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.
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France –
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Très intéressante
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Belgium –
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Netherlands –
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Spain –
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Italy –
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Silvia– Spain –
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Il modo più divertente per adulti e bambini per scoprire la città ed apprezzare anche luoghi di grande pregio che non sono le solite tappe dei tour tradizionali. Lo consiglio moltissimo. È’ un’ attivita che amiamo fare in ogni città in cui andiamo in vacanza.
Serge– France –
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Très ludique et intéressant autant pour la découverte des lieux que pour les énigmes A faire impérativement
Cyprus –
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Emily – United Kingdom –
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really good. saw sights in venice that you wouldnt normally go to. very good clues that really get you thinking
France –
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Super
Upoma – Australia –
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The activity was very enjoyable. Loved how it searched the shortest route for us to see all of the sights based on my location to prevent the minimal walking from the beginning. The facts about the location are great and absolutely love how they can take you directly there. The quizes / riddles are quite easy so I wouldn’t call this the highlight of the app. But if you hate taking a tour guide, as you want to explore the city at your leisurely pace but yet learn about the sites you are seeing, I definitely recommend purchasing this. Was so easy to use and helped us go to the famous sights without going in circles.
Netherlands –
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A nice set of highlights in the city. Quality of the puzzles or the information was not spectacular, but helped us see some interesting details that we would have missed otherwise. Some of the accompanying stories were also nice
Germany –
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Belgium –
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Germany –
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France –
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Magnifique ! Je recommande à 100%. C’est tellement mieux que « juste » se perdre. N’hésitez pas !
Rosa – Mexico –
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Fine but I think some activities are confused
Germany –
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Tolle Sache!
Monsieur – France –
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Très sympa ! Prenez juste une place !!! Pas besoin de payer pour chaque personne. Une app pour tous suffit !!!
Romania –
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indiciile oferite la nevoie
Andrei– Romania –
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Totul a fost super ok
Germany –
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Es war Super
Spain –
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genial
Manon– France –
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Super sympa, on apprend des anecdotes intéressantes. On découvre des rues. Vraiment top.
Norway –
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Estonia –
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Erin – Canada –
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Fun thing to do with the kids and knock off some sites. Very educational
Netherlands –
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Leuke wandeling langs een aantal hoogtepunten van Venetie. Vragen waren soms niet helemaal duidelijk. Vertaling tekst in het Nederlands was slecht
Canada –
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Agréable et divertissant. Riche en histoire!
Jon– United Kingdom –
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This is a great little exercise for the family. Our 10 and 7 year old got to see many of the main sites in Venice and enjoyed the little challenges on the way. Questions not too hard, so all could get involved.
Germany –
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Top pour motiver les enfants à parcourir Venise! Avec quelques infos pour mieux comprendre les différents sites.
Spain –
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Estoy muy contento ?? con la aplicación gracias a ella nos recorrimos la ciudad.
France –
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Activité très ludique. Permet de découvrir Venise de façon attractive avec des enfants. En prime des anecdotes très sympa. Nous avons tous aimé, petits comme grands.
Lotte – Belgium –
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Heel leuk om op eigen tempo de stad te verkennen. Tussendoor heb je de tijd om iets te eten/drinken, winkelen,… Ik raad het zeker aan!
Switzerland –
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Isabel – Germany –
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Zu allererst: Unsere Tourleiterin hätte 5 Sterne verdient. Sie hatte sehr viel Wissen und hat uns mit viel Umsicht an die richtigen Stellen geführt. Nicht immer waren andere Guides begeistert, da wir dadurch den besten Blick hatten. Bei kleineren Wartezeiten, erzählte sie Annekdoten oder bereitete uns schon einmal auf das nächste vor. Sie sprach sehr gut Deutsch. Wir ziehen jedoch einen Stern ab, da die Technik mangelhaft war. Für den Preis muss man ein funktionierendes System erwarten dürfen. In unserer Gruppe hatten mehrere Kopfhörer einen Wackelkontakt und es war nur noch mit starkem konstanten Zusammendrücken zu hören. Treffpunkt war sehr gut zu finden und der Voucher muss vor der Führung in die Eintrittskarten umgetauscht werden. Bei uns gab es keine großen Wartezeiten, aber wir fragen uns schon, warum einige TeilnehmerInnen riesige Rucksäcke mitnehmen (obwohl extra darauf hingewiesen wird, dass sie nicht mithineingenommen werden dürfen) und somit die Gruppe warten muss.
Switzerland –
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Moyen très sympa de découvrir une partie de la ville.
Laura – United Kingdom –
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Really enjoyed seeing all the islands. However the glass factory presentation was overcrowded so I couldn’t see much at the back. Wish they had repeated it (assumed they would but they didn’t).
Italy –
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Mi è piaciuto tantissimo fare questa esperienza!
Suzanne – United States –
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Fun way to get around the city and see things you might walk by. Should have more than 10 sites
Belgium –
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Sympa ! Questions faciles et plus difficiles mais chouette expérience !
Gail – United Kingdom –
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A good way to explore Venice in your own time while also learning about the sights and history. Once you start the hunt you can pause and come back to it at any point. Once completed you still have access to the text so you can reread if like me you were far too invested in getting to the next puzzle.
Netherlands –
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Germany –
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Gut ausgewählte Standorte. Allerdings waren die Geschichten dazu zum Teil zu düster und Durchgänge oder Palazzo zu denen etwas beschrieben wurde nicht auffindbar
Italy –
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Positiva la possibilità di poter effettuare l’attività in più momenti. Interessante la scheda di presentazione/approfondimento relativa a ogni tappa.
Austria –
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Ich hab es mit meinem Sohn (13 Jahre) gespielt. War super, um die Stadt zu erkunden.
Germany –
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Super, um nicht planlos durch die Stadt zu laufen!