Venice Day Trips: Murano & Burano

Now I know you would never want to leave Venice… but if you were looking for a day trip we have one to suggest.

Off the island of Venice, just a short ferry ride away, are two other islands named similarly: Murano and Burano.

Murano is the larger of the two, and seems to be more visited by the Venice tourist. The island is known for it’s production of glass, some of the finest in the world. We don’t have the pictures to prove it, but we sat in on several glassblowers and watched them skillfully shape molten blobs into colorful cats and horses. We love glassblowing- we actually took a class on it once- and it was really fun to see the way these artists worked (but no photos were allowed!)

There are so many glass shops to tour and restaurants right on the water. There is even a giant glass sculpture called the Comet and a random glass abacus to check out. With a few dozen churches and a large cathedral, you can easily spend half a day on Murano.

Burano, the smaller island, is known for it’s handmade lace. This island surprised us because it was much livelier than we expected. There are tons of lunch spots and shops that carry the lace made on the island. It was more crowded than we expected on the main drag, but as usual, the side streets were peaceful and tourist-free.

Our favorite part about Burano were the colorful houses right on the water! We were told the houses were painted brightly because it gets very foggy and hazy in the winter and the boats on the canal had trouble seeing. Not sure how much truth there is in that- but any excuse for fun, bright streets works for us!

We loved wandering through the residential areas to find a brighter shade of fuchsia or a crazier sunshine yellow plastered on the side of a building!