Hello again - It looks to me that the ACTV vaporetto goes to Torcello, but I read in someone's travel post that they took a ferry from Burano to Torcello. Can anyone enlighten me on the transport options to Torcello? We do intend to visit Burano, too. Can both be done in a day? It looks like Burano is quite tiny. We're not there to purchase lace...just to walk around to feel and see the place, and find a nice lunch...

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Originally posted by desert rat:
Hello again - It looks to me that the ACTV vaporetto goes to Torcello, but I read in someone's travel post that they took a ferry from Burano to Torcello. Can anyone enlighten me on the transport options to Torcello? We do intend to visit Burano, too. Can both be done in a day? It looks like Burano is quite tiny. We're not there to purchase lace...just to walk around to feel and see the place, and find a nice lunch...

There are a few ways to get to Torcello and one could involve changing boats at Burano although it is probably more often Murano. You can easily do all three islands in a day and certainly two. Burano is tiny and lovely. Our son James, and his inamorata, Gerarda, prefer it to Venice proper. If you get an Actv orario you wil find all that info; I am not kidding when I say Martin spends hours studying it to find the best way to get someplace. BTW-the orario is printed in English as well as Italian. Ruth

Last December the vaporettos all ran to Burano and then you had to change to take another smaller vaporetto to Torcello. The timetables were well planned to link.

It's easy to visit both Burano and Torcello in a day - although it is a good idea to get a reasonably early start as Burano is very interesting to walk around and Torcello is wonderful.

It is well worth the effort to walk up the campanile on Torcello, the views across the lagoon are truly wonderful. My best ever photos of Venice were taken from the top of the campanile.

It was a long day, but this is how the commuting went:

- From Venice Fondamenta Nuove with Linea 13 to Murano Faro;

- From Murano Faro with Linea LN (each 30 minutes) to Torcello. This is a 45 minutes boat ride;

- From Torcello to Burano with Linea T;

- From Burano back to Venice San Zaccaria, 90 minutes including a change in Murano.

As I said: it makes it a very long day. But if the weather is good and the sun shines, it can be wonderful.

You can read how more about that day in my trip report.

It's been a long time, but I remember my day on the lagoon and islands very well. Any boat info is probably out-of-date, so check my work.
We left Venice early, vaproretto to Burano (changing at Murano?) and strolled around until time for a fantastic early lunch at a fairly famous seafood restaurant, alas, nameless after these years. Then off to Torcello, but we got off one stop before, at the abandoned island of Mazzorbo (sp) and walked over a bridge to Torcello. After touring the breathtaking cathedral, we took a small boat, hired from a man at the dock, to the island of San Francesco Deserto, where a Franciscan monk gave us a tour. Silent, calm, very beautiful, with lots of exotic birds wandering around, oriental pheasants and white peacocks. The sandolo (sp) waited for us. Then back to Venice at sunset. I gotta go back.
Yrs, Robert

When I was in Venice in 2003, I took an ACTV vaporetto at Fondamenta Nuove to Burano (I don't recall whether it also stopped in Murano) and then switched to another, much smaller ACTV vaporetto for the five- or ten-minute ride to Torcello itself.

You can definitely do Torcello and Burano in one day, possibly even Murano. Go to Torcello first, because the cathedral and the tiny Santa Fosca church close at noon or so.

Burano is colourful and fun to wander around, and I had a lovely risotto alla crema di scampi at Da Romano.

P.S. I'm afraid the above might be misleading. Both the cathedral and Santa Fosca reopen in the afternoon, but I'm not sure when.