Murano Glass Experience With a Visit to Burano Lace Island
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Venice, Italy
- 5 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
No trip to Venice is complete without visiting some of the most notable islands in the Venetian Lagoon—particularly those that are renowned for their handicrafts. This cruise visits two in just half a day. Begin at Murano, where you can watch a thrilling glass-blowing demonstration, before transferring to Burano, known for its tradition of lace-making.
- Check off two top Venetian islands in just half a day
- Witness glass-blowing on Murano and lace-making on Burano
- Discover a side of the city that many visitors overlook
- Have the opportunity to shop for souvenirs, if you wish
What's Included
- Transport by private boat
- Local guide
- Glass factory visit
- 1 glass of wine
- 20% discount at Colleoni glass factory
- Tips
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Chiesa della Pietà - Santa Maria della VisitazioneRiva degli Schiavoni, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy
Local guide will wait outside the Church which between locanda Vivaldi and Hotel Metropole. Close by boat station San Zaccaria From Santa Lucia train station and Piazzale Roma car terminal at use line 4.1 or 5.1
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
Meet your guide in central Venice and head to the pier to board your private boat. Set sail on the UNESCO-listed Venice Lagoon, and admire the views as you glide past San Giorgio island, Certosa island, and Sant Erasmo island.
Arrive at Murano and jump off for a walking tour of the tranquil island, pausing to admire the 12th-century Church of Santi Maria e Donato. Then, discover the island’s claim to fame—Murano glass—as you visit a glass factory, enjoy a traditional glass-blowing demonstration, and perhaps purchase some exquisite handmade souvenirs.
Back on the boat, it’s a short cruise to Burano, where the multi-colored houses and picturesque fishing port make for some striking photo opportunities. After taking in the scenery, pay a visit to a lace factory to discover the island’s rich lace-making heritage.
After returning to the mainland, your tour ends back at your original departure point.
Arrive at Murano and jump off for a walking tour of the tranquil island, pausing to admire the 12th-century Church of Santi Maria e Donato. Then, discover the island’s claim to fame—Murano glass—as you visit a glass factory, enjoy a traditional glass-blowing demonstration, and perhaps purchase some exquisite handmade souvenirs.
Back on the boat, it’s a short cruise to Burano, where the multi-colored houses and picturesque fishing port make for some striking photo opportunities. After taking in the scenery, pay a visit to a lace factory to discover the island’s rich lace-making heritage.
After returning to the mainland, your tour ends back at your original departure point.
Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore (Pass By)
1
Artistic Glassworks Colleoni
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
2
Duomo di Murano Santi Maria e Donato
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Isola di Murano
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Isola di Burano - World Heritage Site
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- 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 tour/activity will have a maximum of 25 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Patrick_H
Rachael was a fantastic guide and really made the trip memorable. Answered any and all questions we had enthusiastically. Seeing the blown glass demonstration was incredible, and Burano is sight to behold, even in Venice. The lace makers were a unique treat. Highly recommend, what a great day.
Reviews
4.5
based on 1,573 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Kalene_C, Jul 2026
This was a very informative and enjoyable experience. The glassblowing was amazing to watch, the travel was easy and the free time at Burano to have lunch and browse shops was perfect.
vincent_p, Jul 2026
Great tour with a fantastic tour guide named Clementine
learned a lot about the two islands, had a good amount of free time.
Tricia_F, Jul 2026
Our guide was great! Lots of time to explore and shop. Burano and murano is beautiful. Would do again.
Kerry_O, Jun 2026
Burano is a nice ‘quaint’ town with colourful houses and a history of lace making….whereas Murano is purely business. We visited one Forno called Vetreria Artistica COLLEONI for a glass making demonstration. It was interesting of course but then you went through an IKEA type maze of rooms filled to the brim of very ‘old italian’ piece to purchase. Boat trip with commentary and view of lagoon was the highlight.
Michelle_K, Jun 2026
Thank you to our guide for an unforgettable morning in Murano annd Burano. Our guide was informative, thoughtful, and made sure that our tour was enjoyable and memorable ! The stops were beautiful and very well curated! The kids also had a wonderful time! Also, my family and I really appreciated the craftsmanship at each stop- everyone was so kind and friendly! All together- an especially awesome and memorable experience !
Maria_C, Jun 2026
Great tour! Mr Alex was a fantastic tour guide and informative…and entertaining too!! I loved that we didn’t need to wear earbuds and a transponder for the tour. We particularly liked that we had a private boat for this tour specifically. We really enjoyed going to Burano, wished we could have had more time to explore the beautiful island. Overall it was a great private tour and would highly recommend!!!
Blake_S, Jun 2026
The artisans on the islands are incredible. The glass makers were fantastic as we watched them finish a vase under commission, and then to top off their skill, one of them heated up a new glob of glass and then proceeded to sit down and sculpt a horse by hand in under two minutes, and it looked incredible. Burano was a bit of a letdown, but the city itself is pretty to see.
Charley_D, Jun 2026
Your guide waffled on and repeated himself a lot; islands were nice, but the lace demonstration wasn’t really a demonstration, more of a sales pitch trying to sell their wares
Annette_D, Jun 2026
This was a wonderful experience! Being able to visit the island of Burano and Murano and immersing yourself in the beautiful culture of each island was amazing! The talented lace experts and the glass artists were friendly, knowledgeable, and happy to converse and show you their talent. Tour guide was very knowledgeable. Great day!
