The cruises compared here
This is the highest-volume boat product in the Venice catalogue, with more than six thousand reviews. It is sold as a self-guided tour, which describes it well: a guide speaks on the boat, and on the islands you are left alone.
The question is less about the islands than about how you like to travel. The tour trades freedom for simplicity.
1What the five hours contain
The boat leaves Santa Lucia pier at 10 am or Riva degli Schiavoni at 10:30 am. The first stop is Murano, with one hour ashore. That hour includes the option of a glass factory visit with a live glassblowing demonstration. If you skip the factory you can walk the canals and shops.
The second stop is Burano, with an hour and a half. The listing suggests the coloured houses, the lace shops and the Lace Museum, and includes a visit to a lace workshop. The boat then returns to the San Marco Cornoldi pier on Riva degli Schiavoni at about 3:30 pm.
2The small print that catches people
The return goes to Riva degli Schiavoni. If you want to be dropped back in the Santa Lucia area, the voucher asks for 10 EUR per person in cash on the day. Finishing at San Marco after starting at Santa Lucia costs nothing extra, so the cheap way to do it is to plan your afternoon around San Marco.
The voucher also says the tour may exceptionally end at Tronchetto for logistical reasons, with directions given to Piazzale Roma. It advises against booking trains or flights close to the end time, because the Murano stop and water traffic can stretch the schedule.
Lunch is not included, and the tour runs through the middle of the day. With an hour and a half on Burano you will be eating there or not at all.
3Who gets good value
First-time visitors who want to see both islands and would otherwise spend time decoding waterbus routes. Families, since the listing has a child category for under 10s and marks the tour wheelchair accessible with a companion. Budget travellers, because nothing else in the catalogue gives five hours on a boat at this price.
It also works as a rest day. You sit, the lagoon goes by, and somebody else watches the clock.
4Who should skip it
People who want to linger. An hour on Murano with a factory visit inside it leaves little time for anything else, and you cannot stay on Burano for the late afternoon and catch a later boat.
People who want Torcello. This tour does not stop there. The same operator sells a six-hour version adding Torcello, listed separately with a 7.0 score from 4,055 reviews. And if what you want is a boat ride with views of Venice itself, the one-hour boat trip does that from €12.50 and gives you the rest of the day back.