Tiqets in Venice: platform review, prices and conditions

Tiqets is the Dutch platform built to sell museum and attraction tickets on your smartphone. In Venice, though, it sells more than entries: the catalogue also includes shared gondolas, vaporetto passes, the Alilaguna airport boat and shared water-taxi transfers. Here is what you actually buy, what it costs against the official channel and what happens if you need to cancel.

Disclosure. We receive a commission on bookings made through our links to Tiqets, at no extra cost to you. The comparisons below still put the official price next to the Tiqets price, including where the official one is cheaper. This site is not official and does not sell tickets.

Who Tiqets is

The company is Tiqets International B.V., based in Amsterdam and registered with the Dutch chamber of commerce under number 59620285. According to its About page, it was founded in Amsterdam in 2014. Expedia Group recently announced an agreement to acquire it; as of this page’s date we found no official statement that the deal has closed, and Tiqets’ own About page does not mention it.

Tiqets does not run museums or boats: it resells products from local bodies and companies. One point in its favour: every product page gives the supplier’s legal name and address. The shared airport water taxi, for example, is supplied by Bucintoro Viaggi S.r.l., a Venetian agency belonging to the Alilaguna group.

What it sells in Venice, and at what price

The Venice page groups products by category: historical sites (47), museums (28), boat tours (28), transfers (27), concerts (11), city cards and passes (10). Here are the main products compared with the official adult price.

Prices read on this page’s update date; on Tiqets they can vary with season, day and time.

The table tells a clear story: for the Civic Museums the price is the same, while for the Basilica and the Campanile Tiqets costs more because it adds a service. St Mark’s Basilica deserves an explanation. The Procuratoria’s terms forbid selling the bare ticket to private customers and cancel, without refund, tickets bought from non-accredited operators. That is why platforms sell a “hosted entry”: you pay €19 instead of €10 and in return you enter with a host. The official ticket, however, can be bought up to 90 days ahead, carries your name, and each account can buy at most 5 a year. If you are a large family or decide at the last minute, hosted entry may be the only way in. Tiqets’ Basilica products are rated low, between 3.4 and 3.6 out of 5.

For the Doge’s Palace, the €35 ticket is rated 4.6 from nearly 9,000 reviews. If you book more than a month ahead, the Civic Museums’ site saves you €5 per person and lets you cancel until the day before.

With the gondola, do the maths carefully. The City tariff is €90 for 30 minutes by day, per gondola and for up to 5 people: split five ways that is €18 each. The classic ride on Tiqets costs €39 per person and includes 30 minutes in a shared gondola, a short introduction and entry to the Gondola Gallery. It suits solo travellers and couples who don’t want to deal with the gondola stand; for four or five people, a private ride at the official tariff costs less.

How booking works

You don’t need an account: you pay, get a payment confirmation, then a second email with the tickets. The help centre says 98% arrive within 15 minutes and the rest within half an hour; the general terms, however, give the supplier up to 48 hours to issue the ticket, with a full refund if it cannot. For timed visits, then, don’t book at the very last minute.

Tickets are shown on your phone and stay in the app’s wallet even offline. Some products must be exchanged in person: the Alilaguna boat voucher, for instance, is shown at the Bucintoro Viaggi office. Because Tiqets doesn’t use accounts, you can’t change the booking email yourself, so check it before paying.

Cancellations and changes

Read the rules carefully here. The general terms say cancellation is possible “only if we mention this in the product description”. The help centre instead describes an opt-in free cancellation chosen at purchase, valid until 23:59 on the day before your visit. In practice, the individual product page decides.

In Venice the difference shows. The Doge’s Palace, Basilica, Campanile, Guggenheim and vaporetto products are non-refundable. Gondolas, the Alilaguna boat, the shared water taxi, the Museum Pass and several concerts can be cancelled until the day before, and the vintage-boat islands tour until the departure time. Two details: deadlines follow the attraction’s local time, and you cannot cancel only part of the tickets in an order. Refunds go back to the original payment method within 5–10 working days. The 14-day EU withdrawal right does not apply to date-bound leisure services.

Fees

Tiqets charges a “booking fee” on some orders. Its help centre says the fee covers payment costs and charges imposed by suppliers, and that for most venues it can avoid charging one. This is a real difference from GetYourGuide and Viator, whose terms include no traveller fee. The fee appears in the summary before payment. Tiqets also says it uses dynamic pricing, which changes with season, day and time.

Support and languages

The site is translated into many languages, including Italian. Customer service answers 24 hours a day in English by chat, WhatsApp and email; there is no customer phone number. That may be enough if you have a problem at a museum entrance, but if you prefer to speak to someone on the phone you should know it in advance.

Reviews and track record

Only people who bought a ticket can review. The score is a simple average, and Tiqets may also show external reviews with their source indicated. Reviews that only discuss customer service or the booking process may be removed, so scores describe the venue more than the platform.

Worth knowing: in the Colosseum ticketing case (PS12603), the Italian Competition Authority fined Tiqets €4.3 million over the automated purchase of tickets later resold at higher prices. According to press reports, the Lazio regional administrative court upheld the fine. The case concerns Rome, not Venice, but it explains why Venice’s busiest sites sell named tickets.

What we like and what to watch

We like: official prices for the Civic Museums, the Alilaguna boat and several smaller museums; the supplier named with its legal address; tickets on your phone and in the app even offline; cancellation until the day before on gondolas, transfers and the Museum Pass; a way into the Basilica even when official tickets are sold out or you have hit the 5-ticket limit.

Watch out for: the Doge’s Palace costs €5 more than buying officially 30 days ahead; the Basilica, terrace and Campanile cost much more than from the Procuratoria; the vaporetto is not a saving; the booking fee on some orders; no phone support; cancellation rules that change from product to product.

Who it suits

Tiqets suits travellers who book a few days ahead and want everything in one app: Civic Museums, a shared gondola ride, the airport boat. It suits less those who plan well in advance and want the lowest price: for the Doge’s Palace, the Basilica, the Campanile and the vaporetto, the official channel costs the same or less.

Alternatives

GetYourGuide has the widest catalogue of guided tours and transfers, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before as its default rule. Headout also sells the 75-minute ACTV ticket at the official price. For the full list of sellers, from official bodies to the water-taxi consortia, see the operators page.

Verdict

Tiqets is a reliable platform for Venice entry tickets, transparent about suppliers and handy on a smartphone. For the Civic Museums you pay the official price; for the Basilica and the Campanile you pay for an extra service that only makes sense if the official ticket doesn’t work for you. Before paying, check two things on the product page: whether it is refundable, and whether a booking fee applies.