The final leg of the München-Venezia cycle route mainly follows the beautiful Girasile cycleway, and the Sile river, as it winds its way across the Veneto plain to Mestre. From Mestre, you can take the cycleway that leads over the causeway to Venezia itself.

As well as the main route, there are a couple of options if you want to head for the eastern shore of the Venetian lagoon.

Map and altitude profile

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Variants

Options

There are three options for the final section:

• one follows the Girasile cycleway along the banks of the Sile river and then on to Mestre (56 kilometres)
• the second turns off the cycleway to head via Jesolo, and Cavallino -Treporti to Punta Sabbioni on the eastern shore of the Venetian lagoon (83 kilometres). Once you get to Punta Sabbioni you can take the number 14 traghetto to the Lido di Venezia.
• the third takes advantage of newly-opened stretches of cycleway beside the river Sile and the Taglio del Sile to offer a slightly shorter route around the laguna from Quarto d’Altino to Punta Sabbioni. (72 kilometres)

  Map:  München-Venezia-Treviso-variants-mapshow map in overlay    |  München-Venezia-Treviso-variants-map  show map in new window   

The main route via Mestre is the shortest, and there’s now a protected cycleway on the 3.8 kilometre-long causeway that links Venezia with the Mestre on the terra firma (mainland). But while taking the causeway to Venezia may seem like the obvious choice, the obvious choice isn’t always the best one. The cycleway shares the causeway with the main road as well as the rail line and tramway. It’s great that cyclists have the option of crossing in safety, but it’s certainly not glamorous or romantic: check the Google Streetview images and make up your own mind.

The ban on bikes in most of the Venezia centro storico means that when you arrive you have only very limited options. (If you’ve come direct to this page and are thinking ‘Ban? What ban?’, you can read more here in the intro­duction to this guide (italy-cycling-guide.info: München-Venezia cycle route).

For my money, the best way to see Venezia for the first time is on a boat coming into the city from the sea, so you really aren’t missing out on anything if you opt for one of the variants. If you have few days, then I’d head for the eastern shore which would make a great base for visiting Venezia and the islands of the Venetian lagoon.

A compromise option would be to take the car ferry (service number 17) from the Tronchetto terminal (close to the end of the main route) to the Lido di Venezia. For more inform­ation see the transport and services section below.

Riverside cycleway in the centre of Treviso

Following the Sile river from Treviso to Musestre di Roncade

The route out of Treviso is a little tricky because of the one-way system around the Riviera Garibaldi. From what I could see, the best way is to follow the signs into the centre of town and then go through the cobbled vicolo that comes out on the riverside by the Osteria al Dante, and then cross the road to the ciclabile by the river. Then, just before the bridge over the river, cross back over the road (there’s a crossing) and take the cycleway along the arcade of trees. When you reach the (push-button controlled) crossing, that leads to the waterside turn right and cross the road and turn left. The ciclabile by the river seemed to stop at this point, but going straight on, following the river, appeared to be the easiest option here. Follow the waterside to the start of the Girasile cycleway: it starts just before the railway bridge (you should be able to see the twin circular blue signs about 50 metres away). There’s an I2/I4 sign although the Girasile is numbered E4).

The Girasile is just beautiful. The Girasile park authority and the local author­ities in this area have invested a lot of money (€3.75 million) on new and upgraded sections of the cycleway as well as some bridges.

Treviso: the GiraSile cycleway

The stretch out of Treviso is popular with runners and walkers (at least it was on a Saturday morning). The cycleway out of Treviso is tarmac surfaced but this gives way to aggregate for most of the 22 kilometres. It is mainly dedicated traffic-free cycleway but there are some sections of quiet road that are restricted to residents (with a 15 kph limit). There’s also a section of boardwalk where you have to get off and walk (‘Cicli a Mano’ signs).

There aren’t a whole lot of places to eat and drink along the cycleway itself: the best bet is probably Casier sul Sile, about 6.5 kilometres out of Treviso, where there’s a bar and a trattoria.

