How Long Does the Doge's Palace Take?

Plan on 1.5 to 2 hours for the Doge’s Palace with a guide, or 2 to 3 hours if the tour adds St Mark’s Basilica. On your own the limit is the clock: from 1 November to 31 March the palace opens every day from 9:00 to 18:00 with last admission at 17:00, and from 1 April to 31 October from 9:00 to 19:00, last admission 18:00 (MUVE, checked November 2026). Crown Tours’ 2-hour English tour, below, covers the palace’s council chambers, the Bridge of Sighs and the New Prisons, then the Basilica, from $110 (checked November 2026).

The calendar is the Crown Tours guided visit, with 1,198 reviews (checked November 2026). Its 2-hour option read US$99.20 a person on 27 November, 20 January and 10 March, and started at 10:30 AM on those dates.

How long each kind of visit takes

Lengths checked November 2026; the Secret Itineraries figure is MUVE’s.

The guided times are what the tours sell, and some guests find them short. Of the 350 reviews of the Crown Tours guided visit that were posted from 28 July to 7 November 2026, 10 use the word “rushed”. If you want to linger, a guided tour that ends in the palace leaves you inside: Bucintoro Viaggi's guests may stay on in the palace after their tour, and every palace ticket includes the Museo Correr, the National Archaeological Museum and the Marciana rooms, which close earlier, at 17:00 in winter with last admission at 16:00.

On your own, the regular route runs from the Museo dell’Opera through the courtyard and the loggia to the Doge’s Apartments, the council chambers on two floors, the Armoury, the Picture Gallery and the Prisons, so leave time for all of it before the last admission. Each ticket allows one entry: once you leave, you cannot go back in.

Opening hours

MUVE, checked November 2026.

Closing procedures start 30 minutes before closing time, and the ticket offices stop selling half an hour to an hour before closing. MUVE posts any change to these hours on its announcements page, so look there before a visit around Christmas and New Year. A ticket bought on a booking site may set its own entry time: the US$39 option of the reserved-entry ticket on GetYourGuide enters from 12:00 PM, which in winter leaves five hours to the last admission.

Bags, the works notice and the rules

Suitcases, trolleys and bags whose three sides add up to more than 1 metre are not allowed in; medium bags, backpacks and umbrellas go to the free cloakroom. MUVE’s visitor regulations rule out beachwear and covered faces, flash, tripods and selfie sticks, food and drink in the rooms, and smoking. Groups of more than 10 that come without a guide must use whisper sets, at 1 EUR a person (all MUVE, checked November 2026).

MUVE’s visitor page carried a works notice in November 2026: Veronese’s Rape of Europa and Bassano’s Jacob’s Return to Canaan are being restored and copies hang in their place, with the Veronese restoration open to view in the Liagò, just before the Chamber of the Great Council. In July 2026 MUVE also announced a pilot restoration of the Scala dei Giganti. Its pages announced no closure of any part of the route (checked November 2026).

Venice’s access fee

In November 2026 no access fee is payable to enter Venice: the 2026 trial ended, and the fee has not applied since 27 July 2026. The city says it returns on 72 days between 26 March and 15 August 2027, from 8:30 to 16:30, with the amount and the rules to be announced by 31 December 2026 (Comune di Venezia, checked November 2026). Before a day trip on one of those dates, check the city’s access-fee site.