Which one to choose in Venice
San Francesco del Deserto vs St Mark’s Basilica
Two churches in Venice. San Francesco del Deserto 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
San Francesco del Deserto is a small island in the northern Venetian lagoon, a few minutes by boat beyond Burano, and it has no regular public water bus. That is the whole planning problem. Visitors either hire a water taxi or one of the small boats waiting at the Burano landing, agreeing the return time before setting off, or join one of the few lagoon tours that include the island. The friars still live here, and visits are guided by one of them at set times in the morning and afternoon;
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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;
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