Venice City Pass, Museum Pass, ACTV Pass, Turbopass, Venezia Unica, Rolling Pass…. Confusing much?

Have you heard all these names and still have zero idea which ones to buy or even if you actually need to buy one? Well trust me I had this exact same situation at hand and spent a lot of time fussing over it, and finally even ended up losing Euros!!

So let me help you out here, to learn from my mistakes!

Okay! So basically Venice gets crazy crowded during it’s peak season with over 30 million tourists visiting the island every year. These passes have been designed not only to help you skip the lines at major attractions but also for you to get a better price on taking a combined ticket for entry into museums and the like as well as on availing public transportation.

So let’s first look at some of the popular passes.

This is the Venice City Tourism Card that you can avail. This is also widely accepted.

There are various types of cards you can book under Venezia Unica.

1. Entry Passes to some of the attractions.

Tourist City Pass

Entry passes to the Museums of : Doge’s Palace, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Casanova, Querini Stampalia, Jewish Synagogue,

Entry pass to the 14 Churches of Chorus Circuit

Multimedia guided tour of Cini Foundation,

Audio guided tour of Teatro La Fenice,

Entry to the stairs of Scala Contarini del Bovolo

All Venice Pack and San Marco Pack

2. Public Transport Tickets: Time Limited Tickets for the Vaporetto and Buses

The tickets for 1,2,3 or 7 days allows unrestricted use of the ACTV Public Transport Services in the City of Venice:

ACTV Vaporetto / water-buses in Venice, Lido and other lagoon islands of Murano, Burano, Torcello etc.
ACTV Buses in Mestre, Marghera and mainland

NOT INCLUDED: ACTV Services from / to Marco Polo Airport, water-buses no. 16, 19, 21, Casino and Alilaguna lines.

There are also tickets valid for 75 minutes, which can be booked in ones or twos.

Tickets valid for 75 minutes can be used only on the ACTV navigation lines (cost of the ticket for the city bus: € 1.50)

3. The Rolling Venice Card

If you are aged between 6 – 29 years, this is the biggest bargain you will get.

This card can be purchased in combination with a 3 day ACTV Public Transport Ticket and is part of the ‘reduced entry’ category at selected attractions.

The Rolling Card costs €6,00 and is valid one year.
It is necessary to present a valid ID document at the moment of purchase.

4. Public Transportation Tickets for Organised Groups, Student Groups(From EU Countries), The People Mover, Alilaguna (The water bus for tranfer to and from the Marco Polo Airport), AeroBus transfer to and from the Marco Polo Airport.

Find all information on Vaporetto lines and schedules here.

Here you will find more information on Alilaguna lines and services.

5. Car parking tickets for Piazzale Roma and Tronchetto.

You can find all the detailed information on Venezia Unica here.

This is the museum entry pass issued by the official site of Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia / MUVE, the association of Civic Museums of Venice.

This pass provides entry to The Museums of Pizza San Marco, including Doge’s Palace and The other Civic Museums of Venice.

PASS TO MUSEUMS OF PIAZZA SAN MARCO

Another museum entry pass issued by the official site of Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia / MUVE, the association of Civic Museums of Venice, this pass provides entry to The Museums of Pizza San Marco, including Doge’s Palace.

You can find detailed information about the prices and the complete list of Civic Museums here.

PASS TO THE CLOCK TOWER

This Pass issued by the MUVE on their official site, grants access to the specialized guided tour that runs along the five floors of the tower. Buyers of the ticket for the Clock Tower are entitled to free entry to the Correr Museum, National Archaeological Museum and Monumental Halls of the Marciana Library.

COMBINED TICKET TO THE MUSEUMS OF MURANO AND BURANO.

Also issued by the MUVE, this pass allows a one time entry to the Glass Museum in Murano and the Lace Museum in Burano.

Get all information about tickets sold on the official MUVE site here.

Whenever you try to book any of the above mentioned tickets, you will find that there is a full price and a reduced price. So what exactly is a reduced ticket? This is a ticket that can be availed by:

Children aged 6 to 14; students aged 15 to 25 ; citizens over 65; residents and those born in the Municipality of Venice; holders of the Rolling Venice Card; buyers of tickets for the Museums of Piazza San Marco or Museum Pass; buyers of the Secret Itineraries ticket in the Doge’s Palace ; ICOM members; staff of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities (MiBAC) ; MUVE Friend Card holders, ticket holders of the special path “The Hidden Treasures of the Doge” , holders of ISIC – International Student Identity Card.

Please note that not all of these criteria are recognised at all attractions. They sometimes accept only a few of the above.

A popular city pass that offers passes to various cities all over the world, that are major tourist pullers. They offer different classes of the tickets, including more attractions and special offers as you grade up. We booked a classic pass for two people that cost us 220 Euros.

However, some research on the internet showed that these tickets were not recognised in many of the top attractions and gondola riders (for the pass that includes a gondola ride), and the starting points of the guided tours were difficult to find etc. Some people even wrote that they couldn’t find the said location to validate the pass.

Honestly speaking, Venice was our honeymoon and the first ever trip we were making together, especially in a foreign country, so all these reviews sort of freaked us out. So we cancelled the tickets, and lost a couple of Euros *sniffles, reaching out for tissues*.

We also realised that their extremely extensive itinerary didn’t suit our 3 day trip.

You can check this pass out for yourself here.

So we cannot really account for this Pass.

First and foremost, decide how many days your trip is going to be for. If you are travelling for less than 5 days, there is no way you will finish visiting the 14 Churches of Chorus Circuit or all of the Civic Museum ( if you are slow and relaxed holiday planners like us! ), so I wouldn’t really recommend that you buy a Museum Pass and a tourist city pass.

Also comfirm if you’re eligible for a Rolling or Reduced Pass.

Our trip in Venice was for 3 days, and we booked the following tickets (and were really happy with our final decision).

1. Museum Pass ( We wanted to visit the museums of St Marks Square and the Glass and Lace Museums ). So a Museum ticket was cheaper than getting a Pass to the Museums of St Mark’s Square and a combined ticket to both the glass and lace museums.( We saved 2 Euros :p). We didn’t visit all the other Civic Museums though.

2. Tickets to the Campaniles of San Mark’s Square and San Giorgio Maggiore, Scala Contarini del Bovolo and Teatro la Fenice (we bought them at the counters of these attractions, but booking them with Venezia Unica should do just fine).

3. ACTV Time Limited Tickets for 3 days. One regular and one with a Rolling Pass( yeah I have a couple of years to 26 :p )

We travelled by train, so we didn’t really need Airport transfer.

We didn’t face any issues with the passes issued by the City Tourism or the MUVE and we fully recommend you take them, because they save you time and money.

Hope this clears up all basic questions about the city passes and entry tickets to attractions in Venice.

Do feel free to add your feedback, further suggestions and any questions down below😊