Murano by Private Watertaxi Including Glass Blowing Demo with Hotel Pickup
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Venice, Italy
- 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Get to the famed glassblowing island of Murano while avoiding the crowds on a one-way private water taxi transfer. Have a chance to explore a 7th–century cathedral in Murano's historical center before visiting a glass factory. Here, you can learn about the skill required to blow glass by watching a demonstration, and you can also peruse showrooms and take advantage of discounts on glassware.
- Get to the island of Murano by private taxi boat
- Take in the stunning views of the Grand Canal
- Enjoy time to explore the historical center of Murano
- Special opportunity to watch artisans create glass objects
What's Included
- Private local guide
- Private way taxi
- Glass factory tour with glass master performace
- 20% discount on purchase in the glass factory
- Hotel pick up
- Private transportation
- Food and drinks
- Drop off
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
PLEASE SPECIFY YOUR HOTEL PICK UP IS INCLUDED FOR HOTELS IN VENICE ISLAND ONLY
Itinerary
Fondamenta Nove (Pass By)
1
Artistic Glassworks Colleoni
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
2
Duomo di Murano Santi Maria e Donato
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Artistic Glassworks Colleoni
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
4
Isola di Murano
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Isola San Michele (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Infant seats available
- Most travelers can participate
- Dress code is smart casual
- Please note that the tour will end in Murano. Return ticket to Venice by public transport is not included. From Murano Faro, you will be able to purchase a public boat ticket to any Venice's destination: San Marco, Train Station, Fondamente Nove, etc.
- A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
- On certain dates, most travelers staying outside of Venice who are planning to visit for the day will be required to pay a €5 access fee. For further details (including exemptions) and to learn what days this fee is applicable, please visit: https://cda.ve.it
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.4
based on 316 reviews
Elizabeth_L, Jun 2026
Giovanni was a great guide, met us right in our hotel lobby and even helped us hail a return taxi after spending quite a while in the shop following the glass blowing demonstration. Such a great experience!
Erin_A, Jun 2026
The tour started out great. We enjoyed our guide and tour of the church. We then watched a glass blowing demonstration. When we did not buy anything at glass factory showroom, sales people were rude. They told us everyone buys something. How come we can’t. They proceeded to say you must not like anything. The answer was it’s extremely expensive. We felt so uncomfortable. We had to wait outside. We met another group that toured in front of us and they were waiting outside for the same exact reason they said everybody from Florida buys something, what’s wrong with you. It was extremely disappointing and ruined the entire day. I would not recommend this to family or friends. We went there for the tour and to watch the demonstration. We never let on that we were buying anything.
Marley_T, Jun 2026
We had a great morning with Giovanni in Murano! He was an excellent guide, tons of knowledge, and really knows how to tailor the tour to the personality of the group. He also seemed to know almost everyone we passed which was so cool. Our family thoroughly enjoyed learning about Venice and Murano from Giovanni, and found the glass factory tour a memorable part of our trip to Venice! Highly recommend!
Rachel_B, Jun 2026
Excellent tour. Guide picked us up from our hotel. Was local and knowledgeable about all of our questions. The glass blowing demo and gallery tour was amazing. As was a private tour there was no rush. No presssure to buy but family purchased a beautiful piece we can’t wait to display in home!
Clif_S, Jun 2026
Booked this tour to have something to do for the afternoon after arriving in Venice from the US at 10:00AM. We were greeted right on time at our hotel (AC Venezia) by Gianluca who spent time as an Italian attached to the US Navy. He was very personable and had arranged all the transportation and glass blowing tour. Murano was an easy boat ride from the Piazalle Roma and Gian pointed out different islands and landmarks along the way.
Once we got to Murano we were greeted by the hostess for the glass-blowing demonstration with Vetreria Artistica Colleoni (the family-owned glass maker firm). The demo lasted about 20 minutes and was fascinating, with the craftsmen even making a prancing horse in about 2 minutes at the end. The rest of the time on Murano was spent in their showroom/giftshop. It’s also an art gallery of sorts as some of the pieces are amazing works of art. We bought a couple things, but only after the tour did I realize the tour description should have included a 20% discount. We bought a pricey piece (1000€) on special order and some nice earrings (60€). I’m sure I got some degree of discount, since our piece is being specially made and will be insured and shipped in 6 weeks, but I’m not sure it was 20%.
