The München-Venezia cycle route: Part 9 Treviso to Venezia

Published on:  | Last updated: 28 April 2019

GiraSile cycleway: boardwalk and sunken boats

GiraSile cycleway: boardwalk and sunken boats

At a glance

Distance

47kms (main variant)

Difficulty/​Terrain

Flat/​easy

Traffic

22 kilometres of traffic-free cycleway followed by quiet roads

Surfaces

The GiraSile cycleway is almost entirely aggregate. The cycleway is in good repair and the surfaces are in good condition. It would be do-able with a tourer with reasonable-sized tyres but it is best suited to trekking and mountain bikes.

Signs

Well signed. The signs are a combin­ation of München-Venezia signs and Veneto I2/​I4 regional signs. In places there are both signs side by side, while elsewhere the M-V signs fill in the gaps in the existing signage.

Sign for the München-Venezia cycle route on the River Sile

Sign for the München-Venezia cycle route on the River Sile

The final leg of the München-Venezia cycle route mainly follows the Girasile cycleway, and the Sile river, as it winds its way across the Veneto plain Venezia itself. There are some options depending on whether you want to end at Venezia, or on the eastern edge of the Venetian lagoon.

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Distances
Treviso - Quarto d'Altino 22 kms
Quarto d'Altino - Mestre 23 kms
Mestre centre - Venezia-Mestre station 2 kms
Variant 1
Treviso - San Donà di Piave 42 kms
San Donà di Piave - Jesolo 26 kms
Jesolo - Punta Sabbioni 26 kms
Variant 2
Treviso - Quarto d'Altino 22 kms
Quarto d'Altino - Jesolo 27 kms
Jesolo - Punta Sabbioni 23 kms

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 more direct route around the laguna from Quarto d'Altino to Punta Sabbioni. (72 kilometres)

The main route via Mestre is the shortest, but while taking the causeway to Venezia may seem like the obvious choice, the obvious choice isn't always the best one: although there's now a cycleway beside the road it's still far from glamorous or romantic.

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 11) 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.

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

Riverside cycleway in the centre of Treviso

Riverside cycleway in the centre of Treviso

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 waterside by the Osteria al Dante, 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 water-side 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, seemed 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

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

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. The route 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, seemed pretty bike-friendly, and coming into town you pick up a cycleway that takes you pretty much all the way to the station - although note that there is a pedes­trian-only zone in the Piazza Erminio Ferretto.

Mestre to Venezia

When I rode this section of the route it stopped in Mestre. There's now a cycleway that takes you all the way to Venezia itself. The cycleway follows the Via Torino before going over the railway line and under the main road. It then continues to the causeway where the cycleway is on the right-hand side. The cycleway takes you over the causeway. If you are planning on getting a ferry from the Tronchetto of San Basilio piers then you need to turn right here, otherwise, rejoin the road for the final stretch (of almost 700 metres) over the Ponte della Libertà to the Piazzale di Roma. 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.

Venezia - approaching the piazza di San Marco by vaporetto

Venezia - approaching the piazza di San Marco by vaporetto

Options and connections

If you're planning on continuing south there are a couple of options to consider. The first is the eurovelo 8 route that goes via Jesolo and then the islands on the eastern shore of the lagoon and then on to Chioggia on its southern tip. For more inform­ation see:

Another altern­ative is to follow the AdriaBike cycle route which takes you to Padova and then to Chioggia.

Previous

More information

Places to stay

Hotels and B&Bs

The most expensive option is to stay in the historic centre of Venezia. This is quite probably the most expensive place to stay in the whole of Italy. You also have the problem of where to store your bike (although there is now a secure bike park at the Venezia Mestre train station). A more economical option may be to stay on the mainland in Mestre, or on one of the islands on the edge of the lagoon.

Find and book places to stay with Booking.com

Booking.com pages for places on this section of the route:

Mestre | Venezia | Jesolo | Venezia Lido

About these links

If you use these links to book accom­mod­ation Booking.com will pay me a small part of their commission. This helps support the costs of producing this site.

I use Booking.com to find and book places to stay when there are no campsites in the area. The large majority of hotels and many hostels are now on ‘Booking’. I like it because it means that I can get almost-instant confirm­ation. The rating system is also a reliable guide to the quality of the accom­mod­ation.

I’ve never had a problem finding places to keep my bike —even if it’s a cupboard or store room. I always use the ‘special requests’ field on the booking form to tell the hotel that I’m travelling with a bike, which gives them the oppor­tunity to let me know if there’s a problem.

Many properties offer free cancel­lation but it’s a good idea to check the condi­tions as these vary from property to property.

Hostels

There are lots of hostels in Venezia, but the ban on bikes in Venezia rules these out. There are hostels in Padova and Chioggia.

Campsites

There are loads of campsites within reach of Venezia — most are around Cavallino-Treporti, and the Lido di Jesolo. On the mainland, there are a couple of campsites just outside Mestre and another at Fusina further south.

