What is the Venice scavenger hunt?
The Venice scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you find your way through the alleys and squares of Venice, solve a riddle at each of 10 landmarks by looking closely at what is around you, and unlock the stories and legends behind them. It takes about 2 hours, with around 41 minutes of actual walking over 3 km, and you start whenever you like.
Highlights include the Frari with Titian's Assumption, the Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal, Teatro La Fenice, St Mark's Square with the Basilica and the Doge's Palace, and the Greek church of San Giorgio dei Greci. Venice has no cars, so the whole route is on foot, over small bridges and through narrow alleys where the game keeps you on track.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 41 min · 3 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese
How the hunt works between the Frari and Castello
A riddle on every campo
One riddle waits at each of the 10 stops, and the answer is somewhere on the stone around you: a column, a relief, a cannonball still stuck in a wall. You need an eye for detail and nothing else.
The story once it cracks
Then the stop gives up what it knows: the relics of St Mark, said to have left Alexandria in 828 hidden under pork, the theatre that burned in 1836 and again in 1996 and reopened in 2003 under the name of the Phoenix, Casanova climbing out of the cells under the lead roof of the Doge's Palace in 1756. The narration plays as audio as well, useful while you watch the boats go past.
3 km over the bridges
Google Maps keeps you from losing the thread in the alleys: 41 minutes of walking in all, barely 3 km, from San Polo across the Grand Canal and on into Castello. Venice has no cars, so every metre of it is on foot.
Stop whenever you like
No clock is running. Sit down on the steps of a campo, keep the last riddles for the evening when the day visitors have gone, and let the app reshuffle the stops if you are coming from another sestiere.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who this Venice hunt is right for
A short day in Venice
Two hours is enough to put the Frari, the Rialto, St Mark's Square and a Greek church in Castello into one line, which is a lot of Venice for one morning. It also gets you off the Mercerie and into campi that most day trippers walk past.
Young players
There is a cannonball from 1849 lodged in the façade of San Salvador, a bell tower beside San Giorgio dei Greci that leans visibly, and four bronze horses above the door of the basilica, and an adult goes along in the team.
Colleagues in teams
Teams of five, each player with the riddle on their own screen, suit a small company outing: everyone starts at the Frari and the scores are settled by the canal at San Giorgio dei Greci. Nothing is reserved besides the tickets, as the campi and the fondamente are public ground.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The route: the Frari, the Rialto, St Mark's Square, Castello
10 stops · about 41 min walking · start: Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari · finish: San Giorgio dei Greci
The hunt starts at the Basilica dei Frari in the San Polo district and crosses Campo San Polo to the Rialto Bridge. On the other side of the Grand Canal you pass Campo San Salvador and Teatro La Fenice before reaching St Mark's Square, St Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace. From there you head into the Castello district to the Church of San Zaccaria and finish at San Giorgio dei Greci. Since every answer is out in the campi, on the stonework and the façades, the hunt asks for no entry ticket at all, and if your vaporetto stop lies elsewhere the app will begin the game at another church and resequence the rest.
Open the route map ↗
1Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei FrariStart
The Frari is the great brick church of the Franciscans in Venice, consecrated in 1492. Over the high altar hangs Titian's Assumption of the Virgin, put in place in 1518, and the church also holds a monument to Titian and the pyramid-shaped monument to the sculptor Antonio Canova, made by his pupils.
2Campo San Polo
Campo San Polo is the largest campo in Venice, second in size only to St Mark's Square among the city's open spaces. Paved in 1493, it once hosted bullfights, sermons and masked balls, and it is still used for Carnival events and open-air screenings, framed by the Church of San Polo and old palaces such as Palazzo Soranzo.
Read the full story →
3Rialto Bridge
The Rialto Bridge is the oldest of the four bridges across the Grand Canal. Antonio da Ponte built it in stone between 1588 and 1591 to replace a wooden bridge that had collapsed more than once, and its covered ramps still carry rows of shops.
4Campo San Salvador
Campo San Salvador, on the Mercerie shopping street, is framed by the Church of San Salvador, which holds two paintings by Titian, and by the Scuola Grande di San Teodoro. The marble column in the middle was set up in 1898 in memory of the Venetian uprising against Austrian rule in 1848–1849, and a cannonball from 1849 is still lodged in the church façade.
Read the full story →
5Teatro La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice, the Phoenix, opened in 1792 and has lived up to its name: it burned down in 1836 and again in an arson fire in 1996, and each time it was rebuilt, most recently reopening in 2003. Giuseppe Verdi's operas Rigoletto and La Traviata had their world premieres here.
