For a normal first visit to Murano, Murano Colonna is usually the better place to get off. It puts you at the useful end of Fondamenta dei Vetrai, where you can begin walking through the glass-shopping area rather than doubling back. Murano Faro is the better stop when you are continuing to Burano, Torcello or Sant’Erasmo, or when the lighthouse and eastern side of Murano are your destination.
The practical answer to Murano Faro vs Murano Colonna therefore depends less on which stop is “central” and more on what you are doing next. The two stops are only about a ten-minute walk apart, but choosing correctly can eliminate an unnecessary boat stop, a walk with luggage, or an awkward connection.
Choose Colonna or Faro with this simple rule
- Choose Murano Colonna for a first-time sightseeing walk, Fondamenta dei Vetrai, San Pietro Martire, glass shops, or an arrival from Venezia Santa Lucia station and Piazzale Roma on Line 3.
- Choose Murano Faro if you are changing to Line 12 for Burano or Torcello, using Line 13 toward Vignole, Sant’Erasmo or Treporti, or specifically visiting the lighthouse side of Murano.
- Choose Murano Museo instead of either if the Glass Museum is your main destination and your boat serves that stop. The museum itself directs visitors using Lines 4.1 and 4.2 to Murano Museo.
What Murano Colonna is actually like
Colonna sits at the southwestern end of the part of Murano most visitors explore on foot. Step off the boat and you can start along Fondamenta dei Vetrai, the canal-side route lined with glass shops and workshops, before continuing toward San Pietro Martire and deeper into the island. Venice’s municipal accessible itinerary also uses Colonna as the starting point for this part of Murano.
This is why Colonna works particularly well for a conventional Murano visit: you can arrive at one end, walk through the interesting streets rather than circling them, and eventually finish elsewhere.
Colonna has three different boarding pontoons
Do not treat “Murano Colonna” as one single platform. The official ACTV map shows approdi A, B and C, and the correct one depends on both your line and direction. On the current map, for example, Line 3 toward Ferrovia and Piazzale Roma uses A, while Line 4.2 toward Fondamente Nove and San Marco uses B. Other Murano-bound and airport services use different pontoons.
When leaving, read the electronic display and the printed destination list above the pontoon rather than simply joining the largest queue. The words to look for are per, meaning “to,” and partenze da, meaning “departures from.” ACTV keeps updated diagrams for both Murano stops on its official waterbus maps page.
What Murano Faro is better for
Faro is beside Murano’s lighthouse and functions as the island’s more useful interchange for the northern lagoon. The official stop diagram has only two boarding areas, A and B, but their functions are quite different.
Approdo A is the important one for island hopping. Line 12 departs from here toward Torcello, Burano and Treporti, while Line 13 serves Vignole, Sant’Erasmo and Treporti. The signage at the stop even includes Imbarco per Burano, “boarding for Burano,” which is a welcome bit of clarity in a transport system that does not always provide much of it.
Approdo B handles most of the services connecting Faro with the rest of Murano and Venice, including Lines 3, 4.1, 4.2 and the seasonal Line 7 according to the current stop map. Faro also has self-service ticket machines shown on ACTV’s official diagram.
Coming from Santa Lucia station or Piazzale Roma
Line 3 is normally the most straightforward option to compare because it reaches Colonna before Faro when travelling from Piazzale Roma and Ferrovia. In ACTV’s timetable effective from 28 March 2026, the sequence is Piazzale Roma, Ferrovia, Murano Colonna, Murano Faro, Navagero and Museo. Faro follows Colonna only a few minutes later.
That creates an easy decision. Get off at Colonna if you are beginning a Murano sightseeing walk. Stay aboard until Faro if you specifically need the eastern side or intend to connect onward across the lagoon.
For a broader look at the journey from Venice and the different ways to structure your time on the island, see the Italy on Foot Murano day-trip guide.
Coming from San Marco
The seasonal Line 7 is useful because it links San Marco-San Zaccaria directly with Murano. In the 2026 summer schedule its Murano sequence is Navagero, Faro, Colonna, before returning toward San Marco.
