City Wonders in Venice: a review of its San Marco and island tours

City Wonders is an international tour operator that does a few things in Venice, always the same ones: it takes groups inside St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace, adds a shared gondola ride if you want one, and runs boat excursions to Murano and Burano. The Venice catalogue is short, prices are published in euros and the cancellation rules are simple.

This review covers who is behind it, what it sells and at what price, how booking and cancellation work, what we like and what to watch out for. Prices are those published on the City Wonders website when this page was updated, per adult, and they can change.

Who City Wonders is

The company name, City Wonders Ltd, appears on its vouchers. The Venice pages give no address or VAT number. According to public company profiles, the business is based in Dublin and started in Rome under another name, “Dark Rome”. Today it sells tours in several European cities and in New York. Besides its own website, its tours appear on platforms such as GetYourGuide, where it has a supplier profile: prices and terms there may differ from those on its own site.

What it sells in Venice and at what price

Every tour on the Venice page is in English. Prices are “from” prices and, according to the site, include taxes and fees.

How much you pay for the guide

For the Skip-the-Line Doge’s Palace and Basilica tour you would need the St Mark’s Square Museums ticket (€35, or €30 online at least 30 days ahead) and the basic Basilica ticket (€10): €40–€45. With City Wonders you pay €74, so about €30–€35 for the guide, headsets and group entry. That is one of the smallest mark-ups among the San Marco tours we compared: Walks of Italy charges €89 for a 3-hour tour that also includes the terrace.

Best of Venice adds the gondola. The city’s tariff is €90 per boat for 30 minutes during the day: split five ways, that is €18 each. All the entries plus the gondola, bought yourself, come to about €60–€65. The tour costs €129.

For Murano and Burano, €36 for the group tour is a low price for 5 hours with a boat and a guide. On Tiqets, similar tours from other operators start at €25. On your own, with the vaporetto and a €25 ACTV day pass, you spend €11 less but have to organise it yourself: our Murano and Burano guides explain how.

How booking works

You book on citywonders.com. The voucher arrives by email and can be managed online: from the bookings area you can cancel, reschedule, find the meeting point on a map and review the tour information. The tour pages remind you to check the exact meeting point, check-in time and visit order on your voucher, as these can change.

For the Basilica tour every guest must bring a passport or valid identity document, as required by the Basilica’s security rules. Shoulders and knees must also be covered. Group tours use personal headsets, which are compulsory in Venice for groups of more than 10, according to Confcommercio’s FAQ on the city rules.

Cancellation and changes

• Up to 24 hours before: free cancellation or changes, by contacting City Wonders or through the bookings area.
• In the last 24 hours: no cancellations and no changes of date or time.
• Bookings made within the last 24 hours: final.
• Non-refundable options: some rates are; check the terms of the option you choose before paying.
• Late arrivals and no-shows: if you arrive late or can’t find the meeting point, you may be turned away without a refund.

Refunds go back to the card you paid with, usually within 5–10 days. Unlike Walks of Italy, which requires 3 days’ notice for tours with the Basilica, here the 24-hour rule applies to San Marco tours too.

Languages and support

All Venice tours are in English, with local guides. Customer service answers by live chat every day from 9:00 to 21:00 (Italian time), including questions about meeting points, cancellations and changes; changes can also be requested by email.

What we like

• Low entry price for a guided San Marco tour: €74 with the Doge’s Palace and Basilica.
• 24-hour cancellation even on tours with the Basilica, manageable online.
• Prices in euros, all-inclusive. No extras at checkout.
• An honest tour page. Best of Venice states clearly that the gondola is shared and without commentary, and warns that restoration work may obscure parts of the visit.

What to watch out for

• Groups of up to 25. That is the maximum allowed in Venice: it is not a small group.
• Shared gondola with up to six guests. The city tariff gives a maximum of 5 passengers per gondola: if that matters to you, ask City Wonders to confirm. If you want a gondola to yourself, the rates are in our gondola guide.
• English only. No Venice tours in other languages.
• Basilica closures. The Basilica is closed to visitors during services and on Sunday mornings: the order of the visit may change.
• Little company information on the site: no address or VAT number on the Venice pages.

Who it’s for

City Wonders suits you if you want a guided San Marco tour at the lowest possible price, with flexible cancellation, and don’t mind a group of 20–25 with headsets. The €36 Murano and Burano tour is good value if you don’t want to work out the vaporetto yourself. If you want a small group or a guide in another language, look elsewhere.

Alternatives

• Walks of Italy. Similar tours from €89, with the Basilica terrace and after-hours access; 3-day cancellation on tours with the Basilica.
• LivTours. Groups of no more than 6, from €99.
• On your own. Our guides to the Doge’s Palace, St Mark’s Basilica and Murano explain how to buy official tickets and get around by vaporetto.

Verdict

City Wonders does a simple thing well: group tours of San Marco and the islands at some of the lowest prices we compared, with clear terms and free cancellation up to 24 hours before. In return you accept groups of up to 25, a shared gondola with no commentary and English-only tours. If you want good value with a guide, it is a sensible choice. If you want intimacy or special access, it isn’t.

Transparency: we have no commercial relationship with City Wonders and earn no commission on tours booked on its website. The button at the top opens another operator’s tour on Tiqets, where we earn a commission.