Murano and Burano

A trip out into the lagoon is the best antidote to the crowds of San Marco, and Murano and Burano are the two islands everyone wants to see. Murano, a short hop north of the city, has been the home of Venetian glassmaking since the Republic moved the furnaces there in 1291, partly to protect the city from fire and partly to keep the secrets of the craft under control. It looks like a small Venice of its own, with its own Grand Canal, and its fondamente are lined with showrooms and working furnaces where you can watch a master glassblower gather molten glass on a pipe and shape a horse or a vase in a few minutes. The Glass Museum, in a palace on the main canal, traces the craft from Roman times to modern design, and the Basilica of Santi Maria e Donato has a superb medieval mosaic floor. Burano is further out, about forty minutes by boat, and it is the island of colour: a fishing village of small houses painted in vivid pinks, blues, greens and yellows along narrow canals, with a leaning bell tower and a tradition of needle lace that has its own museum on the main square. It is wonderfully photogenic and much quieter in the late afternoon, when the tour boats have gone. Many visitors also add Torcello, the near-deserted island next to Burano where the lagoon's first settlers built a cathedral whose Byzantine mosaics, including a vast Last Judgment, rival St Mark's. Organised boat tours bundle Murano, Burano and often Torcello with a glass-blowing demonstration; independent travellers use the public vaporetto lines from Fondamente Nove.

Tour or do-it-yourself? An organised boat tour, such as those sold through Tiqets, handles the logistics: a direct boat from near San Marco, a glass-blowing demonstration on Murano, and set time on Burano and sometimes Torcello, with commentary along the way. It suits first-timers and anyone short of time. The trade-off is that stops are short and the glass demonstration usually ends in a showroom. Going independently with a vaporetto pass lets you set your own pace: take a boat from Fondamente Nove to Murano, spend the morning there, continue on the line to Burano for lunch, and hop across to Torcello in the afternoon. The ride itself, past the cemetery island of San Michele and across the open lagoon, is part of the pleasure.

Shopping for glass and lace needs a little care. Genuine Murano glass is made on the island, and many producers use an official trademark to certify origin; cheap imitations are common in souvenir shops across Venice. Buy from furnaces and established showrooms, ask for certification on significant pieces, and arrange shipping for anything fragile. Burano lace is a slow, handmade art, so true local lace is expensive; much of the inexpensive lace on sale is imported. The Lace Museum explains the difference and is worth an hour.

Practicalities: the day-tripper access fee that applied to the historic centre on peak days in 2026 did not cover Murano, Burano or the other lagoon islands, so the islands are a good choice on busy weekends. Burano's restaurants are known for fish and seafood, particularly risotto, so book lunch on summer weekends. In winter, boats run less often and some shops keep shorter hours; fog can make the lagoon atmospheric and the crossings slower. Art lovers should note that the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is staging a major exhibition on twentieth-century artistic glass from November 2026 to March 2027, which makes a perfect pairing with a Murano day.