Flor_P, Jun 2026
Better than expected! Our original tour time was canceled but they reached out and provided alternatives. Our guide, Alex, contacted us the morning of to make sure we were on our way, was very informative and friendly throughout the entire trip. It was a group of 18-20 but felt very personal.
Amy_B, Jun 2026
The two guides were knowledgeable, interesting, and engaging. The first guide explained the landmarks in and around Venice as we rode in a comfortable boat to Murano and Burano. The second guide explained the glassblowing and led us through an amazing showroom of Murano glass. There were 3 people on the tour that spoke neither Italian nor English. No problem for both guides. They would then explain again in a third language, Spanish. Trilingual guides. Great service for everyone!
Brett_P, Jun 2026
Experience is cheeper to just book when you are there than via viator. But it was a fantastic trip no purchase pressure
Tammy_E, Jun 2026
The tour to Burano was more about shopping than anything else. The tour guide was very vocal on how bad American food is, even if she has no clue what she is talking about. She also said that Italian flour would not affect my gluten issue. Rather insulting.
Kayanna_H, Jun 2026
Beautiful glass being blown and gallery to view. The city was nice to walk around and shop. Guide and driver were very informative. Boat ride was enjoyable.
Dorian_S, Jun 2026
We started on the island of Burano. It is a quaint fishing town with very colorful houses well maintained. Lots of shopping to do. The lace demonstration was nice but very short. Murano was a bit of a disappointment. We enjoyed watching the glass blowers work but the remaining time was walking through the showroom filled with items for us to purchase. Our guide Andrew was very knowledgeable.
Rebecca_B, Jun 2026
Amazing guide and boat captain! Was a wonderful day! The guide knew everything you would want to know about the areas and was very kind and helpful
Chris_C, Jun 2026
The tour itself was fine, very hard to understand the tour guide. The first part of the tour was just a glass factory, did not get to see any of Marano besides that.. Burano was a very nice island. We toured a lace shop.
Melanie_J, Jun 2026
Gulia was terrific! She introduced us to a wonderful lace and glass maker that are truly craftsman in their fields.
Marty_P, Jun 2026
We enjoyed the tour to Burano. They first take you on a nice boat to see glassmaking, being able to watch the artisans shape the molten glass. Next we were able to visit a historical church from the 1500s. After the church our guide took us to see the town square. We visited a lace making shop and then finished the tour with lunch at one the recommended restaurants. Our tour guide was informative, nice and provided us with some wine to top off the trip.
Juanita_K, May 2026
Amazing immersive experience that included a wonderful treat of a beautiful island called Burano
This was such a wonderful trip !!!!
Sean_R, May 2026
What a wonderful exposure to these two special destinations! Our guide told us do many interesting facts as we booted from place to place.
Anonymous, May 2026
Excellent excursion to the islands of Murano and Burano. Our guide Alex was extremely informative providing stories and facts about the history of the islands. The experience includes a water taxi to the islands, glass blowing and lace making demonstrations, as well as plenty of time to shop and explore the areas.
Barry_G, May 2026
Our tour guide Rachel was awesome and Fabio the water taxi driver was unbelievable and helping me on and off the water taxi. It was a great great tour. Rachel did an awesome job. Thank you.
Brian_S, May 2026
Alessandro was great. I was pleasantly surprised that he included a lot about Venice and history. The glass demo was fascinating, as is the glass gallery/store. The glass factory hosts are very friendly. No pressure to buy glass. Burano is beautiful. The boat ride is long, and it’s a long day.
Viktoriya_S, May 2026
We had absolutely amazing time with our Murano Glass Experience. Our awesome tour guide, Alessandro, organized all our activities, provided us with interesting information regarding islands and specifically Murano and Burano.
Since we went on the week day instead weekend, we were able to see much more sophisticated glass making presentation. We seen how the production piece is created using multi-color layered glass and the mold. The result was a gorgeous platter.
We visited family who from generation to generation passes the unique lace-making skills. We seen how the gorgeous needlework created from the initial drawing. We had enough free time to get lunch at the local restaurant.
The group was only 20 people, and we were traveling from island to island on a beautiful boat, having glass of Prosecco between islands.
Alessandro made our experience truly exceptional and memorable.
Susan_G, May 2026
Boat ride was lovely. The island of Burano was also beautiful with lots of shops and restaurants. The glass making on Murano was amazing.
Sukh_S, May 2026
The guide was knowledgeable and gave good tips on things to do for when we were on our own. Watching the artisan making a glass item was interesting and fascinating. However I would advise other travelers to not buy anything from the glass factory or the lace factory as their prices are inflated. We bought a couple of things and we found them on sale for half price in the city shops.
Kevin_D, May 2026
Excellent value. Alessandro was a great guide. Had an enjoyable ride to both Murano and Burano. Both are hidden gems.
Anna_S, May 2026
It was a horrible experience, there were workers in the background who thought it was a good idea to work while the tour guide was explaining the history and method of glass making. Very disappointing that they had no courtesy of leaving until the presentation was pretty much over. Waste of time. I wish we could’ve spent more time in Burrano. We rushed through our meal to make it back in the boat. No time for dessert nor shopping. I felt it was a waste of time and money. Sad to celebrate this way on my Birthday.
MaryBeth_A, May 2026
We would definitely recommend this trip. Our guide Alex was very knowledgeable & did a great job giving us background on the islands in the lagoon & the industries on the different islands. It brought the growth of Venice & how the lagoon islands fit into the day to day of Venice to life.
We enjoyed watching the beautiful glass making in Murano and the colorful island of Burano charmed us. Keep an eye on the clock for lunch. Can get a little close.
From $58.16
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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