Which one to choose in Venice
Two churches in Venice. Frari Basilica has 1 ticket or tour to book; St Mark’s Basilica has 69 tickets and tours to book. The table and the two notes below put them side by side; the full pages have what to see, the ticket and the timing for each.
Venice, Italy
A modest ticket is bought at the door or online, and the Chorus Pass, which covers about fifteen Venetian churches including this one, costs roughly the price of three separate entries and is the sensible buy for anyone staying more than a day. Audio guides are rented inside. Guided tours of San Polo include the Frari and cost several times the ticket; they earn it here, because the church is a museum of Venetian sculpture and painting with almost no labels.
Venice, Italy
Entry to the basilica costs a few euros and the queue along the arcade can take an hour in season, which makes the small booking fee for a timed slot the best money you will spend in Venice. Three add-ons are sold inside and each is worth considering. The Pala d'Oro, the gold and enamel altarpiece behind the high altar, needs its own small ticket. The treasury, a vaulted room of Byzantine reliquaries looted in 1204, needs another. The museum upstairs includes the loggia and the four bronze horses, and it opens onto the terrace above the main door, which looks straight down the square;
| Frari Basilica | St Mark’s Basilica | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Basilica | Basilica |
| Opened | 1250 | 828 |
| Tickets and tours on GetYourGuide | 1 | 69 |
| Official website | yes | yes |