Murano Glass Factory Experience: A Workshop in Venice
Venice, Italy
- 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Get an inside peek into the world-famous glassblowing factories of Murano with this small-group tour. From central Venice, ride a water taxi across the Venetian Lagoon to the colorful island of Murano. Watch a glassmaking demonstration by a master craftsman, and enjoy time to browse the factory showroom featuring finished works of art. Finally, attend your choice of hands-on workshop to create a take-home piece of jewelry or mosaic using authentic Murano glass.
- Visit an island factory to learn about the centuries-old tradition of glassblowing
- Watch a master craftsman at work during a private glassblowing demonstration
- A small group size ensures an intimate experience you won’t find in larger groups
- Make your own mosaic or piece of jewelry to take home using authentic Murano glass
What's Included
- Tour assistant
- Private workshop options mosaic or jewelry with beads
- Glass blowing demonstration
- Factory Tour
- 20% discount on purchase in the glass factory shop
- Private transportationWatertaxi roundtrip
- Tips
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Sestiere di S. Marco, 5310, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
Chemist Farmacia Morelli in Campo San Bartolomeo, close to Rialto bridge
End point
- Vetreria Artistica Colleoni - Murano Glass FactoryFondamenta S. Giovanni dei Battuti, 12, 30141 Venezia VE, Italy
At the end of the tour partecipants will decide individually to return to Venice or extend to Burano and Torcello by themselfs
Itinerary
Meet up with your guide in the heart of Venice. From there, be whisked away on a short water taxi ride across the Venetian Lagoon.
Arrive at the island of Murano. As you wander through hidden streets, start to get immersed in the atmosphere.
Make your way to the Colleoni Glass Factory, where you have the exclusive opportunity to watch a private performance by a master glassblower. Observe as they demonstrate the art of glassblowing and sculpture techniques.
Afterwards, choose from one of the workshops and work with a local craftsman to create your own masterpiece. Leave the island with a tangible keepsake made from Murano glass.
Arrive at the island of Murano. As you wander through hidden streets, start to get immersed in the atmosphere.
Make your way to the Colleoni Glass Factory, where you have the exclusive opportunity to watch a private performance by a master glassblower. Observe as they demonstrate the art of glassblowing and sculpture techniques.
Afterwards, choose from one of the workshops and work with a local craftsman to create your own masterpiece. Leave the island with a tangible keepsake made from Murano glass.
1
Artistic Glassworks Colleoni
2 hours • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infant seats available
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- 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 15 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
Reviews
3.8
based on 442 reviews
Mike_T, Apr 2026
OVER PRICED
SUPER SHORT
Spent the majority of the tour in a craft class. Class meaning here is some broken pieces of glass to make a mosaic. Have fun.
Might have been fun for a 6 year old.
Then the glass master demonstration seemed to only last about 15 minutes? Which was very fun and exciting to watch.
You might be better off getting to the island on your own, booking a glass shop tour/demo on your own. And having more time and freedom.
This one went direct to the factory tour, did the craft, watched the demonstration, and then pushes you through their showroom of items for sale.
Unless you're in the market for a €20.000 murano fish tank, this might not be the best one to go to. Then directly back to the main island. Zero time to explore anything else. So we opted to skip the taxi ride back (that was part of the over priced paid), walk around on or own, then took the City boat line back.
Yes, fascinating works of art.
Yes, pretentious sales person.
Yes, awesome tour guide.
Yes, direct taxi booked roundtrip by tour guide.
Felt like I should buy something just to support the art. And after we walked around on or own after the tour, we found plenty of other places that were selling nice pieces for a fraction of the price.
LOOK ELSEWHERE
Or maybe try the earlier time slot. I think everyone was ready to go home.
Giovanna_C, Mar 2026
We took a boat ride to the island where the glass factory is located. Then we watched the artisans make a pitcher out of glass. It was very informative. Afterwards, we made jewelry and got to browse the glass showrooms.
Pablo_M, Jan 2026
Activity is too fast and mostly focused on shopping. They show 15 min of how they work with the glass, then they put you to build a bracelet and then give you over an hour to shop in their store
Danielle_M, Nov 2025
A great way to see the glass making by a master glass blower. It was a small group and very informative. We had a chance to ask questions and watch a couple of demonstrations. We then toured the glass gallery and had an opportunity to visit the shop if we wanted. The water taxi trip ver and back was great and we also had time to walk around the island and explore before heading back.
