Ensconced in a labyrinth of canals, structures of Byzantine architecture, waterbodies speckled with bobbing boats and a rich lineage of history and culture, Venice has a singular charm that will make your weak in the knees.This water borne city is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe and has a lot to offer for those seeking to visit a one of a kind city, blanketed in history and mind blowingly beautiful.
The two most popular Venice City Passes are the Venice Museum Pass & the St Mark's City Pass. Both these passes have been designed to help you keep the expenses down while you explore and experience Venice with ease. Via this blog, we will go through the offerings of each pass, outline the difference between the passes, help you understand which pass suits your trip better and offer tips on how you can purchase these passes and get the most value for money.
Venice Museum Pass vs St. Mark's City Pass
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Venice Museum Pass €25 Book Now | St. Mark's City Pass €33.9 Book Now | |
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| Attractions | Skip the line access to Doge’s Palace, Museo Correr, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Palazzo Mocenigo, Natural History Museum, Murano Glass Museum and more. Check out the full list of attractions below. | Priority access to Doge’s Palace, Venice Casino, Museo Correr, Archaeological Museum, Palazzo Mocenigo, Santa Maria del Giglio, Natural History Museum & more. Check out the full list of attractions below. |
| Validity | 10-Museum Pass - 6 months from the date of purchase | 7 days from the date of first use and grants one single admission to each attraction. |
What is the Venice Museum Pass?
The charm of Venice lies in its slew of decorated museums detailing various aspects of Venetian history. Those of you looking to leave Venice better enlightened about Venice’s past, this all inclusive Venice Museum Pass is an absolutely dream deal.
You avail seamless access to 3 or 10 museums in Venice ( depending on your choice) and you can skip the 45 minute average queue outside the Doge’s Palace with the Venice Museum Pass. This pass is a convenient option that saves you time, energy and gives you about 50% savings as opposed to buying tickets outside each attraction. The pass is activated when you use it at the first attraction, after which it is valid for consecutive days as specified by your choice of pass.
Venice Museum Pass Inclusions
Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Venice Museum Pass
The Venice Museum Pass will cost you €25 while you will be spending €42 if you were to buy individual tickets for these attractions. This translates to savings of around 50%!
What is the St Mark's City Pass?
St Mark’s City Pass enables a balanced exploration of Venice city. You have the option of discovering the best of Venetian culture and tailoring it to your taste. Explore a mix of museums, churches, art galleries, a library, an exhibition, an opera house and a casino over a span of 7 days with this pass. So, why spend your day standing in ticket lines when you can select 3 museums and 3 churches of your choice; all at an unbeatable price with the St. Mark's City Pass?!
Brownie Bonus is the Skip the Line access to all the attractions that will save you infinite time and energy!
St.Mark's City Pass Inclusions
Cost-Benefit Analysis of the St. Mark's City Pass
The St.Mark's City Pass will cost you €33.9while you will be spending €44 if you were to buy individual tickets and the Chorus Pass to visit the churches in Venice. Not only are the savings great, but you can access most of Venice at your fingertips and forget about queues everywhere! Quite handy, we say.
While the above tickets are a basic version of the St. Mark's City Pass, you have a more comprehensive version that will help you save more while exploring more! Check out the Platinum and Gold Venice City Passes for a single pass that will give you access to airport transfers, guided tours and more.
Venice Gold City Pass
- Admission to the Doge’s Palace + the other 3 St. Mark’s Square Museums
- Admission to 9 Museums, including 7 Civic Museums of Venice, to the Jewish Museum and to Querini Stampalia Foundation
- Admission to the 16 churches of the Chorus Circuit
- Guided tour of the Teatro La Fenice with audioguide + complimentary permission to take photographs inside the Theatre
- 3 Days ACTV Public Transport - 3 days Travelcard (vaporetto and buses in the City of Venice).
- Rolling Venice Card discount card for young people between 6 and 29 years
- Free Admission Ticket to Venice Casino
- 24 hours ticket for Internet access in the Wi-Fi areas of Venice for a continuous period of 24 hours from the first use
Venice Platinum City Pass
- Admission to the Doge’s Palace + the other 3 St. Mark’s Square Museums
- Admission to 10 Museums, including 7 Civic Museums of Venice, to the Jewish Museum and to Querini Stampalia Foundation
- Admission to the 16 churches of the Chorus Circuit
- Guided tour of the Teatro La Fenice with audioguide + complimentary permission to take photographs inside the Theatre
- Trip to the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello by choosing between two different times: 10am / 2pm
- 7 Days ACTV Public Transport - 7 days Travelcard (vaporetto and buses in the City of Venice).
- Rolling Venice Card discount card for young people between 6 and 29 years
- Transfer from/to Marco Polo Airport (return ticket)
- Free Admission Ticket to Venice Casino
- 24 hours ticket for Internet access in the Wi-Fi areas of Venice for a continuous period of 24 hours from the first use
Which Venice Pass Should I Go For?
