Trips & tickets
A guided boat from several Venice boarding points, a live glassblowing demonstration on Murano and up to 1.5 hours on each island. Torcello is an option.
A morning or afternoon boat to Murano and Burano with a guide on board, a glass-factory visit and a panoramic terrace for the crossing.
A private boat from Venice to a Murano glass workshop, then Burano's lace-makers and painted houses.
The full GetYourGuide listing for Murano and Burano — guided boat tours, glass-blowing demonstrations and private trips from Venice, with live prices.
Murano is known for its glass furnaces, Burano for its brightly painted houses and lace. Both sit in the Venetian lagoon and are reached by water — on the public vaporetto, on a guided half-day boat tour, or by private water taxi.
Tours usually visit both islands, often with a glass-blowing demonstration and sometimes a stop at Torcello. Doing it yourself by vaporetto gives more freedom but takes more planning. These pages compare the options.
Plan it properly
Getting from Venice to Murano and Burano: vaporetto line 12 from Fondamente Nove, lines 4.1, 4.2 and 3 to Murano, the €9.50 75-minute ticket and the 24- to 72-hour passes, and the half-day boat tours that visit both islands.
A guide to Murano glass: why the furnaces moved to the island in 1291, the techniques from cristallo to murrine, what happens in a glassblowing demonstration, the Glass Museum's hours and €15.00 ticket, and how to recognise the Vetro Artistico Murano trademark.
A guide to Burano and Torcello: the painted houses and how their colours are chosen, Burano lace and the Lace Museum (€7.00, closed Mondays), the bridge to Mazzorbo, and Torcello's cathedral, founded in 639, with its mosaics, bell tower and tickets.
The islands
Photographs licensed from Shutterstock.
Line 12 runs from Fondamente Nove via Murano, Mazzorbo, Torcello and Burano to Treporti and Punta Sabbioni.
A single ticket valid 75 minutes costs €9.50. A 24-hour pass is €25, 48 hours €35 and 72 hours €45 — the day pass pays off after three rides.
A half-day boat tour takes about 4.5 hours with up to 1.5 hours on each island and a glassblowing demonstration. The vaporetto gives you more time but you plan it yourself.
Demonstrations take place in working factories that also sell glass. The 20-minute factory visit, for example, comes with a EUR 10 shop credit.