Northern islands Travel Guide

The main islands lying to the north of Venice - San Michele , Murano , Burano and Torcello - used to be good places to visit when the throng of tourists in the main part of Venice became too oppressive. Nowadays the throngs are almost everywhere for most of the year, but a northwards excursion is still a restorative when the stone pavements and endless brick walls become wearying - out here the horizons are distant and the bleak swathes of barèna (marshland) give a taste of what conditions were like for Venice's first settlers. A day trip through this part of the lagoon will reveal the origins of the glass and lace work touted in so many of the city's shops, and give you a glimpse of the origins of Venice itself, embodied in Torcello's magnificent cathedral of Santa Maria dell'Assunta. Those intent on an exhaustive exploration of the lagoon could plan a visit to the islets of San Francesco del Deserto and Lazzaretto Nuovo - the former a Franciscan retreat, the latter a charismatic wasteland.

If you're setting off for a day in the northern islands and don't fancy taking a picnic, you should plan on spending lunchtime on Burano. Although Thomas Coryat declared of Murano "here did I eat the best oysters that ever I did in all my life", food on the glass-blowers' island today is nothing special, while on Torcello there's just a couple of mediocre trattorias and an exorbitant restaurant.

To get to the northern islands, the main vaporetto stop is Fondamente Nove (or Nuove), as most of the island services start here or call here. (You can hop on elsewhere in the city, of course - but make sure that the boat is going towards the islands, not away from them.) For San Michele and Murano only the circular #41 and #42 vaporetti both run every twenty minutes from Fondamente Nove, circling Murano before heading back towards Venice; the #41 follows an anticlockwise route around the city, the #42 a clockwise route. For Murano, Burano and Torcello the #12 leaves every half hour from Fondamente Nove (hourly early in the morning and evenings), calling first at Murano-Faro before heading on to Mazzorbo, Burano and Torcello, from where it proceeds, via Treporti, to Punta Sabbioni, where it links up with the #14, which links Punta Sabbioni to San Marco (San Zaccaria stop), via the Lido. Note that some services, particularly on Saturdays and Sundays, call at Torcello before Burano, and that the #12 does not stop at San Michele.