Piazza San Marco and basilica exterior

What to expect

Treat Piazza San Marco as an outdoor stop: the arcades, Basilica façade, Campanile and Doge’s Palace make a compact architectural circuit without entering a museum. Basilica and Palace interiors have separate admissions and queues, and services or crowd controls can affect access. San Marco is one of Venice’s lowest areas; the City says high water becomes perceptible here before it reaches many other parts of the centre. From the square, Riva degli Schiavoni heads east while the Rialto route crosses the busy central lanes.