Visit Torcello, Murano, and Burano—three islands in the Venetian Lagoon—on this tour from Venice by motorboat. With a guide, watch glass being blown at a Murano glass factory, see historical cathedrals on Torcello, and admire exquisite handmade lace on Burano. This is a great way to see more than just the central sights of Venice and enjoy a cruise on the water. Select a departure time when booking.

Half-day sightseeing tour of Murano, Torcello, and Burano from Venice
Visit the three most famous islands in the Venetian Lagoon by motorboat
Watch master glass blowers at work at a factory on Murano
See Byzantine churches on Torcello— the Church of Santa Fosca
Browse for lace on Burano and admire the painted houses
Hear commentary provided by an expert guide
Choose from morning and afternoon departure times

Why Travellers Choose This Tour

This affordable boat tour zips you to a trio of the most interesting Venetian islands without a hitch.

What's Included

Professional guide
Visit a glass-blowing factory at Murano
Travel by shared motor boat between Venice, Murano, Burano and Torcello

Entrance fees to Torcello Church
Gratuities
Hotel pickup and drop-off

Departure & Return

Possible departure locations

Departure Point

Giardini Ex Reali, Giardini Ex Reali, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
Departure Point: Alilaguna Ticket Office, in front of the Royal Gardens (St. Mark's Square) and next to the Vaporetto Stop "San Marco Giardinetti"
Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia, 30121 Venice, Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy
Please note that this tour departs also from Venezia Santa Lucia Railway Station 30 minutes before the departure time from San Marco Giardinetti. Please exchange your voucher at the Alilaguna ticket office in front of platform n°2 STRICTLY 15 minutes before the departure time.

Return Details

This activity will end right where it started.

What To Expect

Your tour from Venice to Murano, Torcello, and Burano begins as you board your motorboat and set off across the Venetian Lagoon to your first stop, the island of Murano, which is actually several small isles dissected by a wide canal. Disembark the boat to walk around Murano with your guide.

Visit a glass factory, where you watch a glassblower creating beautiful pieces of glassware, a Murano tradition that dates back to 1291. Hear a bit about the island’s history from your guide, who tells you about Murano’s prosperity in the 1400s and 1500s, when it was the center of glassmaking in Europe. Then go admire other sights like churches decorated with mosaics and other ornamental details.

Next, visit Torcello, an island established between the 5th and 6th centuries, to see its ornate palaces and churches. Highlights include the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, founded in the 7th century, and the excavated remnants of the baptistery in the Church of Santa Fosca. Then head to your third stop, Burano, an island known for its lace production, which dates back to the 16th century and was once the best in Europe. While you visit local shops and a museum to admire high-end lace on display, admire the island’s brightly-colored fishermen’s houses.

Your tour then ends with the return boat ride to Venice.

Laguna di Venezia (Pass By)

Navigate through the Venetian Lagoon to reach the islands and enjoy the view!

Isola di Murano

The island of Murano is the first stop of this excursion: you will have a chance to enter a glass factory and see the masters working the glass as they have been doing for centuries and then visit the center of the island.

50 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
The time spent on each island is between 30 to 40 minutes
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps
Most travellers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 65 travellers

Operated by Bucintoro Viaggi

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s cancelled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

about cancellations

Frequently Asked Questions

The answers provided below are based on answers previously given by the tour provider to customers’ questions.

Q:What is the policy on face masks and attendee health during Murano, Burano and Torcello Half-Day Sightseeing Tour?

A:The policies on face masks and attendee health are:

Face masks required for travellers in public areas
Face masks required for guides in public areas

Q:What is the policy on sanitisation during Murano, Burano and Torcello Half-Day Sightseeing Tour?

A:The policies on sanitisation are:

Regularly sanitised high-traffic areas
Transportation vehicles regularly sanitised

Traveller Photos

Traveller Tips

We recommend to have snacks or eat well before going to this tour, because if you stop to buy something to eat, you might ran out of time to sight-see.

Though you can take the water bus to these islands having a pick up and drop of time scheduled for each makes it very easy to gain access to each island.

Reviews

3.5

5,375 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers

Showing 1-10 of 5,375 reviews

OK tour

Donna_G, May 2022

It was nice to go to the islands but the entire tour felt rushed. You spent more time on the boat traveling then on the islands itself. There wasn't enough time to explore and see the islands in my opinion.

Beautiful cities! Must see

jdmillers1990, May 2022

Absolutely loved this trip. All of the stops were amazing. The shopping was incredible. The tour was very well organized.

Great time!

