St Mark’s Basilica tickets sold out: what you can still do

1. Try other slots, and other ticket types

A day that looks full is sometimes full only at the popular hours. Check the first and last slots of the day (9:30 – 17:15, last admission 16:45), and check each ticket type: the Basilica alone, with the Pala d’Oro, with the Museum, or the full ticket — they are separate products in the shop.

2. Use the partner churches’ ticket machines

Since 1 July 2025 every ticket that includes the Basilica also opens more than thirty other churches and sites in Venice. The tariff adds a detail most visitors miss: at those sites’ automatic ticket machines you can buy a ticket for the Basilica and choose one of the available slots. If you are already in the city and near one of them, it is another way to reach the same availability.

3. On Sunday, go up instead of in

On Sunday mornings the church is closed to visitors for Mass, but the Museum and the Loggia dei Cavalli open in the morning (Opens at 9:30) and sell their own ticket, €14.00, only on sale when the Basilica is closed for services. It is the terrace, the original horses and the Museum — not the nave — but it is real, and it is often what people most wanted to see. See the Museum page.

4. Book a tour

Accredited guides and tour operators buy on a separate channel for professionals, at higher prices (€10.00 for you is €12.00 for them), and are allowed to pass those tickets on within their own tours. That is why a tour can have places on a day the public shop shows full. Two conditions from the rules: the guide who booked must stay with the group for the whole visit, and B2B ticket holders may not use audio guides or apps inside. How to judge a tour is on the skip-the-line page.

Buy only from a seller who books through the Procuratoria: tickets bought from non-accredited operators are not valid and are cancelled without refund.

5. Come back for the Campanile

If the Basilica is out of reach, the bell tower has a separate ticket (€15.00) and stays open into the evening. See the Campanile.

What does not work

• Waiting at the door. Entry is only in a booked slot, with Entry only in the time slot you booked. The conditions of sale allow up to 15 minutes before or after; the ticket shop’s own FAQ speaks of about 5 minutes, so arrive on time.
• Buying a friend’s ticket. Every ticket is in the visitor’s name from the moment of booking; bring a valid ID. Tickets bought as a private visitor cannot be passed on or renamed.
• The worship door as a visit. Prayer and Mass are free — always free through the Porta dei Fiori, on the north façade (Piazzetta dei Leoncini) — but that entrance is for worship.