Murano and Burano

There are tours that include those islands as well as another that is the original founding island of Venice.

We enjoyed our tour. We found our tour on Viator, but you can find the tour company yourself.

Both Murano and Burano are easily visited on your own by vaporetto, especially from where you will be.

The boats leave from just down the way at Fondamente Nove ((F.te Nove) Fondamente Nove (Venetian dialect for "Fondamenta Nuove")).

Why do you want to visit them?

Do you want to visit a furnace on Murano and see glass blown in a show, or do you want to stroll and shop or do you want to see the architecture and/or the museum?

Do you want to visit the lace making museum on Burano or see the boats or see the architecture?

Or are you just going in blind because somebody said, "If you are going to Venice you MUST do Burano and Murano"?

Have you heard of Torcello?

When's the trip? First visit to Venice? With only 2 days of sightseeing do you really want to give over half the time to the outer islands?

We just went on our own by vaporetto - just find the one going to Murano. If you want to see any glass blowing in Murano, I believe it's best to get there before noon, as it seemed to me that many of them don't do the glass in the hotter afternoons. We only popped into two - one was more 'guided' - in that they waved us in, then let you watch for 5 min (they were blowing pieces for a chandelier), then escort you to the showroom full of expensive glass. The other we just followed a sign and came across a man just making mass produced ornaments (by mass produced, I just mean - during that visit - making a glass horse in under 5 min, then making another). He had a tin can set up for tips. No pressure to buy anything.

And Burano we just wandered on our own - it isn't large.

Oh, there is a glass museum on Murano that you may find interesting. You could also toss the little island of Torcello on your visit as well.

We will be there for 3 full days. I thought it would be nice to visit the islands. It is not set in stone. I have no plans for one of the days and thought that might be nice. We will be there in 2 weeks.

We like to wander these little islands when we visit Venice and we always include the island of Torcello, which is a short hop from Burano. The first time, we followed Rick Steves’ excellent self-guided tour of the three islands. It is in his Venice Guidebook, which is worth getting for its in-depth coverage of the city and area. Maybe your library has it?

When we do this tour we spend about 6 hours, leaving in a 9 am vaporetto and returning about 3 pm. A vaporetto pass is worth it if only for this trip.

From Orto, it’s a 5-7 minute walk to Fondamente Nove vaporetto stop, where you can take boats 4.1 or 4.2 to Murano. They run frequently and it’s easy to do yourselves without a tour. Follow the crowds to the glass blowing demonstrations.

To get to Burano, take line 12. To escape the crowds and for something different, head to the peaceful island of Torcello on line 9 from Burano and walk down to the old church.

When I stayed near Orto, we enjoyed wine and tapas at Cantina Aziende on Rio Tera Farsetti, about a 5 minute walk away.

As others have answered, getting to the islands is a simple boat ride away. IMO, Burrano is definitely worth a visit because of the colorful buildings. It is a photographer’s dream! (Even for a novice like myself) Enjoy!!

I do have the book so I will read up on that. I think we will do all 3 islands. Sounds fun.

Thank you so much for all of your help. This is our very first trip and I am so clueless. I am a little nervous because I do not know what to expect at all.

We plan on 4 days in the Venice area. We were thinking of 2 full days in Venice and 2 to visit the islands and in the evening return to Venice.

Is this enough? Will we get a good feel for the place ? I have always dreamt of going there.

For the flooding, is it more common at certain times of year or is it a crap shoot anything ?

We plan on 4 days in the Venice area. We were thinking of 2 full days
in Venice and 2 to visit the islands and in the evening return to
Venice. Is this enough? Will we get a good feel for the place ? I have
always dreamt of going there.

Murano and Burano can be seen in one day. IMHO, you don't need 2 full days to do those islands.
So use that extra day in Venice- 3 days in venice. You'll get a feel of the place in 3 days.

For the flooding, is it more common at certain times of year or is it a crap shoot anything ?

Certain days in Autumn and Spring (sometimes Winter) during particular combinations of high tide, wind from the wrong direction and high water. Apps will accurately predict.

To get much more guidance and information, you should do a search on this forum for Murano and/or Burano. There are many other threads of posts just like this one, with lots of experiences and ideas for visiting those islands as well as Torcello, a rural island that was the birthplace of Venice.

Torcello is a bit tricky to recommend. There is very little left of the original settlement. And even if you climb the bell tower; the tower it self is a re-creation and not very old, there is nothing left that looks like there was ever a town on the island. Basically, you walk along the only surviving canal to the church and back.

nice church and mosaics though