Murano and Burano in a Half Day Boat Tour
Easily visit these colorful Venetian islands by boat and see traditional glassblowing and lacemaking
4.92
(353)
4h
Max 22 Guests
+6
Navigating the ferries in Venice is confusing for any tourist. Skip the hassle with our small-group tour, which includes private round-trip transportation to Murano and Burano by water taxi. Enjoy time to explore Burano’s colorful streets, shop for lace, or relax by the canals before heading to Murano to witness master glassblowers at work. With a perfectly balanced itinerary, you’ll soak in the charm of both islands at a relaxed pace, without the hassle of navigating ferries.
Getting to Murano and Burano from Venice can be a little chaotic if you're using the public ferries and water taxis, so this small group tour makes things a lot simpler! You'll meet your friendly local guide in St. Mark's Square, and soon you'll be cruising to these picturesque islands on a private speedboat. First stop will be the famous glass making island of Murano, where you'll have a live glassblowing demonstration. Next, visit the colorful nearby island of Burano, where you'll see a cen...
Select participants and date
Free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance!
Passionate English-speaking guide
Round trip private boat transport
Glass blowing demonstration
Free time to explore
Lace making demonstration
Group size of 22
Meet your guide at St. Mark’s Square
Begin your tour at the easy-to-reach St. Mark's Square, famous for its Basilica, storied Doge's Palace, and Renaissance clock tower.
Murano Island
Hop aboard a boat and zip over to Murano, a tranquil island renowned for its colored buildings and glassmaking heritage.
Glass blowing demonstration
Observe a glassblowing demonstration, where you'll learn the intricacies of color, creation, and challenges directly from a Murano artisan.
Burano Island
A 30-minute boat ride later, you’ll find yourself docking on Burano. Hop out and begin your discovery of this vibrant and historic island.
Colored houses of Burano
Marvel at Burano's brightly colored houses, painted in vivid hues to guide fishermen home through the dense Venetian fog.
For Reference Only. Itineraries are subject to change
The meeting point is just a short walk from St. Mark's Square along the Grand Canal. You will receive exact instructions upon booking. You'll end your tour at a vaporetto near St. Mark's Square.
Wear some comfortable shoes, and bring water and a camera. In the summer, we recommend sunscreen too.
4.92
353 Ratings
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Interesting Places
Sabra Dunham
March 23, 2025
Fun to visit.
Wonderful half day tour
Erica Atchison
March 16, 2025
This tour provided private boat transfer for our group, which was much quicker than the vaporetto water bus system allowing us to maximize our time. The ride to Murano took around 30 minutes. Our guide provided excellent history and local insights during the lagoon journey. The Murano factory demonstration was brief but informative about 5-10 minutes. We then toured the gallery, where we spent most of our time, thought we could have explored independently. The next 25-minute ride took us to Burano, a beautiful island. Our guide arranged a demonstration at a town shop of Burano lace making. With the rest of the hour, we freely wandered, enjoying the island’s charm.
Alan Cleary
March 13, 2025
Murano Burano half day
Jeffrey Winnick
March 12, 2025
Christiana was a super guide. Knowledgeable, personable with some nice touches of humor! A very enjoyable afternoon!
Rainy Tour
Mark Moncada
March 02, 2025
Our tour guide did a great job. My complaint is that not a lot of time was spent on the glass blowing information and more time was spent on letting us walk around the gift shop in Murano. I felt the same for the trip to Burano. There was more time spent letting us shop than time explaining about the history of lace making. Still had a great time though, I just would have liked more information on those arts. Thank you.
Laura Hoffman
February 27, 2025
The Murano part of the tour was very interesting. Loved going through the art gallery. There was really nothing to see with the lace-making, which was disappointing. The island of Burano is beautiful, but we didn't have much time there.
Amy Martin
February 26, 2025
This was our favorite thing we did in Venice. The boat ride was very comfortable and our tour guide provided a nice commentary while we relaxed and enjoyed the ride. The islands were beautiful and interesting. We especially loved the blown glass demonstration.
