Out in the Venetian Lagoon, a short boat ride from the main islands, Murano and Burano offer two very different reasons to leave the crowds of central Venice behind. Murano has been the center of Venetian glassmaking for over seven centuries, after the Republic moved all its furnaces there to reduce fire risk in the city proper. Burano, a little farther out, is known for houses painted in almost impossibly bright colors and a centuries-old lace-making tradition.
Top-Rated Murano and Burano Tours & Tickets
Best Things to Do
Watch a glassblowing demonstration in Murano
Several furnaces on the island offer live demonstrations where a craftsman shapes molten glass into a vase or figurine in a matter of minutes, a skill passed down through generations of Murano families. It is one of the few places left where you can watch this specific tradition up close.
Browse Murano’s glass shops and the Glass Museum
Beyond the tourist-facing shops, the Museo del Vetro traces the island’s glassmaking history from Roman techniques through Renaissance innovations, giving useful context before you start shopping for pieces of your own.
Photograph Burano’s colorful houses
Local legend holds that fishermen painted their houses bright colors so they could spot home through fog from the water, and the tradition continues today, reportedly regulated by a local authority that approves specific color choices for each building.
See Burano’s leaning bell tower
The bell tower of the Church of San Martino tilts noticeably off vertical, a smaller, lesser-known cousin to the tower in Pisa, and it makes a distinctive backdrop against Burano’s canals and colorful rows of houses.
Shop for handmade lace
Burano’s lace-making tradition dates back centuries and once supplied European royalty. Genuine handmade pieces, sold in a handful of shops on the island, are a different category entirely from the machine-made lace sold as souvenirs elsewhere.
Best Time to Visit
Morning departures from Venice give you the best light for Burano’s colorful streets before afternoon crowds and tour groups build up. Both islands are manageable as a half-day or full-day combined trip.
How to Get There
Vaporetto lines run from Venice’s Fondamente Nove stop to both islands, though Burano requires a longer ride, around 40 minutes. Many visitors instead book an organized boat tour that combines both islands with transport handled in one trip.
Good to Know
Murano and Burano are separate islands connected by boat rather than to each other directly, so factor in travel time between them. A combined visit to both comfortably fills four to six hours including transit.
Together, Murano’s furnaces and Burano’s painted canals show a side of the Venetian Lagoon that the main islands, however beautiful, simply don’t have room for. It’s a worthwhile detour from the usual Venice itinerary.
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