Venice Tours (City Tours Co.) · San Marco and Castello
A two-hour guided walk from an office beside St Mark's Square through Santa Maria Formosa and Santi Giovanni e Paolo to the Rialto Bridge, starting with a short virtual-reality look at old Venice. Pick it for the price: it is the cheapest guided way to Rialto, and you can add a spritz or a shared gondola.
The $16 buys the walk: two hours with a guide and headsets, from the Venice Tours office in Campo San Gallo, a minute behind St Mark's Square, through Campo Santa Maria Formosa and Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo to the Rialto Bridge and Marco Polo's house. Before you set off you get a few minutes in the company's Gondola Gallery, with a real gondola, a carved forcola and a virtual-reality ride through old Venice. The spritz break in a bacaro and the shared gondola ride are paid options: they are included only if you pick them at booking.
At 4.6 from 1,066 reviews, it is good value with uneven days. Guides like Hanna, Valentina and Anna get warm reviews. The weaker ones describe a late start, a guide who stayed too long around the Piazza, and in one December 2025 case a tour that lasted an hour instead of two. Another guest saw the end rushed because people had a gondola booked afterwards. The headsets also get a complaint for not staying on.
The walk goes to Rialto, which the name promises; plenty of cheap walks don't. Groups stop at 15, well under Venice's 25-person cap on guided groups. If you want quiet lanes over famous ones, the Real Hidden Venice walk costs more and starts at the station.
Campo San Gallo: with the Basilica behind you, walk under the arches on the right, turn right at the Olivetti shop, cross the little bridge. Collect your headset.
A gondola up close, a handmade oar and a short VR ride through Venice in the past.
Campo Santa Maria Formosa and Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, with stories of Casanova and the Republic.
The Corte del Milion and the bridge, then back to the office (or on to your spritz or gondola if you added one).
★★★★★Arrive a bit early to get your earphones and vocal box from the office. Walking through different areas we probably wouldn’t have seen, tour guide was lovely too
★★★★★Hanna was very knowledgeable and it was fascinating listening to her impart knowledge about the city of Venice. The tour was well paced and didn’t feel rushed at all.
★★★★★A great education in the creation, foundation and architecture of Venice.
★★★★★Lovely walk with lots of information & stories from our guide, seeing places we'd never have found on our own
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The two-hour guided walk with a headset and the Gondola Gallery VR intro. The spritz break and the shared gondola are separate options at a higher price. Food, drinks and entrance fees are not included.
Yes. The route passes Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, the Rialto Bridge and Marco Polo's house. The tour then returns to the office near St Mark's.
The listing says the walk does not run during exceptional high tide; it is moved to the next day or refunded. Ordinary high tides, which wet only the lowest spots, don't stop it.
15 people at most, and guides use whisper headsets, as Venetian rules require.
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A two-hour guided walk from St Mark's to the Rialto Bridge for $16, with a spritz or a shared gondola if you add them.
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