Italy » Veneto » Venice | 🏛 Boat Tour Venice · Burano Boat Tour · Murano Burano

Private Murano & Burano Tour: Glassblowing & Lace Island Explore

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.55 (1,588 reviews) 73% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/32

Duration5h

GroupUp to 25

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Watch molten glass become a vase, then wander Burano's painted fishermen's houses

You board a private boat in Venice city center and spend five hours on Murano and Burano — watching glass being blown in a working factory, exploring a Byzantine basilica, and wandering a fisherman village painted in impossible colors. Transport, guide, wine, and a factory discount are all included; you return to Venice by late afternoon.

Step-by-step itinerary

Meet local guide in Venice center
Board private boat
Boat ride to Murano island
Visit S. Maria and Donato Cathedral
Tour old glass factory
Free time for glass shopping
Boat ride to Burano island
Explore Burano fisherman village
Boat ride back to Venice

The Experience

You've just landed in Venice. The vaporetto queues are already forming, and you're thinking: there has to be a way to skip the crowds and actually see how things are made here. That's where this one starts — a local guide meets you in the city center, and within thirty minutes you're on a private boat cutting across the lagoon toward Murano, where the glass furnaces have been running since the 13th century. No tour bus, no packed public ferry. Just water, islands, and the people who live on them.

Murano hits different when you walk into an actual glass factory instead of a shop. You watch the blower work — the heat, the speed, the way the molten glass moves like it's alive — and then you have time to browse and buy if something catches you. Before you leave the island, there's the Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato, a seven-century church with a mosaic floor that's been there longer than most of Europe's capitals have existed. It's quiet in there, and the light comes through in a way that makes you understand why people built things to last.

Then the boat takes you north across the lagoon to Burano. This is the island where the houses are painted in colors that shouldn't work together but somehow do — hot pink next to electric blue next to mustard yellow. It's a working fisherman village, not a theme park, so you'll see actual nets drying and locals sitting outside their doors. The lace tradition is still alive here, though it's fading; you can watch it being made in small shops, or just wander the narrow streets and let the place settle into your head. You get a glass of wine included, and a 20% discount at the Colleoni glass factory if you want to take something home without the markup.

The return boat brings you back to Venice on the other side of the lagoon, so you see different water and different light on the way back. Total time out is around five hours, which is long enough to actually breathe on each island instead of rushing through. Wheelchair accessible, strollers work fine, and if you're staying outside Venice proper, check whether the €5 city access fee applies on your date.

What’s included

Your day includes hotel or city-center pickup by private boat, the thirty-minute ride to Murano, entry to a working glass factory with time to watch artisans and shop, a visit to the Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato, transport to Burano, free time to explore the lace village, one glass of wine, a 20% discount at Colleoni glass factory, and the return boat ride to Venice. A local guide accompanies you throughout.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Glass factory Colleoni Murano

Is this one for you?Right for travelers who want to see how Murano glass and Burano lace are actually made without fighting public ferry crowds. Plan for five hours out — that's what lets you spend real time on each island instead of rushing through.