Venice Travel Guide
The Venetian Lagoon Islands
How to explore the islands of the Venetian lagoon — glass on Murano, colour on Burano, mosaics on Torcello, Palladio on San Giorgio and the Giudecca, beaches on the Lido — with vaporetto routes, tours and a plan for a perfect island day.
Venice is not one island but a city of more than a hundred islands set in a vast lagoon, and some of the most rewarding experiences of a visit lie beyond the historic centre. The lagoon islands offer glass furnaces and painted fishing villages, Byzantine mosaics and Palladian churches, beaches and wide skies, and they are the perfect escape when the crowds around San Marco become overwhelming. Here is how to explore them.
Getting around the lagoon. The public vaporetto network reaches all the main islands. Boats for Murano leave from Fondamente Nove, on the northern edge of Cannaregio, with frequent services; Burano is about forty minutes further on Line 12, which continues to Torcello via a short connection. Line 2 crosses from San Zaccaria to San Giorgio Maggiore and the Giudecca, and several lines serve the Lido from San Zaccaria and San Marco. A time-based travel card covers all of them and quickly pays for itself. Organised boat tours, such as those sold through Tiqets, combine Murano, Burano and often Torcello in a half or full day with a glass-blowing demonstration. Note that the day-tripper access fee that applied to the historic centre on peak days in 2026 did not apply to the islands.
Murano: glass. A short ride from the city, Murano has been the centre of Venetian glassmaking since 1291, when the Republic moved the furnaces there. It looks like a small Venice, with its own Grand Canal, and its fondamente are lined with workshops and showrooms. Watch a master glassblower at work in one of the furnaces — many offer demonstrations — and visit the Glass Museum for the history of the craft from antiquity to modern design. The Basilica of Santi Maria e Donato has a magnificent twelfth-century mosaic floor. When buying, look for genuine Murano glass from established makers, as imitations abound. In the city, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection's exhibition on twentieth-century artistic glass, running from November 2026 to March 2027, makes a perfect companion.
Burano: colour and lace. Burano is the most photographed island in the lagoon, a fishing village of brightly painted houses in every shade, reflected in narrow canals. The tradition, locals say, helped fishermen find their homes in the fog. Burano is also famous for needle lace, a painstaking craft explained in the Lace Museum on the main square, and for its leaning bell tower. It gets crowded in the middle of the day, so stay into the late afternoon when the tour boats leave and the light softens. Lunch on fish risotto and fritto misto, and buy buranelli biscuits to take home.
Torcello: where Venice began. A short hop from Burano, Torcello was once a thriving town of thousands, before malaria and the silting of its canals drove its people to the islands that became Venice. Today only a handful of residents remain, and the island is green, quiet and atmospheric. The cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, founded in the seventh century, has some of the finest Byzantine mosaics in Italy, including a vast Last Judgment on the west wall and a serene Virgin in the apse. Climb the bell tower for the view over the marshes, and look for the stone chair known as Attila's Throne.
San Giorgio Maggiore: Palladio and the best view. Just across the basin from San Marco, this small island is dominated by Palladio's church, with its two great Tintorettos, and a bell tower with a lift that gives what many consider the finest view of Venice. The Giorgio Cini Foundation occupies the former monastery, with guided tours of its cloisters, library and the Borges Labyrinth hedge maze.
The Giudecca: local life and views. The long island across the Giudecca canal is residential and relaxed, with a waterfront promenade facing Dorsoduro and San Marco, neighbourhood restaurants, and Palladio's Redentore church, built in thanks for the end of a plague in the sixteenth century and the focus of the Festa del Redentore every July. Budget travellers will find hostels and good-value hotels here, and luxury travellers some of the most secluded hotels in Venice.
The Lido: beaches and Art Nouveau. The Lido is the long barrier island between the lagoon and the Adriatic, with roads, cars and buses, a long sandy beach lined with bathing establishments, Art Nouveau and Moorish-style villas and grand hotels, and the Palazzo del Cinema, home of the Venice Film Festival. It makes a relaxing summer day out, especially with children, and a bike ride along the island reveals quieter stretches of beach.
Lesser-known islands. San Michele, the cemetery island between the city and Murano, is a peaceful place with the graves of Stravinsky, Diaghilev and Ezra Pound. Sant'Erasmo is the lagoon's vegetable garden, famous for its artichokes, and good for cycling. San Lazzaro degli Armeni hosts an Armenian monastery that Lord Byron visited, open for guided visits. Some islands are private, abandoned or protected, so check before planning a visit.
A perfect island day. Leave Fondamente Nove early for Murano and watch the glassblowers at work; continue to Burano for a late-morning walk among the coloured houses and a long seafood lunch; take the short boat to Torcello in the afternoon for the mosaics and the bell tower; and ride back across the lagoon at sunset. Or, for a half day, take Line 2 to San Giorgio Maggiore for the bell tower, then on to the Giudecca for lunch facing the city. Either way, you will see a side of Venice that most visitors miss.