William_H, Oct 2025
Tremendous experience watching and learning about Murano Glass Blowing. Had a terrific time watching the team effort.
Terri_B, Oct 2025
We were an hour late so perhaps our experience was not as it should have been. We were taken to a classroom and given 3 options of things to make. We selected bracelet and were given instruction. The bracelets are not made to last, they are on white twine, and in fact both broke within 2 days. We had an amazing glass blowing demonstration. We then walked through a retail area with medium prices. Wish we had been on time to know what the true experience would have been, we wanted to learn and do glass blowing which did not happen.
Baiju_V, Oct 2025
The glass making experience is amazing but it feels like a sales pitch throughout the excursion for something that we pay to go to.
Katie_R, Oct 2025
The excursion was not worth the money we paid. The glass demonstration while impressive lasted no longer than 5 minutes. The workshop was an activity you would do at kindergarten. The majority of the experience was spent having salespeople trying to sell you overpriced trinkets. We were finished an hour earlier than advertised. Would not recommend
Catriona_C, Oct 2025
Very talented glass artists during demonstration. The workshop was a lot of fun with Julie and so nice to take home self-made mosaic/jewellery. The show rooms afterwards were exceptional.
Radhika_A, Aug 2025
Enjoyed seeing the master at work, but it was very quick. A little disappointed with the craft activities. It wasn't that unique. I felt that more time was spent in the showroom encouraging us to buy the work.
Gretchen_S, Aug 2025
We really enjoyed the glass blowing presentation. Afterwards, we had the choice to make a bracelet, key chain etc out of glass beads or a mosaic. That was a neat little activity but I really thought, from the description, that we would be actually able to try the glass blowing. I am not sure if that was my misreading or something wasn't clear. Murano itself is run down and mostly vacant. We couldn't find any open shops or cafes in the time we had to explore.
Kylie_A, Jul 2025
Let me start by saying that the actual glass blowing demonstration was super cool! The talent of the actual master giving the demonstration was fun to watch. Where the experience fell short in the rating was after the demonstration where we were walked through a showroom of extremely expensive blown glass pieces. I felt like we were given a hard sales pitch and since we were a small group of just our family, it was extremely uncomfortable. We had no intention of spending 50,000 euro on anything in their shop. They were beautiful but not realistic for most people just there for the experience. For the price of the tickets, it’s an expensive boat taxi ride to Murano. It would have been nice if they created a small piece as the demonstration that we would get to keep. They had us pick out colors and make choices on the vase l, only to just put it away and say it takes days to cool. They should make a smaller vase and mail it to you after the event for the price they charge for this activity. Yet, they seemed annoyed we weren’t spending thousands on their showroom pieces. Overall, it was a mixed experience.
Michelle_G, Jul 2025
This was fun, and we got to make a bracelet with beads (others made keychains and earings.) It was a small group and the staff was very friendly. The kids loves the hands on project, and watching the artist make a rose, petal, by petal, was real cool and allowed you to appreciate the amount of work and artistry thay goes into Glass blowing.
Amy_S, Jun 2025
Giovanni was a very helpful guide. The demonstration was informative and fun. I loved that it was interactive in that you can make jewelry or a mosaic. I wish we had less time to shop in the show room. It was too long.
Kathleen_B, Jun 2025
Be advised----Transportation is by water taxi--not for those with mobility issues.
It was great fun!
Ani_T, Jun 2025
This was the best experience I had in Venice, Italy. Our tour guide was Giovanni. He was absolutely amazing. He was very professional, welcoming, and friendly. He gave us a brief history regarding the Murano Glass Factory. The private water taxi ride was smooth. Once we got to Murano Glass we were greeted with cold water (great for this hot weather). All the staff were extremely welcoming and knowledgeable. We watched the craftsman make a glass vase from scratch. Then we went to the workshop to make our own take home pieces. We were given the option of making bracelets, keychain, earring, or a small piece of mosaic art using the glass beads. Lastly we strolled through the beautiful gallery and made a stop at the gift shop. Overall this tour was the highlight of my trip. Thank you!
grace_c, Jun 2025
I feel that the description was a little misleading on what the tour included. The glass blowing demonstration was super neat but that was about 15 minutes and then we were taken to a room and told we could make a bracelet or a 3x3 mosaic. Which all that was was us digging through bins in a silent room with a woman watching us. Afterwards we were taken to the gallery where the guide was only interested in selling us products. And afterwards our guide called us a water taxi and sent us back to the pick up location. He did not even ride back with us. Overall, it was neat to see how the glass was made but I was disappointed and I would probably skip it if I could go back.