The GiraSile cycleway (part of the München-Venezia cycle route) near Roncade in the Veneto

Musestre di Roncade to Mestre

At Musestre di Roncade you cross the river and head for Mestre via Quarto d’Altino. There’s another parting of the ways here. There’s a cyclist-pedes­trian bridge beside the road bridge, and on the other side there’s a cycleway that continues following the river. If you want to go to Mestre then turn right and follow the cycle route on a stretch of road. If you want to go to Jesolo then go left on the riverside cycleway.

The route to Mestre makes a detour to take advantage of two quiet bridges over the Zero and Dese rivers — passing close to the Marco Polo airport.

The final stretch into Mestre was surpris­ingly quiet. There are a couple of points where you have to go under the rail line and under a main road, but in both cases, the underpass has a separate ciclope­donale.

Mestre has some excellent two-way protected cycleways into the centre of town. However, it’s important to note that there are several zone pedonali (pedes­trian zones) that are off-limits to cyclists. These zones are indicated by the no-bikes signs (a circular sign with a red border and a black bike symbol in the centre). I don’t know whether the regula­tions allow you to push your bike in these zones. In the pedes­trian zones where bikes are allowed, you have to ride at walking pace (passo d ‘uomo).

The streets affected by these changes include the Via Palazzolo and the Piazza Erminio Ferretto, which are part of the official route — or at least they used to be. My suggested route would be:

• follow the Viale Garibaldi to the cross­roads with the Via Spalti where you turn left onto cycleway that runs along the Via Spalti and turns right into the Via Caneve and continues on the Via Fapani, passing a little park
• continue on the Via Fapani the road is one-way, but there’s a two-way cycleway
• the Via Fapani comes to an end at a piazza with a COIN department store on the corner. In front of you, there’s the start of a section of zona pedonale with no-bikes signs. It looks to me that the best option here is to go left, and go round to the other side of the COIN building and pick up the cycleway that starts on the Piazza 27 Ottobre. Look for the big ‘Le Barche’ signs. The cycleway then follows the Via Poerio;
• cross over the road and follow the cycleway as it turns the corner into the Via Brenta Vecchia;
• the cycleway on the Via Vecchia Brenta continues alongside the Via Cappuccina, with the tram tracks to your left;
• continue on the Via Cappuccina for 600 metres to the traffic lights on the junction with the Via Bembo.

At the junction with the Via Bembo you have two options. If you are planning on heading for Venezia itself then the best option is to turn left here and pick up the cycleway that runs beside the road (more detail below). If you want to go to Mestre station, or south from Mestre, then turn right (the road is one-way, but the cycleway beside it is two-way) and then take the next left onto the Via Dante which takes you almost all of the way to the station.

Option to avoid the centre of Mestre

It’s possible to avoid the centre of Mestre by turning off the route at Favaro Veneto. A cycleway runs alongside the Via Vallenari for five and a bit kilometres, skirting round Favaro Veneto, and eventually bringing you out onto the Via Torino from where you head for the Porto Marghera station and the cycleway over the causeway to Venezia itself. It’s a very straight­forward option, once you’ve found the start of the cycleway.

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This option might also be worth consid­ering if you are heading for one of the campsites near Mestre.

Mestre to Venezia

There’s now an excellent protected cycleway on the 3.8 kilometre-long causeway that links Venezia with the Mestre on the terra firma (mainland). The cycleway shares the causeway with the main road as well as the rail line and tramway. It’s great that cyclists have the option of crossing in safety, but it’s certainly not glamorous or romantic: check the Google Streetview images and make up you own mind.

The most straight­forward route from the centre of Mestre is to pick up the cycleway beside the Via Bembo which continues on the Via Genova and turns right into the Via Napoli. At the junction with the Via Torino, cross the road and turn right onto the cycleway that runs alongside the Via Torino.