6St Mark's Square
Venetians simply call St Mark's Square the Piazza, while most other squares in the city are called campi. It is framed by the long arcades of the Procuratie, and its bell tower, 98.6 metres high, is a faithful rebuild: the original collapsed on 14 July 1902, and the new tower was inaugurated in 1912.
7St Mark's Basilica
St Mark's Basilica was built to house the relics of St Mark, which, according to tradition, Venetian merchants smuggled out of Alexandria in 828 hidden under pork. The present 11th-century church is covered with about 8,000 square metres of mosaics, and the bronze horses on its façade are copies of the originals brought from Constantinople after 1204.
8Doge's Palace
The Gothic Doge's Palace was the residence of the doge and the seat of the Venetian Republic's government and courts. Its prisons are reached across the Bridge of Sighs, built around 1600, and in 1756 Giacomo Casanova escaped from the Piombi, the cells under its lead roof.
9Church of San Zaccaria
The Church of San Zaccaria was built between 1458 and 1515, begun in Gothic style by Antonio Gambello and completed with a Renaissance façade by Mauro Codussi. It belonged to a wealthy Benedictine convent, several doges are buried in its crypt, and inside hangs Giovanni Bellini's San Zaccaria Altarpiece.
Read the full story →
10San Giorgio dei GreciFinish
San Giorgio dei Greci was built from 1539 to 1573 for the large Greek Orthodox community of Venice and is one of the oldest churches of the Greek diaspora. Look for its leaning bell tower beside the canal; inside, the iconostasis holds icons by Michael Damaskinos, and since 1991 it has been the cathedral of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Sandrine – France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Un peu trop compliqué et pas assez ludique
Maria – Portugal –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Fiz este jogo no 2o dia em Veneza com o meu filho de 11 anos. Este tipo de jogos são extremamente aliciantes para crianças e permite ficar com uma noção de percursos e atrações mais importantes no exterior. Se durante o percurso pretendermos entrar e visitar atrações, temos mesmo que contar com o dobro do tempo, mas é mais interessante. Vale a pena, não sendo visita guiada, é um percurso definido e que ajuda a passear com um propósito. Para crianças acima dos 10 é um passeio ideal.
United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Good to get out and see parts of Venice you normally wouldn’t
Luke – United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
We really enjoyed this style of self tour, which helps you see all of the key attractions whilst being a fun challenge to solve the clues. We’ll keep doing these in any future city we visit.
Katharina – Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
War süß gemacht. Die Rätsel waren nicht wirklich Rätsel. Photoshop skills sind verbesserungswürdig.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Definitiv besser als einem Schirm nach zu laufen. Bei den Infos sollten aber auf jeden Fall auch die Bauwerke erklärt werden; war nur beim letzten Rätsel der Fall
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Un modo simpatico per scoprire i punti salienti della città, ho fatto questo gioco con mia figlia di 11 anni, lo ha trovato divertente ma più che una caccia al tesoro possiamo definirlo un quiz, c’erano più che altro puzzle e giochi come trova le differenze, comunque adeguato al prezzo, un’esperienza alternativa!
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Un modo originale per scoprire particolari che altrimenti non avremmo notato. È stato divertente risolvere gli enigmi, soprattutto per i miei figli adolescenti. Comodo metterlo in pausa e ricominciare quando si vuole.
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Activité très intéressante qui permet de voir tous les grands bâtiments de Venise. Nous sommes passées par des petites rues atypiques par lesquelles nous ne serons jamais passé sans cette activité !!
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Tolle, lehrreiche Tour mit Rätselspass. Die geschichtlichen Infos könnten etwas kurzweiliger geschrieben sein.
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Très bonne façon de découvrir la ville et de motiver les enfants a marcher
Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Amazing experience
Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Chasse au trésor, très sympa. Dommage qu’on ne puisse pas signaler qu’une énigme n’était pas résolvable autrement que par mail (échafaudage devant une église…) Sinon, top Juste un peu chère alors que à 1 ou à 10 participants, ça ne change pas grand chose…
Australia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
énigmes trop simples mais bien pour première approche de la ville
Belgium –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Un chouette moyen de visiter une ville différemment et à son rythme
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Fijn om dit op je eigen tempo te kunnen doen!
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Activités intéressante et très bien pour des enfants mais un peu facile et un peu courte pour des adultes. Ça reste à faire mais plutôt en famille
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Angenehme Art die Stadt mal auf eine andere Weise zu erkunden. Vor allem kann man die Tour im eigenen Tempo machen und bekommt viel von der Stadt mit. Buchung und wie man startet ist gut beschrieben und man direkt loslegen.