The tour we bought only included 1-way transport and we could have stayed and walked around the village some more. However, Gian offered to use his “skip the line” access on the Vaporetto (same price as if we did it on our own) and we chose to go to Rialto Bridge and walk back to the hotel.
Overall, a very nice tour, although I can see how people could be disappointed by expecting more for the price. Gianluca was an excellent guide.
Farrel_C, Jun 2026
Up close tour of glass artists at work. Giulia was an exceptional guide. The guide at the glass factory was also friendly but we did feel some pressure to buy and some judgment when we only bought from the “souvenir” room.
Amy_H, Jun 2026
Our water taxi was a bit late, but our water taxi was spot on to get us from point A to point B while safely navigating the waterways and our tour was not interrupted. The tour gave us private time with a knowledgeable rep who knew his artists and art masterpieces.
Patti_H, Jun 2026
The tour was actually very good. I messed up the transportation to the tour and Viator did an outstanding job of fixing what I messed up. Not understanding the difficulties in moving between islands in Venice caused the issues and we are very grateful for their help. Great job….thank you.
Gail_B, Jun 2026
Daisy our guide was FANTASTIC! Full of energy and made our tour so so good. So glad we booked this excursion
LE_S, Jun 2026
The experience on Murano was spectacular! But our guide Clementina made it EXTRA. Her knowledge of history, culture, and command of the English language made it a truly Vincenzia immersion experience.
Wanda_A, May 2026
I think it was Fantastic. I would highly recommend to other travelers. our guide was very knowledgeable.
Laurie_C, May 2026
The glass blowing demonstration was interesting but then the sales person at the glass company was following us closely and trying to hard sell us on very expensive items in the showroom.
Jaime_F, May 2026
The tour to Murano was great. We went to see how an actual glass blowing factory which was very interesting. It would of been great to see more of Murano and its surroundings. We felt the tour was short.
The tour guide was great she was very kind and told us alot of history of Venice and Murano.
Steven_K, May 2026
Wonderful way to learn about Venice and Murano with a local guide. Pick up was prompt at our doorstep with a quick walk to our boat which provided a beautiful way to see the city. Giulia was friendly, personable, and an excellent host in the city. A fantastic person to meet and have introduce us to Venice.
The glass demonstration was relatively quick but informative. The pieces to view afterwards were intricate and well crafted.
Sarah_C, Mar 2026
Guide was knowledgable punctual snd friendly
Excellent English
Tour of island s d factory display interesting
Only drawback for us was he followed us around the factory shop encouraging us to buy (obs on v commission
Made our own way back on water bus bia Burano
All fine but big queues
Sai_G, Feb 2026
Great experience... loved every minute of it ... the water taxi rice was beautiful 😍 as well ...
Overall a nice outing
Katherine_M, Jan 2026
Wonderful experience! The history and artistry is incredible. Absolutely worth a trip. The glass blowing demonstration was phenomenal.
Paul_E, Nov 2025
Really good experience, easy pickup in a beautiful water taxi at the hotel, Alessandro is a good guide, adapting his comments to your knowledge of Venice. To recommend !
Chris_Y, Nov 2025
Trip was over all good. Our guide was very kind, friendly and knowledgeable about the Murano Island.
Joseph_N, Oct 2025
Julia our guide was a local Venetian and she knew the city thoroughly- what a pleasure! She even helped us find the location for our next Viator excursion which was a gondola ride.
Natalie_R, Oct 2025
This was an excellent tour. An absolute must whilst in Venice. Great value for money. What made it most special was our tour guide Giovanni, he was knowledgable, polite and went over and above what was expected. Definitely bring cash and negotiate in the factory, the glassware is stunning.
