Venice water buses
 

We are planning to go to Venice and just wondering how hard it is to get around on the Water buses (ACTV). Would love to visit the Islands of Murano and Burano, but don't want to miss the Ship.We leaves at 5PM from the cruise terminal. Any advice on getting around???

The vaporetti operate just like buses. You need to buy either single tickets or a pass (tickets are not sold at all stops). Major stops will have a map of routes showing where each route stops. Travel by vaporetto can be very slow, especially those which stop everywhere. You may well find that walking is faster, especially if the route is familiar. http://www.actv.it/en

They are very easy to use but if you are only in Venice for the day on a cruise stop, I would encourage you to spend your time in Venice, which is a beautiful and unique place. If you decide to visit one of the islands, make it Burano. We did not find Murano to have much charm at all and you can buy Murano glass in Venice. Also, it's a long ride back to the cruise ships so going to one of the islands would be cutting things tight. You could go online and check the ACTV schedule but keep,in mind that in Italy, schedules aren't always followed exactly.

I agree with drchris - spend the day in Venice. Unless you are able to spend the night before your departure in Venice I would walk around and get lost in the beautiful city. If you want to see the Basilica di San Marco check online for advance tickets or you may spend a good bit of time waiting in line.

How much time do you have in Venice? If it is just one day you don't have enough time to visit Murano and Burano, and even Burano might be cutting it fine. Just get lost in Venice "proper" (although now with smart phones you don't have to stay lost if you don't want to.)

We will arrive at 8AM and depart the next afternoon at 5PM, so we plan on going to Murano and Burano on the first day and exploring Venice proper the second day. If Murano and Burano aren't interesting we'll just omit them. Thanks

I've only been to Venice twice, 5 days each time, I've yet to make it out to any of the islands. For me they just didn't seem a priority or more interesting than exploring the central area.

One day is <i>barely</i> enough time to see a tiny part of Venice proper. The islands are fine, but IMO you should spend both days IN Venice

How about exploring Venice on day one, and then deciding whether you want to spend day two going to the islands or spending more of your extremely limited time in Venice.

Thanks for all the tips, this has helped. Now we can plan on a great trip to Venice!
Bill