I am going to be in Venice in late August and trying to plan my Murano visit. I plan to take the 8:10am #12 Waterbus to Murano, but is a bit concern whether the shops will be open at that time. Does anyone know?
Also, how long does it typically take to do all 3 islands of Murano, Buruno, and Torcello? Can it be done in 4-5 hrs on your own?
You might want to visit other islands (where you are not interested in shopping) first, and end your lagoon tour in Murano, before returning to the city. 4-5 hours might be doable, but would cut it awfully close.
The three islands is more of a day, rather than 4-5 hours. The church in Torcello is a long walk from the vaporetto stop.
Unless you are keen to see a glass furnace going full blast (which I would not want to do in August), I suggest you skip Murano and shop in Burano instead. Burano has lots of artisan studios, not as much mass-produced glass (which you can find in all the glass shops in Venezia itself).
Thanks for the quick response. When does the glass factory in Murano typically opens?
Your question seems to indicate that you think that there is a glass factory on Murano. There is not one, probably around 50 or so, although a number have closed due to pressure from cheap Chinese imports which can be found all over Venice including on Murano.
Each factory is independently owned and sets its own opening hours. Perhaps if you are going to a particular one it is worth contacting them and asking.
i did this, its an all day excursion. (7 maybe 8 hours) If I were to do it again I would start by going to Torcello first and working my way back to Burano then Murano. The shops on Murano keep regular business hours and, generally, start to close for the day around 6. There are several places where you can see glass items being made, one was in a shop near the Faro (?) vaporetto stop. if you are a serious shopper you may want to break this into 2 days, one for sightseeing (maybe include the cemetery) and one day for shopping on Murano.
If I show up to Murano at 8:30am, is it pretty much guaranteed that most of the shop would still be closed? What about Burano? My sense is that I would probably skip Torcello and do Murano and Burano only, since I have limited time.
Burano is lovely to see and wander around in, apart from shopping, what with the very colorful houses.
It really depends on how much time you wish to spend shopping. If you just want to see a demonstration and hit a couple stores it is probably doable. I have been to Venice twice, each time with a stop on Murano and Burano but have run out of time to get to Torcello based on other things we were doing. We found that Burano was more charming and Murano was really just about glass shopping. Also keep in mind that while Murano is fairly close to Venice, Burano is further out in the lagoon, so it takes about 40 minutes to get out there from Venice on the water bus.
This website talks about how to make sure you are buying authentic Murano glass and not something imported from China. It has a page for shops that sell authentic glass and many have webpages that you can check for times.
http://www.muranoglass.com/en/
Actually, there IS a glass "factory" on Murano. The Effetre company ( http://www.effetremurano.com/index_inglese.html ) - formerly Moretti - has been making glass on Murano for quite some time. This is the glass (in "raw form") that the artisans of Murano (indeed artisans all over the world, including myself) primarily use to create their works. The glass is referred to as "soft glass" because it has a high coefficient of expansion, making it much more challenging and unforgiving to work with than, for example, borosilicate (lab) glass.
In any event, some people might be interested in visiting the actual "glass factory," rather than the artisan shops.