Since both the passes have different validities, you can purchase them according to the length of your stay and most importantly based on your appetite for sightseeing.
If you’re on a budget
If you are on a shoe string budget, the €20 Venice Museum Pass is an absolute boon. You can skip the line and visit the heritage of Venice on this economical pass. The St Mark's Museum is priced at €39, not too different from the Venice Museum Pass but has a huger basket of offerings.
If you looking to consume copious amounts of Venice's attractions within a few days
This completely depends on what kind of a traveler you are. If you are looking to leave Venice after tasting bits of its political, religious and cultural history, then the St Mark's City Pass is your obvious choice. However, if you are a museum trotter, then the Venice Museum Pass should do you good.
If you are planning to stay for in Venice for longer than a week
If you are in Venice for a longer period of time and you do not intend to rush through your sightseeing, the Venice Museum Pass which is valid for 6 months is an obvious choice.
If you’re travelling with kids, young adults
If you're travelling with kids/young adults, both these passes offer reduced rates for these age groups. The Venice Museum Pass is free for children aged 5 and below and is discounted for the youth ( 6 - 26). The St Mark's Pass on the other hand is free for children below the age of 6 and again discounted for the youth (Age 6-29).
All in One Deal
If you're looking for an all in one pass - ACTV tickets, airport transfers, attraction tickets, casino entry, 24 hour wifi card and more; your best bet is the Venice Platinum Pass that gifts you the best of Venice at your fingertips. Buy this pass and explore Venice with no second queue.
Are the Venice City Passes Worth it?
Venice is not necessarily a budget friendly affair but there are ways to keep your budget in check. One of the ways to do this is buying the passes that suit your appetite. These passes combine the luxury of hassle free priority access, they are cost effective and they allow you to pick and choose the attractions that you'd like to visit. Both the Venice Museum Pass and St Mark's City Pass is a popular choice amongst travellers because of the below reasons:
Savings, Savings, Savings
The first and primary reason to purchase a pass is the savings it brings to the table.Instead of purchasing a ticket fee outside each attraction, this all inclusive pass will save you abour 30% of your expenses.
Zero Hassles, Carefree Exploration
You can skip the hour long queues and expend that energy exploring Venice. Standing in ticket lines and diving into your wallet for Euros is not the least bit convinient. Save yourself from these situations with the St Mark's City Pass or the Venice Museums Pass.
Saves Your Precious Time
Purchasing your pass online is a great idea because you don't have to stand in a single queue. All you have to do is flash your bar code embedded mobile voucher at the entrance and head in.
No Guilt
You may have noticed from your previous travels that when you pay a steep price for an attraction's entry, you feel compelled to spend a good chunk of time there to get your money's worth. However, these passes bundle a curation of offerings at an economical fare and this way you visit a number of places, spending as much or as little time as you'd like in each, without feeling guilty about wasting money.
Hit Up All The Prime Attractions
When you're in Venice, you are spoilt for choice with respect to the number of attractions the city houses. It's impossible to cover them all and your only option is to prioritise. That's when these passes come to your rescue. It bundles a variety of fine attractions together and curates a tour of the city's definite must sees. That way, you cant buy a pass that suits your interest and make sure you don't miss out on anything .
Handy Tips for using the Venice Passes
- Plan your itinerary such that you create a route of places that are close by and tick them off one by one. For example, if you buy the St Mark's Pass, finish the churches and museums on one day, the Querini Stampalia Foundation and Teatro La Fenice next afternoon, the Venice Casino same evening and in between take time out to visit the Islands of Murano, The Jewish Ghetto etc.
- Prioritise attractions that have costlier entrance fee to save money and recover costs sooner. To understand your savings better, you could do a quick calculation of the indiviual attraction fees and compare the sum total to the cost of the pass.
- Ensure that you check the timings of each attraction before finalising your itinerary. Most being Basilica's, they have peculiar timings and you must not be in a loss if you reach too late or too early. You will mostly be commuting via the Vaporettos to get from one place to the other, so make sure you plan a commute on the Grand Canal during sunset. It is an experience that is hard to put into words.
- For easy commute around the city, buy tickets for the Hop On Hop Off Tour across Venice. It takes you to almost all the places on the passes with a single ticket and the Hop on Hop Off Boat, not bus that Venice has is a fun experience.
- To explore lesser commercialised parts of Venice, make sure you check out the Museum of the Islands, the Jewish Museum and Leonardo Da Vinci's Museum.
- There are plenty of attractions that may not be covered in the passes, but suit your taste of exploration. Ensure that you thoroughly check out all that you'd like to visit before zeroing in on the pass.
- Each pass comes with a complimentary city guide. These guide give you valuable information on the pass, the attractions, their timings, redemption processes and more. Using the guidebooks appropriately will save you a lot of needless research and work.
More Venice Guides
Still planning your Venice vacation? Here are a few more detailed guides that will help you plan your trip better.