Do not automatically stay aboard until Colonna just because it appears to be the more familiar tourist stop. If your first destination is near the lighthouse or you will soon take Line 12, Faro is the sensible exit. If your plan is to walk along Fondamenta dei Vetrai and through Murano’s shopping area, Colonna gives you the cleaner starting point.
Coming from Fondamente Nove
Faro becomes much more important when travelling through Venice’s northern-lagoon network. Line 12 serves Murano Faro, not Murano Colonna, before continuing toward places including Mazzorbo and Burano. ACTV’s April 2026 service update specifically lists Faro on these journeys.
If you are visiting Murano only, another service may put you at Colonna and create a nicer walking route. If you are combining islands, however, Faro is the transfer point to remember.
The smartest route for a Murano and Burano day
You do not have to arrive and leave from the same stop. A particularly efficient plan is to arrive at Colonna, explore Murano in one direction, and finish at Faro for Line 12 to Burano. That turns the difference between the two stops into an advantage instead of a nuisance.
Check the exact sequence against that day’s ACTV departures, especially outside the main daytime period. If you are building Murano into a longer Venice or northern-Italy trip, the Italy on Foot trip planner can help arrange the rest of the route without unnecessary backtracking.
If Burano is next, the separate guide to visiting Burano from Venice explains the onward lagoon connections in more detail.
If the Glass Museum is your priority, neither is ideal
A common mistake is to assume that one of these two major stops must also be the best one for the Museo del Vetro. The official museum guidance points visitors on Lines 4.1 and 4.2 to Murano Museo, which avoids needless walking.
The same general area is useful for the Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato. If those are your two main sights, check whether your vaporetto calls at Museo rather than getting off earlier simply because a crowd leaves the boat.
What to do if you get off at the wrong stop
There is no need to panic or immediately buy another journey. Faro and Colonna are roughly 650 metres apart, around a ten-minute walk under normal conditions. If you are travelling light, walking is usually simpler than trying to make an internal vaporetto hop.
With suitcases, a stroller, limited mobility or a tight connection to Burano, the calculation changes. Waiting for the appropriate boat may be preferable to dragging luggage across Murano just to correct one premature stop.
ACTV specifically lists priority boarding for passengers with reduced mobility at Murano Faro A and B. Travelers for whom steps, boarding movement or walking distance matter should check the current accessible route and stop information before deciding to change on foot.
Remember to validate again when you change boats
An ACTV ticket or travelcard does not become exempt from validation simply because you are already midway through a lagoon journey. ACTV requires the travel title to be validated at the beginning of each journey and again when changing vehicles. The validators for water transport are at the boarding stops before access to the floating pontoon.
So if you arrive at Colonna, walk across Murano and later board Line 12 at Faro, validate again before entering the Faro boarding area. Keep the same ticket or pass if it remains valid for the journey, but do not simply walk through behind another passenger.
Do not confuse ACTV with the airport boats
Colonna’s stop map also shows airport connections operated separately from the normal ACTV vaporetto network. That can make the signs look more complicated than expected. If you have an airport ticket, read the operator name as well as the destination; an ACTV pass does not automatically mean you are entitled to board every boat displaying “Aeroporto.” The current Colonna map, for example, separately identifies airport services including Line B and a seasonal Line R.
Check disruptions before relying on your usual stop
Murano services can be altered for high water, strikes, regattas and other operational changes. During the 2026 Murano regatta, for example, some Line 3 journeys were terminated at Colonna and some Line 7 services omitted Faro. ACTV also has specific high-water procedures that can suspend Line 3 or affect particular Colonna pontoons.
For anything time-critical, particularly the last connection to another island, check the current ACTV navigation timetable rather than relying on the line pattern you used earlier in the day.
The useful rule is simple: Colonna is usually the better place to begin exploring Murano; Faro is the better place to change boats for the northern lagoon. If you remember that distinction, the two stop names stop being confusing and start making the island much easier to cross efficiently.