St Mark's Square, Venice
Napoleon is said to have called Piazza San Marco the drawing room of Europe, and by 10am from April to October it is a very crowded one. Arrive at 7 or 8am instead and you can have the same square almost to yourself, which is the single most useful decision you will make here. The piazza runs about 175 metres, framed on three sides by the arcaded Procuratie and closed at the east end by the Basilica.
The Basilica di San Marco
The Basilica is a working church, the seat of the Patriarch of Venice, not an open museum. The nave is free to enter, though the queue can run 40 to 90 minutes in summer unless you book a timed slot on the basilica’s own site. Inside, over 8,000 square metres of golden Byzantine mosaic cover the domes and walls, and the marble floor visibly undulates from centuries of settling on the lagoon mud. There is an enforced dress code: shoulders and knees covered, no large bags.
Three paid extras are each a separate ticket (verify on site): the Pala d’Oro, the jewelled gold altarpiece behind the high altar, around EUR5; the Treasury of Byzantine gold and reliquaries; and the Museum and Loggia dei Cavalli, roughly EUR7 to 10, which puts you on the terrace among the bronze horses looking down over the square.
The Campanile
The bell tower gives the best rooftop panorama in the city, reached by lift for about EUR10, usually walk-up though queues build in peak season. Worth knowing as you ride up: this is a 1912 reconstruction. The original medieval campanile collapsed suddenly on 14 July 1902, causing no deaths, and was rebuilt exactly as it had been, where it had been.
The Doge’s Palace
On the south side stands the Doge’s Palace, the Gothic seat of the Venetian Republic for a thousand years. A standard adult ticket runs roughly EUR30 to 35 (verify on site at visitmuve.it), and the St Mark’s Square Museums bundle adds the Museo Correr, the Archaeological Museum and the Marciana Library rooms. For more, the Secret Itineraries tour, around EUR67, walks the interrogation rooms and prison cells and crosses the Bridge of Sighs from the inside; book it well ahead as English slots sell out.
The arcades, the clock and the tides
Under the Procuratie arcades sit Venice’s historic cafés, some pouring since the 1720s. A coffee at an outside table with the orchestra playing carries a hefty terrace supplement; the same coffee standing at the bar inside costs a few euro, so choose knowingly. Look up at the Torre dell’Orologio, the blue-and-gold astronomical clock, on the north side. One last practical note: the piazza is the lowest point in Venice and the first place to flood during acqua alta from late October to early March, when raised walkways go out across it.
Read more: the Bridge of Sighs page continues the Doge’s Palace story, and the Venice travel guide covers the rest of the city.