David_S, Oct 2025
We received a short private tour of a glass blowing shop and one way private boat ride. Our guide (Daisy or maybe Desi sorry I did not see her name) was friendly, chatty, knowledgeable . She answered many questions and returned with us to Venice. She helped us figure out the vaporetto and got us ahead of the crowd. Murano is not the greatest place ever but I enjoyed the stories from our guide and I am now very impressed by the skill of the glass blowing artists
Terry_T, Oct 2025
With all the positive reviews, picked this particular excursion and due to the unprofessional and unmotivated guide Gianluca, what should have been a positive experience during into a near argument shouting match after the Murano visit.
Everything up to the glass making demo (extremely short, not 20 minutes as indicated) plus sales showroom was somewhat normal.
However as we left, Gianluca met up with us and asked if we wanted to go back to the hotel or get dropped off near San Marco Square. This is around 15:00 with nearly 90 minutes left. We discussed both options and assuming he was planning out the end of the excursion, surprisingly he contacted our boat taxi and proceeded to walk at a fairly brisk pace and in front of us by nearly 10m or so heading toward the pick up location.
No talking, no explanation of what we were doing next, just walking at an even faster pace and we breezed by various shops lined along the canal of Murano.
I asked where we were going because the tour description indicated a stop at a church w/ mosaics. When I asked about the church stop he said it was closed so couldn’t stop there. No mention of this at the beginning of the tour, obviously no mention as we left the glass factory, just walking to the boat. When I asked why he didn’t mention this, this is when he became argumentative, and had the gall to say things like “we passed it back there, you saw it already.” “it’s Saturday so it’s closed, it’s not my fault it’s closed”
The worst comment may have been, I am just a guide, I have nothing to do with what the company (assuming he meant Viator) has planned or indicated. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
After we proceeded back to the main part of Venice, I asked again why he don’t mention that the church was closed. Same argumentative attitude, no remorse or responsibility, couldn’t care less. For him it was closed, not his problem.
I said if it was closed, we could have used the 15-20 minutes lost to take a more leisurely stroll past the shops near the canal. He proceeded to chastise for me considering shopping and why we would even be interested in glass shops? MAYBE because it’s a MURANO GLASS tour??
The fact that he assumed and wouldn’t consider even allowing to make up the time in a more productive manner just shows his intentions of finishing up the “tour” drop off as soon as possible and call it day.
He kept saying “whatever you want to do”, but nothing could have been further from the truth. He kept insisting he was going to show us highlights of the north part of the island and toward San Marco Square or the hotel, but that is not part of the tour description and I did NOT purchase a city walking tour. I purchased a Murano Glass Tour.
We spent 20-30 minutes getting to Murano, spent 10-12 minutes at most for a demo, and whisked into the showroom, and almost an unbelievable hour with a guide that had no idea what the tour itinerary consisted of and proceeded to argue about the content and timeframe of the tour.
This was a huge waste of time, money, and a terrible way to spend our last day in Venice.
Anyone using this tour operator be aware of the guide you get. If it’s Gianluca, I would not recommend him at all.
Kara_M, Oct 2025
Very interesting tour! We enjoyed the boat transport to Murano. The artisans are so talented!
Highly recommend!
Susan_v, Oct 2025
The glass maker was a master craftsman
The rooms for viewing glass items made was spectacular
No strong arm sales pitch
MARIANNE_C, Oct 2025
Terrific, knowledgeable and friendly guide. The tour of the glass blowing was very interesting and the walk around Murano was equally informative and enjoyable, especially the visit to an 11th century church with a remarkable mosaic floor.
Karen_V, Sep 2025
Great start to our trip in Venice.
We met Fabio, our guide.
The demonstration was great. I wish I had purchased the vase!
We went back…
Patti_D, Sep 2025
Giovanni was an awesome tour guide. He provided us with great information and answered our questions. The Murano glass tour was so wonderful. Loved learning about how it was made
We even purchased some to be shipped home
The private taxi was outstanding and our driver was excellent. The experience is worth the money. Highly recommend
We would take more tours with Giovanni- excellent tour guide.
Jim_L, Sep 2025
I enjoyed this a lot. Murano is beautiful and the glass studio was very interesting. We may have bought glass …
Judy_M, Sep 2025
Great tour. Fun boat ride over to Murano and really enjoyed watching the artisans work. Eleanora was great. People at Murano super friendly. Added bonus you get a discount on your purchases courtesy of Viator.
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