Murano Island

I am not one for tours but I have been in Murano numerous times. I have never timed it but it's about 15 minutes on the vaporetto from Fondamenta Nuova. For a longer boat ride, you can also get on a vaporetto at one of the San Marco stops.

It's very close and very easy to do. As for "worth it", we saved the nearby islands for our second trip to Venice, since there's so much to see in Venice proper. I'm glad we did. I consider those islands (Murano, Burano, Torcello) a lower priority than lots of other things in Venice. That said, if you want to go to only one, Murano is the easiest. It's sort of a blue collar version of Venice itself - much plainer buildings, but very colorfully painted.

I think it depends on how many days you are in Venice. 3 days or less, I would save it for the next trip. More than 3 days, it is worth it to go. We saw both Murano and Burano one afternoon, having lunch on Burano, and really enjoyed it.

Burano...delightful, colorful and had a little shopping for some beads and a wonderful lunch. Liked it better than Murano.

I would also recommend Burano over Murano. I really enjoyed Burano on our last trip and plan to return again on our next trip but I agree with the others that if you're only in Venice for a few days, you should probably skip it. Have a great trip.