San Giorgio Maggiore

San Giorgio Maggiore tickets: which one to buy

The church is free to enter; the campanile is the ticket and it is cheap. Unlike the leaning tower across the water in St Mark's Square, this one has a lift, no queue to speak of and the better view, because it looks back at the Piazza San Marco rather than standing in it. Getting there means a vaporetto: line 2 from San Zaccaria takes three minutes and costs the standard fare, and the island has nothing else on it but the church, the monastery and the Cini Foundation.

Guided tours with water transport are sold at several times that price. The Cini Foundation runs its own tours of the cloisters, the library and the labyrinth garden, booked separately and worth it for anyone interested in Palladio. Nothing else needs booking. The vaporetto runs every ten minutes until late, and a single ticket is valid for seventy-five minutes, which covers the crossing both ways if you are quick.

Visiting San Giorgio Maggiore: what to see

Benedictines have been on the island since 982. Palladio designed the present church in 1565 and it was built between 1566 and 1610, with the white Istrian stone front standing directly on the lagoon so that it reads as a temple floating opposite the Doge's Palace. The facade solves an old problem elegantly: two classical temple fronts are overlaid, a tall narrow one for the nave and a low wide one for the aisles. Inside it is white, bright and severe, the opposite of Venetian Gothic.

Two late Tintorettos hang in the chancel, the Last Supper and the Gathering of Manna, painted in 1594 for the monks' own use and still in the places he intended. A wooden choir of 1598 stands behind. The monastery next door belonged to the Benedictines until Napoleon and now houses a cultural foundation. A Carpaccio of St George and the Dragon hangs in a room off the sacristy, shown when a custodian is available, and the monastery church holds the tomb of Doge Domenico Michiel.

San Giorgio Maggiore opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily with a break in the middle of the day and shorter hours in winter; the campanile closes earlier than the church and stops during services. The view is best in the late afternoon when the sun is behind you and lights the whole of San Marco. Acqua alta affects the vaporetto stop rather than the church, which stands higher. Venice is busiest from April to October and San Giorgio remains one of the few places in the city with no crowd at any season.

Dress code is enforced. Photography without flash is allowed. Allow forty-five minutes including the tower. The island of the Giudecca, with Palladio's Redentore, is one more vaporetto stop and makes an obvious continuation. The island is used by the Venice Biennale for pavilions and installations, which is worth checking if you are visiting in an odd-numbered year.