Guided Tour or Go On Our Own?

Oh it is so easy to explore on your own! Rick Steves has an excellent self-tour of 3 Laguna islands: Murano, Burano, and Torcello. Fascinating and easy at your own pace. It is in the guidebook. Totally worth the time.

For exploring on your own, you’ll need a vaporetto pass - the vaporetti to the islands of the lagoon leave from the Fondamente Nove stops on the north shore of Venice.

It's so easy to take the vaporetto out to Burano, Murano and Tortello. Just go out and explore on your own. You can't get lost since they are small islands. There is no need for a tour.
For a Venice food tour look at Eating Europe. It's a new tour so I don't have feedback. I will take in September. Eating Europe does a good job; I've taken four so far and will take three this this year. Since I travel solo I enjoy the companionship at meals. https://www.eatingeurope.com/venice/
Have a great trip!

How much free time do you have? Burano is the furthest away, and Torcello is one stop from there. If you take the vaporetto from the Fondemente Nova stop ( on the top of the fish), it will take about 45 minutes to get there. Murano is only two stops from the same vaporetto stop, and takes less than ten minutes. The best way to do it, if you can, is to go to Burano first, and try to get there before the shops open and other tourists arrive. It is very picturesque, and I got some great crowd free photos there. Then you can make a stop at Torcello before going on to Murano. If you go to Murano first, along with the rest of the tourist crowd, you will encounter long line ups for the vaporetto to Burano from there as all the rest of the tourists will be doing the same thing. Buy a day pass for the vaporetto as individual tickets are expensive and won’t give you enough time on each island to explore.

The vaporetto passes are available for 1, 2, 3, or 7 days, so you can get the one you need depending on how long you’re going to be in Venice. They go up and down the Grand Canal, another large canal that goes through Cannaregio, and around the entire city, in addition to going among the islands of the lagoon as already described.

Hello susanmcraig, and welcome to the forum!

In general I think guides add a huge amount of depth and context to the things you're seeing and tasting. To the question is how interested are you in the subject and how much do you already know? In this instance Murano is easy to get to on public transportation and easy to wander through and explore. I you're very interested in glass blowing - the local skill of Murano - or the history of the island then a guide can add depth and may be able to get you access to things you might miss or might not be able to see at all. If you're just interested in exploring the island then I think a guide is unnecessary. Rick's books do a good job of supplying enough context - often with an accompanying walking tour - to fill in this gap of being interested but not interested enough to commit the time or expense of a guide.

A food guide is one of those things that can add a lot - in Italy especially since food is such a focus. It's also less culturally intensive than a museum or an industry tour. Town historical walk tours - often free or low cost - in ancient cities can really add to your appreciation of the town and the country regardless of the country and can also supply a list of "let's circle back to that" things to do.

Keep in mind the time of a tour and whether or not you're exclusive or in a group. It's always possible you're not going to be interested for as long as a tour goes on if its 3 hours or feel like taking a break or changing it up but in a group setting that's less possible.

I guess what I'm saying is tours add depth but come with time commitments and costs so pick and choose your spots based on interest. I don't think I've ever regretted haven taken any tour but I also try to choose them carefully.

Venice is amazing, you can't really go wrong there, enjoy!
=Tod

Horsewoofie, thanks for the note about Eating Europe. We have also enjoyed their tours, and will be in Venice this summer. I'm booking now!

susanmcraig, I agree with horsewoofie and hiredman that food tours are a great addition to a visit to any city. We've learned so much; a good guide will use the food choices to teach you about the culture and history of the area.

You are all the best!! Thank you all so much for your helpful comments and suggestions. Even though the answers have been varied...I have learned one thing...just do it!! It seems like whichever option we choose will be awesome.

hey hey susanmcraig
welcome to the travel forum. how much free time will you have in venice? where will you be going after that?
many different answers, food tours/market tours are great to learn about the regions food and about the place you are at.
take the vaporetto to murano and burano, which are small for you to do on your own.
streaty.com/venice
check the tours offered
schezzini.it
alessandro does a 2 hour bar tour "cicchetti crawl", talking history of venice, with wine and little bites "tapas". he is mentioned alot here on this forum. email him for more info and with dates you will be there.
suitcaseescapes.com/cicchetti bar crawl.
read from top to bottom about these crawls, importance for venetians and their traditions, what they serve
ilburchiello.it
a cruise down the brenta river (venice to padua or padua to venice) along palatial villas
alongdustyroads.com/burano
isoladiburano.it (click english)
we took the vaporetto to mazzorbo, got off and stopped at trattoria alla maddalena for a glass of wine and appetizer, right at stop then walked around small island to "long bridge" that crosses over to burano spent few hours roaming around this colorful island with stops at shops, bakeries (click sites, shopping then paticcerias for well known cookies) bakeries, lace store, bepi's house
look at the few restaurants, grab a seat can get busy plus the hours/days open (usually 2-3pm closing)
take the vaporetto back to venice, look for ferry stop "A" or "C" one of my favorite places
travelingspoon.com/venice
rialto market visit, cooking class with massimo then enjoying meal after. class is in his home in the heart of venice
camacana.com
decorate your own venetian mask
gpsmycity.com/venice
self guided walking tours, take your pick what you want to see. download app to iphone and it works offline
we reserved lucky luca as our singing gondelier, picked us up near jewish ghetto in canareggio district. took us through back canals and on grand canal for a few. nicer in the back since grand canal is so busy with all types of boats, then he sings to us,
luckyluca6@hotmail. email him for more info, how long you want and date. i think we did 35 minutes at 75E, if longer and sunset and beyond more $$$
so much in my "novel"!! LOL lots to do without leaving venice, walk around, get lost (you will) back track) walk the back canals in canareggio district, people living here, many shops/bars/cafes/restaurants, catching some of the vaporettos. we loved this area
lots for you to read up on, think about and what you decide. it's fun doing research but does take time, it will help you later.
aloha

Welcome to the Forum. We have been to Venice twice and toured Murano on our own. It is easy to Navigate all the islands using the RS guide. For food tours, we have taken several.

• In 2018, we took the Alessandro Schezzini Cicchetti Tour. He is recommended by RS and the tour when we took is is more of a bar tour than food tour. However, that said, Alessandro is charming and loves his city and we had an enjoyable time. For our friends, there was not enough to eat and they went out to dinner after the tour. The rest of us were fine with the light bites.
• In 2023, we took the tour from Devour-Venice at Sunset: https://devourtours.com/tours/venice-authentic-food-experience/. This is a more traditional food tour where you will not only have cicchetti, but also pasta and a stop for gelato. This food tour is in the San Polo region and it was nice to tour places with more locals than tourists.

Eating Europe has just started a tour in Venice. We have had great tours with that company and will be trying that tour next time we are in Venice.