United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
It was a very good way of taking you around many of the landmarks in Venice. It was a bit of a shame that one or two of the clues were difficult because of scaffolding covering the parts you need to see! If you’re in a group doing it together just pay for one – we didn’t all need to have it downloaded as we were a team. Good fun though!
Australia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Alles super und hat gut funktioniert. Ein Beispiel anfangs ohne Punkte, um zu sehen, wie an die Rätsel rangegangen werden soll, wäre hilfreich. Wir haben die 1. Sehenswürdigkeit als Probe genutzt und uns das Ergebnis anzeigen lassen, um zu sehen, wie wir vorgehen sollen. Erfahrene Rätseler brauchen dies vielleicht nicht.
Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Sympa à faire en famille!
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
nette Art durch die Stadt geführt zu werden. Die Kinder durften Navigieren und gerätselt haben wir alle. Zwischendurch haben wir noch in einem Cafe halt gemacht, es war sehr warm.
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Une façon ludique de visiter Venise à pied. A notre rythme, on a pu voir les plus importants monuments en prenant pour guide notre fils . Nous conseillons de passer par le pont Rialto pour se rendre à la première énigme, seul passage possible à pied!
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Wir mussten erst begreifen das die benötigte App nicht über das Voucher vermittelt wurde, sondern über WhatsApp. Dass hat uns den Anfang schwer gemacht. Danach sind wir kreuz und quer durch Venedig und die Rätsel haben den Kindern im Alter von 8-12 durchaus Spaß gemacht. Wir haben Venedig schon mehrfach mit den Kindern besucht und es war schön die Stadt auf diese Weise zu erkunden.
Austria –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Die Anreise mit dem Schiff von Jesolo nach Venedig ist kein Problem. Anschließend bis zum Start der Schnitzeljagd läuft man bereits an den meisten Stellen vorbei. Ist etwas schade. Zudem kommt man an den meisten Haupttourristenpunkten vorbei. Die WCT App wo man installieren muss sollte auch mal upgedatet werden…..
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Die Tour hat uns gut gefallen. Nicht zu lang und nicht zu schwer. Aber durch die vielen Menschen vor Ort, war es etwas anstrengend. Wir haben dadurch aber einen guten Überblick über die Sehenswürdigkeiten von Venedig bekommen. Wirklich empfehlenswert.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Esperienza carina, permette di vedere Venezia e avere informazioni sui monumenti in modo alternativo
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Poland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
S?abe zagadki, dzieci znudzi?y si? przy 4 zagadce. Nieczytelne instrukcje.
Finland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Very nice way to see the most important places in venice.
Belgium –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Croatia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Molto bello fatto alla sera dopo cena poche persone in giro. Sarebbe bello farlo in ogni città
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Eine schöne Idee und gut gemacht! Unsere Kinder (18, 10) waren ganz eifrig und tüftelten, als wir Eltern schon nicht mehr konnten. Die Laufwege wurden auch ohne Murren in Kauf genommen. Ein Tipp für User: Es ist war für uns etwas ungünstig, dass wir vom Markusplatz aus zum Ausgangspunkt der Rallye gegangen sind, denn wir sind dann mit dem Spiel den ganzen Weg wieder zurück gelaufen (was man ja vorher nicht weiß). Je nachdem, was man vorhat in Venedig, sollte man das Spiel als Solitär an einem Vor- oder Nachmittag einplanen. Es dauert eine ganze Weile, ohne langweilig zu werden und ist absolut spannend und lösbar.
Greece –
Collected on GetYourGuide
I have an amazing experience
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Pas très intéressant
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Belgium –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Luxembourg –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Greece –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Learned a lot while having fun. We saw all the sights and weren’t tired at all in the end. Totally recommend it! I will buy it again in my next trip.
Greece –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Great idea!
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Es war eine tolle Tour mit netten Rätseln. Für die erste Erkundung der Stadt super geeignet. Na unserem Geschmack hätte sie länger sein dürfen.
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Super façon de visiter Venise, à son rythme, sans se presser et pour pas cher ! Nous avons adoré et cela nous a occupé toute la journée (après nous avons fait pas mal de pauses).
Luxembourg –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Muito bom para conheçer a cidade!
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Très bon moment passé. Nous avons mis plus de 3h30 car nous avons profité de certains endroits. Les énigmes sont bien chouettes avec 1 ou 2 énigmes difficiles à réaliser en raison de travaux sur des édifices ou 1 problèmes d’accessibilité. C’était malgré tout un super moment ludique pour visiter la ville autrement.