Just outside of Venice, on a less than an hour vaporetto ride, lay the islands of Murano and Burano. Known for their glass, lace and colorful houses, Murano and Burano are great places to visit and make for a great day trip outside of Venice.
How to Get There:
The only way to get to the islands of Murano and Burano is via boat. If you get on line 12, the first stop is at Murano. You can also stay on that line and will eventually get on Burano. From Burano, you can take another vaporetto and end up back at St. Mark’s Square. The boat rides can take a while. From Venice, the boat ride is about 30 minutes to Murano. And from Murano, it is another 30-45 minutes to Burano.
What You Will See:
The island of Murano is known for it’s hand-blown glass. There are many shops that all house beautifully unique pieces. From jewelry to home decor to pens to jewelry, Murano has everything imaginable made out of glass. We happened to be there on a Saturday and we got to the island slightly before 9:00 am and most of the shops were closed. But the more we walked around, a few more shops started to open. We found out because it was a Saturday, lots of glass blowers don’t work that day. Because of that, many shops were closed. But it was actually nice to only have a few options to go see (there were still PLENTY of shops to wander through!) There are also glass blowing demonstrations to see. Blogs we read said that there were free demonstrations, but we did not find any for free, but we did find a cute small shop with demonstrations for only 2 Euros per person.
We had so much fun walking around and exploring the island. The shops were so amazing to see. Because these shops feature people’s artwork, most of them do not allow pictures. Also, you need to be extra careful if you have large bags because everything in the shops are made of glass.
There are lots of choices for souvenirs to take home from Murano, but be careful in your choices. Make sure that what you take is well wrapped and can be easily transported. Some things we brought home were magnets, glass cherries, a Christmas ornament, a fountain pen and some Pandora charms for my charm bracelet. Nothing came home broken even though most of it was packed in our luggage.
Once you get to Burano, you will see SO MANY COLORS! The homes are all painted in such vibrant colors. Our favorite part was just wandering up and down the canals and seeing all of the different colors. We saw lots of kiosks with lace, but did not find any lace factories or tours. Part of the reason was because we couldn’t find that much info on Burano and the fact that we were extremely tired. (This was our last day of our 3 weeks Europe before coming home.) Even though we didn’t spend a lot of time on the island because we were tired, you could easily spend hours just wandering around the cute little town. They also have really good gelato there 🙂
Sum Up:
Murano and Burano are great places to visit if you are spending a couple days in Venice. They make for a great day trip and, just like Venice, are perfect for getting lost in. They are so cute and small enough to explore without feeling like you could get lost. Make sure you buy your souvenirs on Murano and take a TON of pictures and get gelato on Burano.
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