Map

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The ciclabile beside the Via Torino leads to an underpass that takes you under the railway line and road, and on the other side you can pick up the cycleway across the bridge. Unfortunately, the access to the underpass has been closed because of the redevel­opment of the station at Porto Marghera. Until the work is completed you need to use the underpass at the Porto Marghera station. There should be a canalina on the steps to allow cyclists to push bikes up and down the steps that lead to the underpass.

The most straight­forward route to the station is to turn right onto the Via Linghindal (look out for the stazione sign), and then left at the round­about, and follow the Via Ca’ Marcello and Via Paganello to the station.

The cycleway takes you past a large car park on the Via Petroli and turns left at the round­about (Via dell’Idraulica). It then comes out beside the tramway and the main SR211. The road is off-limits to bikes — just in case you’re tempted to climb over two sets of barriers to make a right turn.

The cycleway runs on the right-hand side of the causeway for 3.8 kilometres. If you’re headed for the Tronchetto ferry terminal take the turning on the right when the cycleway comes to an end, otherwise, rejoin the road for the final stretch. The road continues on the Ponte della Libertà to the Piazzale di Roma 700 metres further on, passing the turning for the San Basilio ferry terminal.

There are a limited number of bike spaces at the Bici Park on the Ponte della Libertà (see the transport and services section below). See the transport and services section for more inform­ation on ferries and bike parking.

Bikes and Venezia

In 2016, the Comune di Venezia extended the ban on cycling in the centro storico (historic centre) so that now you cannot either ride bikes, or push them, in the centro storico. If you do, you risk a 100€ fine.

I haven’t been able to find a formal defin­ition of the centro storico, but it applies to most of the group of islands at the centre of the Laguna di Venezia. You can still ride to the Piazzale Roma on the main island, and also to the ferry terminals but no further than that. Google Maps and OpenStreetMap maps show the pedes­trian-only areas of the city, and it’s safest to regard all of these as off-limits — although there is an exception for the area in front of the Santa Lucia train station.

If you want to see it in black and white, see the city’s website: comune.venezia.it: Forbidden Behaviour.

And if you want chapter and verse, the ban is in Articolo 28 of the Regolamento di polizia urbana (pdf) which says:

Nel Centro Storico di Venezia è vietata la circol­azione dei velocipedi anche se condotti a mano

Note that at the time of writing the city council had just approved a new version of the regola­mento.

The regulation provides an exception for residents of Venezia, and children under the age of ten in specific areas. It also gives the police power to impound bikes until the fine is paid.

I don’t know how vigor­ously the ban is enforced, or your chances of not encoun­tering someone from the local police. If you do decide to take the risk, be discreet and pay attention to the other #Enjoy-Respect-Venezia rules. Last year (2018) one unlucky cycle-tourist was fined 350€ for a combin­ation of offences.

#EnjoyRespectVenezia. Graphic by the Venezia city council showing behaviour that could lead to a fine. Source: comune.venezia.it: Forbidden behaviou

Continuing on from Mestre

If you are planning on continuing from Mestre, the cycleway to the station will take you under the station and then on into neigh­bouring Marghera. Heading south from here can be tricky: whatever you do stay off the SS309. The SS309 is a horrible road used as a short-cut by lorries heading for southern Italy.

You could improvise an inland route, heading south, that stays off the SS309, but really you’d be better off taking the island-hopping route on the islands on the eastern shore of the laguna.

Another option, is to go via Padova — which is well worth the detour. There’s a great cycle route that follows the Naviglio del Brenta and takes you to Stra and from there into Padova. The naviglio is also known as the Riviera del Brenta because of the grand palazzi that the Venetian nobility built beside it. You could pick up this route by taking the cycle route that leads to Oriago, but I’d recommend heading for Malcontenta and the Villa Foscari (also called La Malcontenta), built by Antonio Palladio (en.wikipedia.org: Villa Foscari). Continuing from Padova follow the Bacchiglione river as it heads southeast to the coast just south of Chioggia. It’s a beautiful, and very peaceful, riverside route, almost entirely on very quiet surfaced roads.