San Giorgio Maggiore bell tower and church: free entry, hours and how to get there

The church of San Giorgio is not in Venice in the strict sense: it stands on its own island, three minutes by vaporetto from San Zaccaria, directly opposite St Mark's Square. This is the basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore, designed by Andrea Palladio from 1566, and it has a quality that is rare in this city: you walk in free. The only things you pay for are the San Giorgio Maggiore bell tower, which you go up by lift for the best view over the lagoon, and the rooms of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in the former monastery next door.

What to see inside the basilica

The interior is white, tall and regular. Palladio works by subtraction, without frescoes and without gilding. The front in Istrian stone, completed by Vincenzo Scamozzi in 1610 after the architect's death, applies the face of a classical temple to a Christian church with three aisles. It is the building you see in every photograph taken from Riva degli Schiavoni.

The reason to go in, though, is in the chancel. On either side of the high altar hang two large canvases by Jacopo Tintoretto, painted in 1594: the Last Supper, with the table set on a diagonal and the light coming from one smoking lamp, and the Fall of Manna. They date from the last year of the painter's life and should be looked at from the back of the choir, not from in front.

The Cappella della Deposizione holds the Deposition of Christ, the work that closes Tintoretto's career. The Cappella del Conclave, which can only be seen with a guide, has a St George and the Dragon by Vittore Carpaccio; the room takes its name from the conclave of 1800 held here, the only one of the modern era held outside Rome.

The San Giorgio Maggiore bell tower: view, lift and the works

The bell tower has a lift, and that changes everything compared with other Venetian viewpoints. From the belfry you see the whole of St Mark's Square, with the basilica, the Doge's Palace and the Piazzetta lined up: the shot you cannot get from St Mark's Campanile, because you are standing on it. To the south the Giudecca and the Redentore open up; to the east, the Lido.

One warning: the abbey's official site states that the bell tower is temporarily closed for major maintenance work. Before you cross the basin, open abbaziasangiorgio.it and check, because no reopening date has been published. When it is open, you pay on site, a few euros.

Comparing the tickets: what you actually pay for

There is no single ticket for the island. Everything is charged on its own, and it helps to know in advance what you need.

If all you want is the panorama and the bell tower is shut, there are two alternatives with a lift: St. Mark's Campanile: Entry Ticket, from €25 on Tiqets with a digital audio guide included, and Palazzo Pisani: Venice's Highest Rooftop Terrace, from €20, which has the highest average score in the category (4.9 from 417 reviews) but is climbed on foot.

The Borges Labyrinth and the Fondazione Cini

The Benedictine monastery beside the church has housed the Fondazione Giorgio Cini since 1951. In its garden stands the Borges Labyrinth, a box hedge maze designed by Randoll Coate and dedicated to Jorge Luis Borges, whose plan spells out the writer's name. The San Giorgio Maggiore Island: Borges Labyrinth ticket at €15 (rated 4.2 from 60 reviews) covers a 30- to 45-minute visit to the maze and access to the Nuova Manica Lunga, the library created inside the monks' old dormitory. Headsets are not included. Visits start at fixed times: check the day's availability before you buy.

The private parts of the abbey — Palladio's sacristy, the Cappella della Deposizione and the Cappella del Conclave — can only be seen on guided visits in Italian and English, booked in advance by writing to visite@abbaziasangiorgio.it.

How long it takes and how to fit it into the day

The basilica takes 20 to 30 minutes, the bell tower adds another twenty between the climb and waiting for the lift, and the Borges Labyrinth a further 30 to 45. The real cost is the crossing, and that is short. Two patterns that work:

• Half an hour, if you are pressed. Line 2 from San Zaccaria, the basilica, a photograph from the waterfront, back on the next sailing. It slots between the Doge's Palace and lunch without upsetting anything.
• Half a day, if you want room to breathe. San Giorgio at 9:00, the Borges Labyrinth at 10:30, then line 2 on to Zitelle or Redentore on the Giudecca, lunch at the Zattere and back on foot towards the Accademia. This is the itinerary with the best ratio of things seen to people met.