Great overview of Murano and Burano
Lorne Zeiler
February 24, 2025
My family and I had a great time on our tour of Murano and Burano. We got to see how glass is blown and tour the studio. Burano was also a pretty village for us to visit. Our guide Cecilia was great. She provided a lot of historical context to the islands and was very helpful and informative in answering all of our questions.
Ryann Zaun
February 24, 2025
Julie Davis
January 30, 2025
Great Tour and Guide
David Riedley
January 19, 2025
We greatly enjoyed our tour. The experience was well organized from beginning to end. The guide was excellent, the boats used to transport us were very nice, as well. The demonstration of blowing glass at Murano was excellent. Burano was very nice to have some free time to walk around. Highly Recommend.
Jacque Scharlach
January 08, 2025
Great 4 hour Murano / Burano tour.
Josh Sagarin
January 05, 2025
This tour started on a great note with a fast water taxi for our small group instead of a slower larger boat for a large group tour. Afer a quick ride to Murano with entered the glass blowing demo which was short but very interesting followed by a visit to the glass museum / shop. I didn't notice any hard sell but the museum staff were very willing to make deals and offer discounts for those who were interested. We spent most of our time wandering around Murano's small town center. After that we took a slightly longer water taxi ride to Burano which is beautiful. Our guide chose a more remote taxi landing spot to allow for a great approach to the leaning tower of St. Martin Bishop. We then visited the lace museum which is quite skipable, unless you are a lace fan. But the town of Burano is beautiful and the main street is a great place to spend the afternoon. I would have liked more time in Burano, and if we hadn't had afternoon plans I would consider leaving the tour in Burano, spending a few more hours there and taking the #3 Vapporetto (water bus) back to Venice on your own schedule.
Kristen Devlin
January 04, 2025
Artists at work
Denise Parr
December 07, 2024
The tour guide was courteous and the boat trip to Murano and Burano was enclosed so the light drizzle didn't matter. As we traveled to the islands the tour guide provided many local stories which was interesting for all ages. The glass blowing in Murano was beautiful to watch. The lace shops in Burano were fun to walk through. When the sun came out the rainbow colors of the houses were breath taking. Both locations were a great place to buy Christmas presents.
GUO YEIN LEE
December 02, 2024
Murano and Burano
Erin Gockel
November 30, 2024
Nicole led our small group to visit Murano and Burano. This is a great way to see a bit more of the area. It could have been a little less time in Murano to allow more time in Burano but would recommend.
Geoff Gray
November 24, 2024
Tour Guide Amazing, The Actual Tours were okay
Rue Mansour
November 22, 2024
Our tour guide was lovely and very knowledgeable the glass blowing site may have dragged on a little longer than needed. I loved exploring burano. Wish we had more time there. We were also a little less than interested in the lace shop. Maybe if it was more interactive? Overall it was a nice activity.
Great taster for island visits
Leonie Simpson
November 11, 2024
Cecilia was really friendly and great at communicating tour details and local insights into Murano, Burano and the other islands. We enjoyed meeting and viewing the artists lace making and glass blowing. It was interesting to hear about these traditional and very old practises and how they are being perpetuated into the future. Please buy from the stores visited as these items are 100% authentic and are not manufactured anywhere but Venezia.
Murano and Burano half day boat tour.
Rhonda Wert
November 08, 2024
Enjoyed the tour. It was a bit of a walk to get to the boat but other than that it was very nice. It is definitely worth the time to see the islands. It would have been nice to have more time there. Our guide was very friendly and enjoyable.
Almost perfect tour…
Christie Zarria
November 06, 2024
We had a great time with Francesca on this tour. We loved hearing the history and other facts about these islands and the time allowed in each place was adequate. Francesca was very helpful explaining things on both islands and also allowing us free time. The only negative for us was that we did not know that there would be a 10-minute brisk walk over 5 bridges to board the boat. That was challenging for some in our group and we almost got left behind because of that. It would be good to place that information online for people considering the tour. Otherwise, we had a lovely time.
Lori Furfaro
October 21, 2024
Sharyn Greenhill
October 21, 2024
We enjoyed our tour. Our tour guide was wonderful! Your company is very organized and thorough.
Jada Breegle
October 21, 2024