Richard_D, May 2022

Fantastic tour, full day May have been better but this worked best for us. Sit in back of the boat as weather gets warmer, much better with the breeze.

Fun experience

Sarah_C, May 2022

Wonderful tour with great guides and a lovely stops. Each stop gives you plenty of time to get a feeling of each island.

1 traveler found this review helpful

A waste of half a day.

Lia_H, May 2022

This tour was not well organised. The directions given were not clear. I had to ask around to get to the right location. Be sure to go extra early. In the end, the only place worth seeing is Murano and the blown glass factory. Don't waste half a day on this tour.

Fun, quaint sightseeing opportunity!

Kathryn_J, May 2022

We did not know if we would have time for this excursion during our visit to Venice, but I now consider it a must! The Murano glassmaking class was much more entertaining than I expected! However, Burano was still our favorite stop because of the colorful buildings and bustling village. All three villages are stunning and quaint, a nice contrast to Venice. My only complaint was my inability to hear the tour guide’s instructions clearly from the back of the boat.

1 traveler found this review helpful

Boat trip to near islands

Klaudia_M, May 2022

It was a lovely experience. The glass factory in Burano was very insightful. It was interesting to see the glassmakers in action. Torcello - much recommended to visit, not very busy, with beautiful landscape. Murano was our last stop, with beautiful houses and a great place to get the souvenirs from the local shops. If you are planning to buy anything, I would recommend a trip to Murano, rather than buying from Venice directly. The tour guide was lovely, although the commentary on the boat was too loud and therefore not very clear to understand.

Worth doing if you just want a taster of each island.

Stuart_K, May 2022

Worth doing if you just want a taster of each island. You’ll see Murano Glass being made, and be able to visit the factory shop or walk along the canal to other producers/shops. At Torcello you have time to walk to the Basilica, but probably not enough time to make it worth paying to go inside. Get more time in Burano and you can do a circuit of the town, go into a few lace shops and grab an ice cream. If you want to do/see anymore than this, then get a Vaporetto to the island of your choice before the tourist groups arrive. The tour was well organised; don’t forget your mask.

We had a wonderful time!...

Ismael_F, May 2022

We had a wonderful time! Loved how well the tour is lead. If there is anything I would change is just that I wish it were a little longer than 45 mins on each stop as it felt a little rushed to get back. But other than that sooo worth it!!

Great way to see a lot in just a few hours!

Grant_K, May 2022

Brilliant way to spend a few hours and achieve a lot! Venice is a magical place but getting to see ‘all’ of it is near enough impossible without an experience like this. Hopping on and off at key islands while learning the interesting facts and history of Venice is awesome. Definitely recommend!

The trip is all very...

Linda_K, May 2022

The trip is all very rushed, 50 mins in either Burano or Murano is not enough. Bare minimum comentary in English. Our guide was lovely though. Trip is fine for basic intro to islands

Island Tour

Simon_D, May 2022

Julia was a greattour guide, effortlessly speaking Italian, English, Spanish and French, as the tour progressed. Meeting point was easy to find, and time allowed on each island clearly explained, so you didn't miss the boat! Visit to Murano glass blowing factory was interesting, but the speaker spoke mostly Italian (I am an English speaker). Glass blower was extraordinary, and would have liked to have spent longer seeing him work. Burano, known for its lace and brightly coloured houses was worth the visit. It can get crowded with tourists (!), so try to get there early! Personally, we could have skipped Tortello, and spent longer on the other islands.

1 traveler found this review helpful

Island trip

Robert_S, May 2022

Great experience to see other islands and see customs and cultures. Well worth the money and would highly recommend

1 traveler found this review helpful

Left on Murano - didn't complete the tour

Megan_C, May 2022

The tour started on Murano, we were 1 min late returning to the water bus to move onto the next two islands, and the boat left us. We then had to figure out our own way home and missed the whole tour.

1 traveler found this review helpful

Rushed.

Richard_M, May 2022

Burano and Murano were great to visit. Torcello although pretty, a bit of a waste of time and would of much preferred to just visit Burano and Murano. However we booked the tour in a half day as we did not have more time to dedicate to it, and you did feel constantly rushed, through each location. ( you only got 45 mins per island) if coming back to Venice would organise locally and do a longer visit to each.

Pleasant 3 island tour

Michelle_J, May 2022

Lovely trip, great to see the glass blowing. Lady tour guide was lovely .Just wish had more time on each island. Maybe more signs at the meeting point.

Great opportunity to learn more about the islands of Venice

Stacy_E, May 2022

Really enjoyed this half day visit to Morano, Burano and Torcello. There is an entirely different vibe to each of the islands and they are all well worth a visit. One note is that you are not meeting a guide at the Alilaguna ticket office, but rather getting on the Alilaguna for Murano, Burano, Torcello and your guide will already be on board.