Visitors with one day in Venice, off a cruise ship or a morning train, often skip the island because it looks like a detour. It is three minutes on the water: less time than crossing St Mark's Square end to end in August.

When to go

The basilica opens at 9:00 and closes at 18:00. The first two hours are the freest: coach and walking groups arrive from San Zaccaria in the middle of the morning, once the tours of the square have finished. On Sundays at 11:00 there is Mass in the Cappella della Deposizione and sightseeing stops.

For photographs, position matters. The island faces north towards San Marco, so the front of the church is lit in the morning and early afternoon, while the view from the bell tower works better late in the day, with the sun behind you as you look at St Mark's Square. Sunset is the best light of all, but you have to weigh it against the closing time.

Acqua alta — the tidal flooding that hits the city in autumn and winter — is not a problem here: the landing stage and the forecourt rarely flood and the vaporetto keeps calling. The real constraint is a strong easterly wind, which can cancel sailings on line 2.

The clever way in: making it cost almost nothing

There is no side door, but there is a way to spend less. The San Zaccaria to San Giorgio crossing is one of the shortest runs on the ACTV network and takes about three minutes: a single ticket, valid for 75 minutes, comfortably covers the return trip if you do not linger. Do the arithmetic: a free church plus one single fare.

Bear in mind what the vaporetto actually is. ACTV runs it as the city's public bus service on water, not as a tourist boat, so the same ticket that carries you here also carries you to the Giudecca, Murano and Burano. If you expect at least four journeys in a day, the ACTV vaporetto pass at €12 on Tiqets (rated 4.5 from more than 3,200 reviews) pays for itself in three rides. The most efficient combination is San Giorgio early, then line 2 across to the Giudecca for the Redentore, then back to the Zattere.

How to pay less

• Do not buy a tour of the island. The church is free and takes twenty minutes on your own: tours that include it only add value if they also cover the private parts of the monastery.
• Skip the bell tower on hazy days. If you cannot make out the profile of the Lido from the waterfront, the climb is not worth it, and the ticket is not refunded for poor visibility.
• A transport pass instead of a handful of singles. From four journeys upwards, a day pass costs less than a string of single tickets.
• A mistake that costs time, not money. Getting off at San Giorgio without checking the times of the Fondazione Cini visits: departures are fixed and without a booking you go back empty-handed.
• Children and concessions. For reductions on the bell tower and the monastery visits, ask at the desk: there is no published tariff online.

Getting there

The only way is by water: ACTV line 2, San Giorgio stop. From San Zaccaria, on Riva degli Schiavoni two minutes from St Mark's Square, the crossing takes about 3 minutes. From Piazzale Roma allow about 40 minutes and from Santa Lucia station about 45; in that case it is quicker to come down the Grand Canal to San Marco first and change at San Zaccaria.

Line 2 runs frequently for most of the day but thins out in the evening: check the last sailing back before you settle in for the sunset. The address is Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, 30133 Venice. There are no bridges and no way of walking here.

Anyone with limited mobility can call the abbey on +39 375 6323595 for help with access: the landing stage and the forecourt are level, and the bell tower has a lift.

What's nearby

Everything close by is on the other side of the water, but only a few minutes away.

• St Mark's Square and the Doge's Palace: 3 minutes on the vaporetto, San Zaccaria stop.
• The Giudecca and the church of the Redentore: the next stop on line 2, for another Palladian front.
• Santa Maria della Salute and Punta della Dogana: on the same route towards the Zattere, ten minutes.
• Riva degli Schiavoni: the promenade to photograph the island from, with gondolas in the foreground.
• Giardini della Marinaressa: east along the waterfront, the quietest corner for a break.

San Giorgio Maggiore remains one of the few central places in Venice where no ticket is needed and the view repays the journey: half an hour of vaporetto in total, two Tintorettos, and — once the work is finished — the best viewpoint in the city from the San Giorgio Maggiore bell tower. Check the state of the tower and the last sailing on line 2 before you leave, and nothing else is needed.