Helen Potter

Wow! The best thing I visited during my time in Riyadh. You have to pay to join a group travelling there if you don’t have access to a 4x4 but it’s so worth it. Once you leave the motorway it’s about 30 minutes of off-road driving across rocky desert which is lots of fun, and then when you arrive the view is unbelievable. We were there for sunset which was absolutely beautiful and the whole area turned a beautiful orange and gold colour.
Amazing views, beautiful landscape and a totally unforgettable experience!

A truly amazing building. The large rooms filled with paintings and gold leaf are breathtaking. Paintings by some true greats including Titian. The tour around the building has lots of information to guide you through how the palace was used and what the Doge was. Then the journey takes you to the prison part of the building (including crossing the bridge of sighs.) This section is very different but equally fascinating. You get a proper look in all the cells and the long creepy corridors are very atmospheric (we chose the longer route around the prison, and we definitely feel like that was the better option for a more in-depth look.)
The tickets are expensive (€30 each if you buy on the day) but it’s clear that the money is being spent on constant restoration work and maintaining the incredible art and architecture. We queued up on the day for tickets and only queued for 5 minutes - this was in early January though so I would recommend buying in advance if you’re visiting later in the year.
There is a cafe but everything was very expensive even compared to the prices in the rest of San Marco’s square, so we didn’t end up buying anything there.
There was the option to pay extra for an audio guide but we opted to read the information boards for free and still felt that we learnt a great deal around the palace.
Overall an amazing excursion - do leave a good few hours to get around everything with plenty of time to read the information and take your time looking at the artwork.