Itinerary Question - Torcello, Burano & Murano

Are you thinking of a water taxi, or a vaporetto? I'm guessing it's the latter. The vaporetti are basically city buses that float. For using them to get out to the islands of the lagoon, you'll need to buy a vaporetto pass, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to get one anyway, since the passes allow you unlimited rides for whatever time period you choose (1, 2, 3, or 7 days). Anyhow, enjoy Lagoon Day! Sounds delightful.

Inbsig, sorry! I did mean vaporetto.
Keir

Assuming you mean Al Gatto Nero - please correct me if I’m wrong - I strongly encourage you to inquire for reservations as soon as possible. We are recently returned from Venice and Rome and when I attempted to make lunch reservations there for May 5, the restaurant was fully booked and that was as of mid-March. We wound up with reservations at Trattoria da Primo, which we very much enjoyed - brilliant wine selections, very friendly service and excellent fish. Burano is just stunning and I hope you enjoy your trip.

hey hey Keir
where are you staying in venice? 4 of us friends went to murano first, many shops have people standing outside trying to harp you in. we stopped at a few shops, i bought couple murano glass chickens for my sister in hawaii then took a water taxi (shared cost) to burano, my favorite island. buy round trip vaporetto tickets so you don't have to wait at machines with a line of people.
dustyroads.com
under places click europe, scroll down to countries to visit, click italy scroll down to veneto, click all veneto posts, click best things to do on burano and 13 wonderful things to do in venice. read up on the people, places things to see in both posts. gives you lots of info
isoladiburano.it
click venice islands and research about the islands you wish to see. it will be a long day but do enjoy.
as Bluegrass Dowager mentions about the restaurant, make reservations as soon as possible, check the times and days open/close. we tried to eat there but got there at closing time so no serving, look at the other few restaurants around. we ended up at a pizza/pasta place with seating outside.
aloha

Thank you all for taking the time to share your experiences and wonderful insights!

Bluegrass Dowager - thank you for the reminder to make reservations early (or earlier!). I doubt I will get into the Gatto Nero, but I very much appreciate the Trattoria da Primo recommendation. A good wine list is always appreciated. :-)

Princess Pupule - we are staying in San Polo. I tried the dustyroads.com link a number of different ways and it did not work. I am currently working through the isoladiburano.it site. Lots of good information.

Kind regards,
Keir

I am thinking of starting early with a first stop at Torcello, then a stop at Mazzorbo and walk to Burano, and finally on to Murano.

I would start on Murano, early in the morning. The shops open at 10 so decide if visiting them is worthwhile. Rick Steves has a self-guided walking tour that is very nice before the shops open. Then it is your choice, but make your last stop the island where you have a lunch reservation so you can chill and enjoy a leisurely experience. (RS also has self-guided tours of the other islands.)

There is a good restaurant on Mazzorbo, too, Trattoria Alla Magdalena.

hey hey Keir
sorry that website is: alongdustyroads.com
we stayed in the san polo area and loved it, away from the crowds. lots of walking & roaming. do walk the back canals of cannareggio, you can do a cichetti crawl with:
alessandro (schezzini.it)
it's a bar crawl tasting wine and "small appetizers" learning the history of venice. you will have to email him for the schedule.
any other questions just ask.
we got off boat on mazzorbo, had a glass of wine & some salami at alla magdalena at an outside table overlooking the water then walked around the small island and crossed bridge to burano. as laurel mentioned it was a great small place and friendly.
aloha

We had a lovely lunch at Villa 600 Restuarant on Torcello. We sat at the outside tables and it was lovely. So peaceful looking over the garden.

AussieNomad -- Ristorante 600 looks wonderful. Thank you!

My wife and I did this in 2019 before the end times. We got an all-day vaporetto pass and boarded at Nove around 9:30 in the morning (walked through the Ghetto on the way as we were staying near the bus depot). Our first stop was actually the San Michele cemetery - a few famous people buried there like Ezra Pound and Igor Stravinsky, only worth 30-45 minutes. Next, we hit Murano and grabbed an espresso as we enjoyed the relative quiet. Spent about 2 hours there. Next, we did Torcello. Torcello is cool if you're into old churches (and if you're not, what are you doing in Italy?), but that is all that is here, and it's a bit of a walk to the church. This island is also a haven for mosquitos (it's one of the reasons the villagers moved from here to what is now Venice). Spend an hour and a half here, half of which was strolling from the dock to the church and back. We ended in Burano, spending 2 hours here before taking the vaporetto all the way back to the San Marco area.

You could skip the cemetery and Torcello if you wanted to spend more time in Murano and Burano. If your whole morning and afternoon is free, I'd do everything, especially if you've already seen all the Venice "Greatest Hits".

EDIT: I forgot to mention, plan on a 15-20 minute wait at each dock to get between islands.

You commented on taking the vaporetto from either Burano or Mazzorbo to Murano/Venice. If the line on Burano is long, you might not get on the first vaporetto. But if you walk to Mazzorbo, they will let you board.

I have done this several times.

Thank you!!

Abearden23: thank you for the detailed play-by-play. Sounds like you had a great day.

Aussie: thank you for this confirmation - I was thinking along the samel line.

Keir

For people who like to take a lot of photos without a bunch of other visitors in them, I'd recommend starting with Burano. It is very beautiful with its multicolored houses, and an early start there should yield uncluttered photos. Murano is an important stop for glass lovers, but to me it is far less beautiful--not the sort of place screaming "Photograph me!" I don't see a great advantage to being on Murano with few other visitor present.

My most recent trip to Murano was in September 2022. I went to the island on two different days. I know there must be more people in Venice during July and August, but my trip was during Glass Week, which I'd think might drive some extra traffic to Murano. Murano wasn't remotely crowded. I suppose one might be unlucky and arrive at the Glass Museum right behind a couple of tour groups, but nothing like that happened to me.

I agree that getting onto a vaporetto could potentially be an issue, but I didn't encounter that problem, either.

One other tip: Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello did not allow photos as of September 2022; they're serious about that rule. There was a mosaic I wanted to photograph, but I could not, and they weren't selling postcards, either.