Venice · Piazza San Marco
Doge's Palace: tickets, hours and how to get there
The Gothic seat of the Venetian Republic's doges, with the Great Council Hall, the Bridge of Sighs and the prisons. Official prices and summer and winter hours.
Today
Opening hours for every month are on the Opening hours page.
Checked against the official website on October 22, 2026 · Official source
In short
- The official full ticket costs 35 €, or 30 € if you buy it online at least 30 days before your visit; the reduced ticket is 15 €. It covers the Doge's Palace, the Correr Museum, the National Archaeological Museum and the monumental rooms of the Marciana Library, with the MUVE app audio guide. Tiqets sells the Doge's Palace Fast Track Entry at 35 €.
- Hours: 9:00 to 19:00 from 1 April to 31 October (last entry 18:00) and 9:00 to 18:00 from 1 November to 31 March (last entry 17:00). The official site does not say whether the Palace is open on 25 December and 1 January: check before you go.
- The route takes in the courtyard, the Scala d'Oro, the Great Council Hall, the Bridge of Sighs and the New Prisons. The Piombi cells and the Pozzi can only be seen on the Secret Itineraries guided tour (about 1 hour 15 minutes, 40 € on the official site).
- St Mark's Basilica is about 110 m away in a straight line, but it has its own organisation, tickets and rules. See our St Mark's page.
- From Santa Lucia station or Piazzale Roma, take vaporetto line 1 to San Marco Vallaresso or San Zaccaria; the Basilica's site gives about 25 minutes to San Zaccaria.
The Gothic façade and the Porta della Carta
The wing facing the lagoon was rebuilt from 1340, and the wing on the Piazzetta from 1424 under Doge Francesco Foscari, according to the official history. Visitors enter through the Porta del Frumento, under the portico of the 14th-century façade, and today leave through the Porta della Carta.
In The Stones of Venice, Ruskin says the Porta della Carta was begun in 1439 and finished in two years under Foscari.
The courtyard and the Giants' Staircase
The courtyard has two well-heads from the middle of the 16th century. The Giants' Staircase, designed by Antonio Rizzo, is guarded by Sansovino's colossal figures of Mars and Neptune, and the Foscari arch leads on to the Porta della Carta.
The Censors' Staircase and the carved lions' mouths, where anonymous denunciations were posted from the late 16th century, are also in this part of the building. Baedeker's 1913 guide says that in the last years of the Republic the doges were crowned at the top of the Giants' Staircase.
The Scala d'Oro and the state chambers
The Golden Staircase climbs from the loggia floor to the upper floors of the Renaissance wing. Baedeker (1913) says it was reserved for nobles entered in the Golden Book.
Upstairs are the rooms where the Republic governed itself: the Sala del Collegio, the Senate with works by Tintoretto and Palma il Giovane, the Council of Ten with Veronese, the Sala della Bussola and the Sala delle Quattro Porte, with frescoes by Tintoretto from 1578. The Sala dello Scrutinio holds Vicentino's Lepanto and Palma il Giovane's Last Judgement (1594-95).
The Great Council Hall
The hall measures 53 m by 25 m and the official site calls it one of the largest rooms in Europe. It was redecorated after the fire of 1577 by Veronese, Jacopo and Domenico Tintoretto and Palma il Giovane. A frieze shows the portraits of the first 76 doges, and the others continue in the Sala dello Scrutinio.
Behind the doge's throne is the Paradise by Jacopo Tintoretto and his workshop (1588-92), described by the official site as one of the longest canvases in the world. The Council brought together all the male patricians over 25.
The Bridge of Sighs and the New Prisons
The Bridge of Sighs was built in 1614 to link the Palace to the New Prisons. It is closed and has two corridors side by side, and the romantic name came later. The corridors are part of the regular visit.
The New Prisons, a 16th-century building across the canal, are described on the official site as one of the first, if not the first, European examples of a stand-alone state prison. Howells, in Venetian Life (1866), called the bridge "that pathetic swindle". The Piombi cells and the Pozzi can only be visited on the Secret Itineraries tour.
The Armoury
The Armoury has more than 2,000 pieces. Its core was already documented in the 14th century, many weapons carry the monogram CX of the Council of Ten, and the display includes Turkish arms taken in battle, torture instruments, a chastity belt and prohibited weapons.
The Armoury and the Prisons are not accessible to visitors with reduced mobility.
A route that does not follow the floors
The official site suggests starting at the Museo dell'Opera, where the originals of the capitals replaced in the restorations of 1876 are kept, then the courtyard, the first-floor loggia with the doge's apartment, the state chambers on the first and second floors, and finally the Armoury, the picture gallery and the prisons.
The route does not follow the floors in sequence, so follow the arrows rather than the floor numbers.