Could be improved

guylainemlavoie, May 2022

Unfortunately, the guide was not up to standards from other tours we have taken with Viatours. For example, my husband booked the San Marco cathedral and Dodges Palace visit with Viatours the day prior and it was fantastic. The guide was absolutely outstanding! For the Murano/Burano and Torcello tour, not enough information and historical background about the destinations were given during the boat ride. In addition, although the majority of the group was english speaking, the information was given in german first (only a handful on Germans on board), italian and last in english, with usually a shorter version of the info. You would be better off purchasing a day ticket for the vaporetto and heading to Murano and Burano on your own. You can find the information about the islands on the web.. Torchello has no interest unless you want to have lunch there. They have a few very nice restaurants set in country side ambiance, but the tour does not give sufficient time to enjoy a leisurely lunch.

Tips and tricks for first time visitors!

Peter_W, Apr 2022

We thoroughly enjoyed this trip! Here are a few tips / information/ experiences for first time visitors like us (we went in late April 2022, on a Thursday morning. It was very green and loads of beautiful Wisteria plants blooming around, creating amazing backdrop for photos on every Island) 1. (If getting on the train station instead of San Marco) Get your tickets from INSIDE the train station St. Lucia in front of the no. 2 platform. And then ask the person to print you a map of where to go to catch the boat as it is NOT outside the train station as we thought. It's on the right side, about 5 min walk, right outside a KFC. We would have never got an idea where to go unless we asked and if you just go in front of the train station you'll miss the boat. 2. All in all we were 40 people on the boat. Only 3 Languages were spoken as there were only 3 nationalities on board. We found the information given was good and not too overwhelming. It was good to have smaller group and seeing the boats pass us by filled by people to the brim made us feel a tad bit safer in terms of covid. 3. Murano glass factory was a 10 min experience, followed by a Murano glass shop. From the moment you stop on an island the 50 min timer starts going. So once you finish with the Murano glass factory show and you go to the shop with the group, try and not spend too much time there. If you get wowed by the first shop you may spend 20 minutes in or so, meaning you'll have no time for the actual island. We found we managed to reach a church in Milano and had just enough time to go back to the boat ( always think "if it took me 10 minutes to reach this place, I'd need 10 min to go back to the boat). 4. Loads of people say Torcello is not worth the visit but we found it absolutely gorgeous! It was super quiet, sun shining, greenery everywhere... A fairytale. It's not a place to go shopping, but to see how Venice looked like in the very beginning before all the tourists and such and it's such a special place, we thoroughly enjoyed it! 5. Burano was our only let down purely because you only get 50 minutes on it, but its by far the busiest and most beautiful , meaning loads of shops and people. You barely get to explore it, loads of running around, trying to snap photos mid walk because there's just no time to Even sit down and feel the environment (you could do that in Torcello for example). We think Burano needs to be at least 1.30 hrs, if not 2. It is really the cherry on the cake, but right now you can't enjoy it as much because of the time constraint. To summarize, if you're like us, never been in Venice before, looking at this tour thinking "50 minutes SHOULD be PLENTY to explore a small island for sure!!" - it's really not enough and we're usually fast walkers. But! That doesn't mean it's not worth it! We still got to see all 3 places and enjoy them, buy a small gift from each place and even have ice cream. We just wish we got that tiny bit more time in Burano.

Don’t do it!

Cynthia_L, Apr 2022

We were extremely disappointed. First, this tour was supposed to be in English. Turns out our guide spoke every sentence first in Italian, then in French and lastly in English. It was repetitive and by the time she finally said something in English the scenery had already changed. She only gave a little bit of information when we were on the boat. Nothing as we arrived on the islands. Second, we only visited one glass factory in Murano. The mic was not working well for the guide here. And he ( new guide) only gave us a brief explanation of the glass-making process- again, first in Italian, then French, then English. The master made a simple vase in 5 minutes. Then we were hurdled into the nearby store to purchase very overpriced goodies. We did not have the option to visit other factories/ stores. In summary- terrible choice!

1 traveler found this review helpful

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Product code: 2495ABTOUR2

Attractions in Venezia, Italy

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Murano, Burano and Torcello Half-Day Sightseeing Tour

From US$27.20

Select Date and Travellers

Overview

Why Travellers Choose This Tour

What's Included

Departure & Return

Departure Point

Return Details

What To Expect

Additional Info

Cancellation Policy

Traveller Photos

Traveller Tips

Questions?

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