Venice Immersive Self-Guided Audio Walking Tours

Highlights

  • Offline Mode: Download tours and listen without WiFi

  • Location Aware: GPS map allows you to enjoy the sites

  • Instagram Hotspots: We find the perfect picture spots

  • Enjoy a private experience in a COVID-19 safe environment

Summary

Explore Venice either in-person or from the comfort of your own home. Get lost in the floating city and discover sites like La Serenissima, Rialto Bridge, Piazza San Marco and Dorsoduro.

Tour info

Duration
1 hour 40 minutes -
Group Size
Pricing (From)
Adult: (5-90 years)
£24.99
Commentary
English
Meeting Point

Venice, Veneto, 30124

Dropoff location

1 Dorsoduro, Dorsoduro, Venezia, Veneto, 30123

Why take this tour?

Join local historians as we uncover the history of Venice and its most famous residents! Discover more about the History of La Serenissima in this Introduction to Venice

We’ll be exploring this city of no roads, no cars but well over 400 bridges and at least 150 canals. We’ll cover the soaring highs and crushing lows of Venezia as well as this place’s iconic people, culture and architecture. 

Enjoy the Art and Artichokes of Venice in this beautiful walk through Dorsoduro, the city's cultural and student district. This Dorsoduro walk is all about quenching your thirst for art, food, crafts, gondolas, wine and the local experience of Venetians. Explore Ca’ Foscari University, Campo San Barnaba, the Gallerie dell’Accademia and Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute.

With our two self-guided walking tours of Venice  you will discover more of this wonderful city and the history that has defined the area. In our first tour, we’ll explore the history of La Serenissima in this Introduction to Venice. We’ll be exploring this city of no roads, no cars but well over 400 bridges and at least 150 canals. In our second tour, enjoy the Art and Artichokes of Venice in this beautiful walk through Dorsoduro, the city's cultural and student district. This Dorsoduro walk is all about quenching your thirst for art, food, crafts, gondolas, wine and the local experience of Venetians. 

Start the La Serenissima tour next to the Colonna di San Marco e San Teodoro as you look over Venice’s beautiful waterfront. Begin to learn about this strange city's long and complex history, a story that involves the fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of the Byzantium, waves of refugees, sea-faring bandits and a whole lot of salt!

Visit the Basilica di San Marco, a treasure trove of religious and imperial relics. A long time ago, the Venetians had power, trade, but they didn’t have the sacred glory bestowed on their city by an important patron saint. Listen to the story of how they went out to find one…

Take in the atmosphere of Piazza San Marco and marvel at the campanile, or bell tower. Take in the unique atmosphere of grand cafes, the smell of spices brought in along the Silk Road, the merchants hawking, the waltzes from a string quartet. Romance, drama and the opulent fashion of the time!

One of only four ‘inhabited’ bridges left in Europe today, the Rialto Bridge offers the best view of the Grand Canal. Learn how this was originally a wooden bridge and more about how Venice has dealt with its life on the ocean.

Look over the canal at a wonderful art museum with faded frescoes from Titian and works by Carpaccio. This area gives a real sense of the grandeur of my home city back in its golden era. It stands in the sestiere or district of Cannareggio, one of the six districts in Venice. Go and explore once this tour has finished. 

Begin in Dorsoduro utside Ca’ Foscari University, a masterpiece of Venetian Gothic architecture that has sculpted the identity of Dorsoduro. Ever since 1868, Ca' Foscari palace has been home to Ca' Foscari University, an institution that has attracted artists, academics, merchants and students to the area.

Stroll into Campo Santa Margherita, a fantastic market square during the day and the perfect place to grab a drink by night. Head over to the Varoteri school, a strange building that has been the Headquarters of the local tanners and leather makers in the 1700s, then later a store for firewood, then a cinema and then in the 1930s, but it’s most bizarre incarnation was a centre of education for fascist mysticism!

Weave down Ca'Macana as we learn about the beautiful craft of mask making. A mask is a sure-fire way to do whatever you want without it affecting your day-to-day business. It also meant every man and woman were equal… you could live as a prince for a night.

Stop by the waterside at Squero di San Trovaso, one of the working boatyards where Venice's famous gondolas are built before grabbing a bottle of vintage wine from the marvellous Cantine del Vino gia Schiavi before visiting the Gallerie dell’Accademia, home to masterpieces from Veronese and Giorgione to Bellini and Carpaccio. There are six renaissance artists who absolutely defined Venice and its culture: Bellini, Veronese, Giorgione, Tintoretto, Titian and Carpaccio.

Finish the tour at the majestic Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, Venice's plague church. This church was built after a terrible plague ravaged Venice, one of many waves that would come here: as a centre of trade, Venice was incredibly vulnerable. The city founded plague churches with the express desire to ask the Madonna to deliver us from this scourge where people died in their thousands. The most famous of which is this beautiful church right here.

The Vidi Guides experience is enriched with on-screen photos and videos. We also point out where to take the perfect Instagram photos during the tour, and include recommendations for food, drinks, and local attractions. Don't worry, none of our recommendations are sponsored - they are simply favourites of the locals who helped craft the experience.

Vidi Guides creates immersive audio experiences that are like podcasts. This is a self-guided audio tour that can be started or stopped at your own convenience. Download the Vidi Guides app & your  tour to explore the area independently and safely! Make sure to download your tour before your visit to streamline your trip!

What’s included?

  • Access to your self-guided audio tour

  • Audio tour provided by a local or historian

  • Offline Mode: Download tours in advance to listen without WiFi

  • Location Aware: GPS map allows you to enjoy sites, without getting lost

  • Instagram Hotspots: We find the spot for your perfect picture

  • Headphones

  • Mobile device

Things to know

Before you book

  • This product is suitable for all ages

  • Do it at your own pace. This product is suitable for all fitness levels

  • English speaking Audio guide only

Before you go

  • You will need to bring your own mobile phone

  • You will need to bring your own headset/earphones

Covid Policy

  • Social distancing enforced throughout experience

This is a covid safe experience. Avoid the crowds and maintain social distancing with this independent tour.

Cancellation Policy

    Up to 24 hours before the beginning of the activity: full refund Less than 24 hours before the beginning of the activity or no-show: no refund

Redemption information

    This is not your ticket! You will receive a separate email with a link to your tour. From that email, please click 'Download Now', install the Vidi Guides app, create an account within the app and click 'GetMyTour'. The tour will then be ready for download within your profile section. You can start the tour whenever you like!


    Your voucher will be collected or scanned on redemption

About operator:

Too many people visit places without discovering anything about them. And we can’t let that happen.


We believe that the true essence of travelling lies in the joy of discovering the authentic face of cities, neighbourhood and cultural sites, and unlocking the many tales they hold.


With that spirit in our hearts, we started out in search of these stories hidden in the nooks and corners of Paris, London, Cambridge and Oxford's most iconic spots. We then dived into each place’s culture, history, and traditions by collaborating with historians, famous architects, photographers, street artists, and many more. What we ended up finding was a treasure trove of stories that we have meticulously tied together just for you!


But how to deliver this information? We didn’t want to create another Wikipedia, with people looking at their phones instead of the sites. And let’s face it, audioguides and headsets belong to the 20th century.. This is why we’ve created our own storytelling format. Podcast-style tours, enriched with photos and videos, that keep you wanting more.


Our goal is to create a form of travel that will make you truly discover the places you visit.