My recom­mend­a­tions would be:

At Mestre there are two sites that are convenient for both Venezia and the train station at Mestre, the Venezia Village and the Camping Rialto. The Rialto offers rental tents and chalets.

  Map of campsites along the route:  MV-campsites-map - show map in overlay    |  MV-campsites-map -   show map in new window   

Transport and services

Trains

Mestre station is one of the main stations on the Trenitalia network. There are also Eurocity services to Austria and Germany - although you may find it that it's best to get a treno regionale to Verona - the Eurocity services from Verona have more spaces for bikes.

Planes

The route passes fairly close to Venezia's Marco Polo airport. I haven't ridden to the airport, but my advice, for what it's worth, would be to head for the airport via Favaro Veneto and Tessera to minimise the amount of time you need to spend on the SS14. Although the SS14 doesn't look too awful (you can check it for yourself on Google Streetview) it's defin­itely a road to avoid if you can. There's no rail service to the airport itself (the nearest station is at Carpenedo, 6.5kms away).

Ferries

The Tronchetto to Lido di Venezia ferry

Bikes are allowed onto the number 17 car ferry service that runs from the terminal on Tronchetto island to the Lido di Venezia. For more inform­ation about the 'Ferry Boat' service see: actv.avmspa.it: actv-ferry-boat. There's an ACTV ticket office on the Tronchetto.

The service runs every 50 minutes. I think that tickets cost €7.50 plus €1 for your bike. You should be able to download the pdf timetable from this page: muoversi.venezia.it: orari servizio di navigazione or from actv.avmspa.it: timetable download page.

Ferries between Punta Sabbioni and the Lido di Venezia

To get from Punta Sabbioni to the Lido di Venezia you will need to take the number 14 traghetto. You can download the timetables in pdf from actv.avmspa.it: timetable download page.

Ferries to Croatia

The Venezia Lines ferries to Croatia sail from the San Basilio pier. This is accessible by bike. To get to it, you need to take the Calle Dietro ai Magazzini from the junction with the Ponte della Libertà.

Ferries to Greece

The ANEK Lines, Grimaldi Lines and Superfast Ferries ferries to Greece sail from the Venice RO Port 'Motorways of the Sea' ferry terminal at Fusina. (Note that there are two ferry terminals at Fusina — the other just offers a passenger ferry to Venezia).

Fusina is about 10 kilometres south of Mestre. Getting there is pretty straight­forward, but if you don't do anything else be sure to stay off the SS309. This is on my list of The Most Horrible Roads in Italy. The route I would suggest is to take the cycleway that goes under the Mestre station, and then continue through Marghera heading for the village of Malcontenta, and then take the SP23 (Via Moranzani). A slightly longer, but possibly more scenic option is to follow the cycle route on the right bank of the Naviglio del Brenta and then cross back over and head for the ferry terminal. At Malcontenta you defin­itely should make the short detour to see the Villa Foscari ('La Malcontenta') designed by the architect Andrea Palladio. If you don't have much time you can just admire it from the waterside, but it's worth the visit to see the frescoes in the reception rooms.

Bike shops on this section of the route

If you know of other bike shops, or you spot a mistake, please let me know.

  Map:  MV-bike-shops-map - show bike shops map in overlay    |    MV-bike-shops-map - show bike shops map in new window   

Bike parking and luggage storage

If you are planning to spend a few days in Venezia, the best option is to find accom­mod­ation in Mestre, or on one of the islands, that has somewhere to store your bike.

There's a Bici Park (bike parking facility) near Mestre station actv.avmspa.it: bicycle park Mestre Venezia. From the pictures I've seen, the Mestre facility looks pretty secure, or at least it's staffed, and the access is controlled. The cost is €0.5 per day. Note: you can't leave bikes overnight — the Bici Park closes at 19:00 and all bikes must be removed by 19:30.

In Venezia itself, there is parking for 25 bikes beside the Autorimessa Comunale (municipal car-park) at Ponte della Libertà (entry to the right of the vehicles entrance). The operators emphasise that it is not guarded or monitored by CCTV.

for luggage storage, there's a Deposito Bagagli (Left Luggage office) at Venezia Mestre station and also at Venezia Santa Lucia. Charges: (per item) €6 for the first 5 hours then €1 per hour for the next seven hours, and and €0.50 for every hour after the first twelve. For more inform­ation go to: grandistazioni.it: Venezia Mestre Left Luggage or veneziasantalucia.it: Left- Luggage.

Trasbagagli is a private company offering luggage handling and storage services around the city (including at the airport and ferry terminal). I don't know if they can store bikes (please let me know if you do know).

Resources

Cycling-related websites

Tourist information websites

Treviso: cyclist on the the GiraSile cycleway - part of the München-Venezia cycle route

Treviso: cyclist on the the GiraSile cycleway - part of the München-Venezia cycle route

Articles in this series

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