Venice Discounts

Sightseeing passes, museum cards, cumulative tickets, and other discounts in Venice

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» THE VENICE BOOKSHELF
There are several cumulative ticket museum passes and discounts for pre-booking. Here's my evaluation of the relative usefulness of each, with prices from 2112:

Museum Pass (www.museiciviciveneziani.it)

The Venice Museum PassA single ticket that costs €18 (€12 for students under 29; families of two adults and at last one child can get one pass at full price and the rest at the reduced price) is valid for six months, and good for entry to each of the following municipal museums:

Coverage: Covers one can't-miss sight (Doge's Palace) and three excellent secondary sights (Ca' Rezzonico, Ca' Pesaro, and the Museo Correr). The others, frankly, are more of specialized interest, or if you happen to be right there and have some extra time (though if you plan to go to Murano or Burano, those two indigenous craft museums are worthwhile).

Savings: If you use it to visit just the Palazzo Ducale plus any one non-Piazza San Marco (such as the Ca' Rezzonico or Ca’ Pesaro) you've already saved money. After that, everything else on the list is, essentially, free. It also lets you skip any ticketing lines, which is nice.

Upshot: If you plan to do a lot of sightseeing and are staying for two or three days, get the pass.

Chorus Pass (www.chorusvenezia.org)

Venice was the first city in Italy to come up with the ignominious practice of charging people to visit God. Sixteen of its major churches—with the notable expectation of the biggest and best, the Basilica of St. Mark's—banded together to charge admission.

Individual entry into any one of them costs €3.

The Chorus Pass granting entry to all 16 costs €10 for individuals, €7 for students up to age 29, or €20 for a Family Pass good for two adults and any kids up to age 18. It's good for one year.

Coverage: 16 churches scattered across town—including such biggies as I Frari (full name: Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari ) and Il Redentore—as well as Santa Maria del Giglio, Santo Stefano, Santa Maria Formosa, Santa Maria dei Miracoli, San Giovanni Elemosinario, San Polo, San Giacomo dall'Orio, San Stae, Sant'Alvise, Madonna dell'Orto, San Pietro di Castello, Santa Maria del Rosario (Gesuati), San Sebastiano, and San Giobbe.

Savings: Visit at least four member churches, and the pass has paid for itself. Any others you pop into from then on are free.

Upshot: In town for more than three days and loaded for sightseeing? Go ahead and get the pass.

Venice Connected (www.veniceconnected.com)

Venice ConnectedVenice used to have something called the Venice Card, which was a total rip-off. In 2009, they replaced it with the Venice Connected system, which offers most of the same benefits and discounts (with the promise of more to come), but in a more useful, à la carte format—in other words, you can now pick and choose and buy only what you plan to use—albeit a far more complicated one.

There are now "low," "middle," and "top" periods—with differing degrees of discount—applied willy-nilly to various weeks and weekends scattered across the calendar year.

What it boils down to is this: book ahead of time (unfortunately, a whopping 15 days ahead of time), and you can shave a few euro each off the costs of the Museum Pass (paying €16 rather than €18), parking, and vaporetto passes.

It also comes with a few other perks, like skipping ticket lines, discount on the municipal WiFi (€5 per day rather than €8), admission to the Venice Casino with a free drink (€10), and two free tickets a day (or 10 a week) to use the public toilets.

(The very fact that Venice charges you for public toilets is insulting and inhuman—and a reflection of how hard the city actually tries, in very subtle ways, to keep the hordes of tourists away by making a visit vaguely uncomfortable and unpleasant on many levels.)

Coverage: Modest discounts for: parking at the main garage on Piazzale Roma, the (already needlessly overpriced) fast ferry from the airport, vaporetto passes, (but not individual tickets), Museums admissions via the pass, municipal toilets. Free WiFi access and free Casino admission.

Savings: During "low" periods, it saves €2 off the Museum Pass, €1.50 off the ferry from the airport downtown Venice, €4.50 off the 24-hour vaporetto pass (smaller discounts during "higher" periods), €2.40 off the parking garage (larger discounts during "higher" periods), and €0.50 off the use of the public toilets.

Upshot: Only the Museum Pass and vaporetto passes represent significant value—and vaporetto passes are only of limited use to being with. The discount on WiFi is nice; the free Casino pointless. The airport ferry is actually a rip-off disguised as a discount, since cheaper alternatives already exists.

If, however, you plan to stay at least two days in town, do a ton of sightseeing, and can get your act together to book the thing (and lock in your dates) more than two weeks before arriving, it can save you roughly €8–€11. I'm not sure I'd bother.

Combined Ticket - [currently suspended]

Until late 2010, there was a combined "3 Museums" admission ticket for €11 covering two important museums and one lesser museum. It's available at all participating museums, or online at any of their (interconnected) websites. It has since been suspended, but check to see if it has been reinstated—it's worthwhile.

Coverage: The Accademia (normally €6.50), Ca' d'Oro (€5), and the significantly less important Oriental Art Museum in Ca' Pésaro (€5.50). Note that you can specify this combined ticket if you're booking tickets ahead of time (costs €1 extra; wise for the Accademia to avoid long lines; unnecessary for the other two, which can visit at your leisure after getting a timed entry for the Accademia).

Savings: This combo ticket saves you €0.50 even if you just visit the first two, major sights—consider the Asian art at Ca' Pésaro a freebie bonus (since it's also covered on the Museums Pass, above, you'll have two free excuses to see it).

Upshot: In town for two or three days and planning on seeing the Ca d'Oro? Get the combo ticket.

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This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.

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