Doge's Palace Tickets with Museo Correr and Library Entry

Doge's Palace tickets with reserved entry save you the wait at the box office and put you inside the building that ran the Venetian Republic for a thousand years. Inside, the Gothic architecture, the gold staircase and the decorated halls take you back to the Middle Ages, and the Chamber of the Great Council, among the largest rooms in Europe, gives a sense of the scale of Venetian power.

The visit also takes in the Bridge of Sighs, where you can picture the anguish of the prisoners who crossed it. The palace has layers: a 14th and 15th-century core with Renaissance and Mannerist additions on top.

The same ticket opens more doors around the square:

• Museo Correr, in a building planned as Napoleon's residence that later became the King of Italy's home in Venice
• National Archaeological Museum
• Marciana Library

This is an entry ticket only, with no guide included, so you set your own pace and linger in the rooms that interest you. It suits independent travellers who want to see the palace and the museums on St. Mark's Square without queuing first. Children under six and visitors with disabilities and their carers get in free, collecting their ticket at the ticket office when they arrive.