Has anyone taken the half day tour of Murano, burano, and torcello?

[sr5242]

I booked the half day tour of Murano, burano, and torcello through venetoinside, although I suspect the viator tour is the same thing.

 

Am having second thoughts, as people have indicated they preferred to just see the islands by vaparettos. Here's the thing- my mother has limited walking endurance, so we wouldn't be able to stroll the islands very long anyway. We also are nervous navigators and would prefer to just be taken place to place rather than try to figure out which vaparettos go where.

 

I am also a tad confused about the vaporettos. My understanding is that i would need to take a separately purchased shuttle-aliliguna- to the main square, and catch the vapaorettos there?

 

Any thoughts from people who might be in similar situations and have either navigated on their own or taken this tour?

 

Thanks!

[KirkNC]

I can tell you we plan on doing that itinerary next summer on our own. I assume you are starting from the cruise ship dock? If yes, take the people mover to P Roma, catching vaporetto 42 to Murano (they depart every 10 minutes), when ready to go to Burano, take vaporetto 12 there (these leave every 1/2 hour). To get to Torcello, take vaporetto T or 9. It will take a little organizing on your part but way way cheaper then a tour. Be aware that there is a bit of a walk on Torcello from the pier to the sights.

[p_mori7]

The walk from the Torcello dock to the church / square / restaurants is about a 1/2 mile.

 

Depending on how far down the pier your ship docks at, the walk to the people mover can be a good 1/2 mile or more. I did see vans for people with limited mobility at the pier.

 

The vaporetto docks sway & roll constantly with the waves in the canals.

[wantocruisemore]

The walk from the Torcello dock to the church / square / restaurants is about a 1/2 mile.

 

Depending on how far down the pier your ship docks at, the walk to the people mover can be a good 1/2 mile or more. I did see vans for people with limited mobility at the pier.

 

The vaporetto docks sway & roll constantly with the waves in the canals.

 

Quick question, are there signs directing to the People Mover when you get off the ship if your dock is the furthest pier?

 

Also, our ship stops in Venice for debarkation so we will be dragging luggage to the People Mover.

[Hlitner]

The OP needs to understand that whether you pay extra money for a tour, or simply use the vaporettos to get to the islands, once you are at the island you will need to walk. The only difference is that with a tour you will have a guide to walk along with you and point out the sites ("that is a cafe," "that is a restaurant," "that is an old building").

 

As to getting from the cruise port to the vaporettos, we speak about this (in much detail) nearly every other day here on this blog! At the risk of repeating what is posted very often we say it again. From the port you can take the Alilaguna to St Marks Square but it will cost you 7 Euros (one way) for that ride and you will still have to walk to the Alilaguna dock within the port (this can be a hike depending on your docking location. From St Marks Square you can walk to the other vaporetto docks. However, instead of taking that 7 Euro Alilaguna boat you can take the new People Mover (only costs 1 Euro) from the port (this can also be a hike from your cruise ship) over to the nearby Piazale Roma where you also have vaporetto docks. This means that a couple would immediately save 12 Euros by using the people mover vs the Alilaguna. Round trip you would save 24 Euros a couple by using the People Mover and now we are talking real money (about $32 at the current rate of exchange).

 

Hank