Laura_O, Jun 2025
Thought I booked a private tour. Ended up being a small group tour that blends into a large group demonstration of glass blowing and the selection for making "jewelry" or a 2" mosaic thing is very limited. We thought we were making a piece of glass Murano not picking through beads and then being corrected by the woman running the workshop. She was not friendly, curt and when we just wanted to go to the showroom, she made us wait 15 minutes for a different demonstration to finish.
The showroom was beautiful but very, very expensive. They are very proud of their glass artists and tell you the Murano glass in town is junk. Maybe it is, unknown.
All in all, not a pleasant experience. Our guide even dumped us for part of our group because they were buying something and we didn't. Just put us in the water taxi back to Venice.
Sharon_D, Jun 2025
A bit disappointing, not very impressive glass blowing demonstration but staff were nice enough. Would not recommend nothing special
JESSICA_O, Jun 2025
Very cool experience!! Beautiful pieces of art. Love the tour and the pieces we were able to create.
Karen_M, May 2025
It was neat to watch the glass making demo. They had some beautiful pieces at the store.
Wished we had maybe 45 min more to walk around the island.
The tour guide was very nice
Annamaria_S, May 2025
Giovanni was great!!! The whole experience of the workshop and demonstration was amazing…so memorable!
Tom_C, May 2025
The tour was fantastic! It was very interesting and educational. The tour guide Giovanni was helpful and knowledgeable. He exceeded are expectations.
Megan_P, Apr 2025
I will start by saying that the people were really nice, and watching the master glass blower was very interesting because he was absolutely incredible. That being said, this “tour” was not private despite it being advertised as such. There was another party on the water taxi with us, fifteen other people in the glass blowing demonstration, and two other families with us in the workshop. Besides the glass blowing demonstration, we were given an hour to do a ten minute craft, and another hour to walk around their showroom. There really was no tour. We sat outside for 45 minutes waiting for the water taxi because it just didn’t take that long to do the craft and wander around the showroom. I would not recommend this tour to friends or family.
Milan_G, Apr 2025
Very simple and straightforward. Round trip transportation included from Central Venice. Great demonstration of glass blowing and mosaic tile making. Then you get a nice activity to create your own mosaic tile or piece of jewelry from Murano glass. Great for the kids. Finally, they give you a little bit of a hard sell on buying from their gallery. But the pieces are beautiful and we actually ordered a custom piece that they will ship to us in about 3 months.
Mary_M, Apr 2025
This was a wonderful experience all around. Our initial guide Giovanni was lovely. Nico, our guide at the factory (and a glass designer himself) really explained the process to us and made us feel at home. Watching the artisans at work was amazing and we enjoyed browsing the beautiful glass and making our own mosaics and a bracelet.
Patrice_G, Apr 2025
This was an excellent experience and I highly recommend it! Giovanni, our guide, has an excellent personality and has a lot of interesting information to share about the history of the area. The artisans and guides at the glasswork factory were amazing, as well.
Erika_M, Mar 2025
Tour is not much different from the options that hotels usually offer for free as part of the Venice hotel deals. I did two tours of the Murano with hotel free arrangement - this is mainly for guests who are in Airbnbs and do not have free offer from hotels - you do not get anything extra really except the guy to meet you at the meeting point and walk with you to the boat taxi.. tour is basically on the Murano factory which you get with hotel offer included.. bead and mosaic was fun but not worth the Money all together.. Guide was really nice but he was involved with us 10 minutes of taxi ride..
Russell_t, Mar 2025
Not exactly what you might expect. Basically it’s a boat ride to Murano. We were ushered into a glass blowing demonstration halfway through, then brought to a room to make a little 2”x2” mosaic craft, then taken to the gift shop. The entire thing was about an hour.
Response from Host, Mar 2025
Yes madame in our tour with workshop you don't Blow glass. It Is very clear on the description of the tour you purchased.
I think only and unconscious parent would male you tru such a dangerous thing
Pat_P, Jan 2025
Amazing to watch the master at work.!! Interesting demonstration worth watching ...then lots of glass to choose from in their HUGE shop
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