Venice islands half day trip

The 2 island tour was good for us overall. The boat was nice and allweil organized. We would have enjoyed more time on each island, Murano and Burano, as we had only some 60 minutes available for us on each island. The glass blowing presentation was a disappointment. It only took some 15 minutes and I missed explanations and close up views.

The walking part leading up to the gondolas was interesting and fun, learned a lot about the city and the tradition of the gondola!! The only negative about the whole thing was that our guide got us to the gondolas and left all of our groups, they were running behind and it became a little chaotic and we had no advocate for our groups. Otherwise was fantastic!!!

First of all Nicole was amazing, a true historian. She shared a lot of stories on our round trip to both islands. Muranos factory I was a little hesitant about but, it’s a labor of love that has been on going for centuries. If you can please go. Burano was absolutely beautiful even in the rain. The second leaning building don’t miss it.

The tour guide was very helpful and was pointing out various landmarks around the islands. The passengers were split into two groups, one each for two glass factories on Murano. We went to the Mazzucato factory which had a very good demonstration of glass blowing

Our guide Christine, a local, was fantastic. She was professional, clear in her explanations and gave a lot of insider tips. We left at 9.30am and were back by 2.30pm. Approximately 1.5hours per island. I think if you are in Venice for more than 1 day it’s worth checking this out. I enjoyed the glass blowing, the lace making was a bit haphazard.

The pier was very easy to find as the instructions are so clear. The guides were great, not a lot of information but it was also nice to just sit and enjoy the views from the boat. Murano was great, if you want to shop, there are plenty more glass shops in the town, and it’s much nicer shopping outside. Burano was great and allowed enough free time to have a leisurely lunch and see most of the town. Torcello was beautiful, not as interesting as the others and fewer food options. The only toilet was a paid one. The tour was the perfect pace for the day, a good mix of structure and free time. Between each island was about a 30 min trip, allowing time to rest your legs and and hour back to the main island to rest before walking home. Great tour and highly recommend.

This excursion was fabulous. Nicole our guide was very polite,communicated well during the walking part of our tour and gave clear instructions throughout.The Gondola ride was peaceful,calming and picturesque. A definite recommendation if in Venice a must in fact.

Murano part was spoiled by being captive in one shop and factory. We would have liked time to walk to all the shops, so the stop should have been another 1/2 hour longer. Technically one could have left the shop but there was no time, and you had to come through the shop again to get back to the boat. The other two islands were superb stops, and perfect as they occurred. Fifteen more minutes on Torello would have been icing on the cake.