palace lost its political role; between 1811 and 1904 it also housed the Biblioteca Marciana.

Practical tips for your visit

• Time: two and a half to three hours for the Palace, plus an hour for the Correr. If you only have half an afternoon, do the Palace and leave the Correr for another day, if your ticket allows it.
• Audio guide: included via the MUVE app, in Italian, English, French, Spanish, German and Korean. Bring earphones and a charged phone.
• Bags: no suitcases, trolleys or bags over one linear metre. Backpacks and medium bags go to the free cloakroom.
• Accessibility: the main route is accessible, with lifts and ground-floor toilets. The Prisons, Armoury and Secret Itineraries are not, and neither is the Bridge of Sighs.
• With children: there’s a baby-change and feeding room. Teenagers tend to love the prisons; the Secret Itineraries are closed to under-6s.
• Services: café, bookshop and, via the Bauadvisor app, a dog-sitting service.

Getting there

The entrance is on the Piazzetta San Marco, lagoon side, through the Porta del Frumento, not the Porta della Carta next to the Basilica. By vaporetto get off at San Zaccaria or San Marco Vallaresso on lines 1, 2, 4.1 or 5.1. From Rialto it’s about 10–15 minutes on foot along the Mercerie to St Mark’s Square. If you’re carrying luggage or running late for your time slot, a water taxi can drop you at the San Marco landing stage, a short walk from the entrance.

Combine it with nearby sights

The same ticket gets you into the Museo Correr, across the square: Neoclassical rooms with Canova, the Venetian picture gallery and the royal apartments. That’s also where the Clock Tower guided tours start; they aren’t included, but with a St Mark’s ticket they cost €11 instead of €15. A few steps away is St Mark’s Basilica, which needs a separate named ticket, and the Campanile. If you’re thinking of visiting another civic museum too, such as Ca’ Rezzonico or the Glass Museum, consider the Museum Pass: for €50 it covers the Doge’s Palace and all the others for six months.