Venice Excursions

We are looking to do the Murano and Burano excursion with Royal. We arrive in port at 3pm and the excursion is at 3:45 for 4 hours. Is this worth the time or should we do this on our own? The ship is in port over night .

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Only you can decide whether or it will be "worth it" to you. That is a tremendously vague value to attribute.

I will say, with your late arrival, that excursion would be a quick way to see those areas.

DW and I really like Burano and also tolerate Murano. But whether you do it on an excursion (its nice of you to donate your money to tour providers) or on your own (easy on Vaporettos)...the 3-4 hours makes me think its not the best use of limited time. Consider that it generally take more than an hour just to get out to Burano. And we do love Burano where DW and I will walk for at least an hour and then have a nice long lunch (or dinner) at one of their decent seafood restaurants. Go out there on a tour and you will walk by the restaurants and cafes...and think "I wonder if the food is good?" But you will not find out on that short tour.

Given the amount of time we would spend it in Venice or perhaps Murano. Burano is a stretch given the extra time just to get to and from that island.

Hank

When we visited during summer of 2016, we did a self-guided tour, using the Vaporetti. We also visited the island of Torcello, which is less developed and less crowded than the others. It is easy to take the public boats, and they have frequent shuttles between the islands. We enjoyed being on our own schedule for our tour, but of course we missed out on the info that a guide might have provided. For what it's worth, we weren't there on a cruise, but instead arrived by train (from Florence) and stayed in a hotel in Mestre for several nights.

All of the outlying islands are small, and far less crowded than Venice itself. You will have no trouble finding the main sights, architecture, and shops on your own, especially if you invest in a simple guidebook.

I tend to agree with Hlitner that you'll be rushed to tour the islands in just four hours. We spent most of the day, at a relaxing and leisurely pace.

This site describes using the public boats. We purchased a one-day unlimited ride pass, which made it easy and relatively inexpensive to visit the islands.

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/venice-vaporetto-water-buses.htm

How long are you staying in Venice and is this your first visit?

If the visit is brief and this is your first visit I would pass on the excursion. There is so much you can see on your own.

Keith

How long are you staying in Venice and is this your first visit?

 

If the visit is brief and this is your first visit I would pass on the excursion. There is so much you can see on your own.

 

Keith

This is our first visit. We are on the Vision of the Seas and we get in port around 3pm . We overnight and leave the next day around 6:30. So I assume all aboard will be 5pm.

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DW and I really like Burano and also tolerate Murano. But whether you do it on an excursion (its nice of you to donate your money to tour providers) or on your own (easy on Vaporettos)...the 3-4 hours makes me think its not the best use of limited time. Consider that it generally take more than an hour just to get out to Burano. And we do love Burano where DW and I will walk for at least an hour and then have a nice long lunch (or dinner) at one of their decent seafood restaurants. Go out there on a tour and you will walk by the restaurants and cafes...and think "I wonder if the food is good?" But you will not find out on that short tour.

 

 

 

Given the amount of time we would spend it in Venice or perhaps Murano. Burano is a stretch given the extra time just to get to and from that island.

 

 

 

Hank

Thank you Hank . I really would like to see as much of Venice as possible . One of my neighbors said Murano is a must. I like your idea of having lunch or dinner there. We are on the Vision that arrives at 3pm overnights and leaves the next day at 6:30. So I assume all aboard time will be 5pm. Also would like to take some time to do a gondola ride at some point .

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my suggestion if you really want to do a gondola tour is to do that the day you arrive

If you have an overnight stay you can experience a quieter Venice after the day trippers have gone home and drift through the canals in the evening or just wander

As has already been said you can do the islands via Vaparetto yourselves the next day

start early as you are not sailing till 6 so can make plans to be back in plenty of time

Alternatively the Alilaguna company does a semi organised tour of Murano Burano and Torcello for around 20 euros

can be pre booked online or just turn up

Only you can decide whether or it will be "worth it" to you. That is a tremendously vague value to attribute.

 

I will say, with your late arrival, that excursion would be a quick way to see those areas.

You are sbsolutely right :)

How long are you staying in Venice and is this your first visit?

 

If the visit is brief and this is your first visit I would pass on the excursion. There is so much you can see on your own.

 

Keith

I agree 100%. If this is your first visit, spend the day in Venice itself. Your neighbor may think Murano is a must. It isn't, not unless you have spent several days in Venice first. Of the three islands: Murano, Burano and Torcello, Murano would be my last choice. But none compare (not even close) to Venice itself.

I too visited Burano and Murano on our own via the water bus. I actually really enjoyed Murano. In fact, I would like to stay there one night next time if I have enough time. It is charming, way less busy. But would I take a tour- Not a chance. Easy to do on your own and you don't need to spend a lot of time. Save your dollars for other ports of call for tours.

We had the same dilemma a couple of years ago. It was our first visit to Venice and we had an overnight there. We had hoped to go to Burano via the Vaparetto but in the end there was some much else to see that we could not allocate the time.

I agree 100%. If this is your first visit, spend the day in Venice itself. Your neighbor may think Murano is a must. It isn't, not unless you have spent several days in Venice first. Of the three islands: Murano, Burano and Torcello, Murano would be my last choice. But none compare (not even close) to Venice itself.

I'm also in agreement with this. Venice is wonderful. I recommend the original poster spend the 1.5 days in Venice itself -- see the main sights there by all means but leave time to wander. IMO it takes a full day to do justice to all three of the outlying islands (and all three are worth visiting).

Thank you everyone. I think we might just take do Venice on our own as so many of you have suggested.

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