Murano or Burano...

[debldp]

We will be in Venice in May.

We are in Venice for two days and two nights. Do we have time to do both? If we need to choose, which do you recommend?

[bobalink]

This website has helped me a great deal with planning my trip to Venice:

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/

 

Specifically for the other islands around Venice:

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/venice-islands-tour.htm

 

Have fun planning your trip to Venice!

[euro cruiser]

It all depends on what interests you. You can certainly fit both in if you want to.

 

Burano is quite small, and the lace museum is still closed, so your time there is primarily wandering and looking. An hour or two will cover most of the territory.

 

Murano can absorb more time but, again, it depends on your interests. I spent a lot of time there on my first trip, but I was searching for something specific and was going in an out of dozens of glass shops, pouring over their stock. When not on a quest I haven't spent as much time out there.

[GlendaleCruiser]

Even when the lace shop was open we were disappointed as we thought they had people there making lace. There was one little lady in the corner demonstrating and that was it. Other than photo ops for the colorful buildings there was really nothing to do there.

 

Liked Murano and you could go see the glass shops in a few hours unless you were looking for something specific.

[tty206]

When we visited Venice last year, we had 3 days there and spent one of them visiting Murano and Burano. We hopped on the vaporetto and got off at Murano where we watched a free glass-blowing demonstration, had some lunch, and walked around for a little bit. We spent about an hour and a half here. Then we hopped back on the vaporetto and it took us (if I remember correctly) around 30 minutes to reach Burano.

 

Between Murano and Burano, Burano was the one I was looking forward to more but I was surprised to find that there really wasn't much to see or do there aside from the brightly colored houses. It's a great place for photographs on a nice day (when we were there, it was unfortunately very rainy). We wandered and took pictures for about an hour or so and decided to head back to Venice.

 

It was pretty simple to fit both places into one day. Having said that, if I only were to pick one of the two, I would still pick Burano since I thought it was more picturesque than Murano. The whole trip from Venice to Murano and Burano and back to Venice took around 5-6 hours.

[Cruisin'cockney]

Burano every time. Lunch on a pavement restaurant next to a canal and some great photo opportunities. What's not to like? Luvvly Jubbly.

[Hlitner]

The two islands (Burano and Murano) are totally different in atmosphere and amenities. Murano has become very commercial, has quite a few so-called glass factories (some are more real then others) and lots of glass shops (be careful because all the glass sold is not real Murano Glass) and is fun for shopping. Burano, on the other hand, is really a true residential island that has a small village to support the needs of the residents (and the tourists). We personally find Burano to be very charming, non-touristy, and it has some very good cafes/restaurants worthy of a long lunch. Whenever we are in Venice on a hot,humid day we take a vaporetto out to Burano because we love the long cooling ride across the lagoon.

 

Hank

[5326jan]

Any specific restaurant recommendations for lunch in Burano? Is there an obvious walking route? Other tips are appreciated!:)

[euro cruiser]

Pull up a google map of Burano (Burano, Venice, Italy) and you'll see that you could easily walk on just about every calle on the island in a couple of hours, it's that small.

[GlendaleCruiser]

I was very disappointed in Burano because they hyped it as the place where the "lace factory where you can see lace made" was and it wasn't. The lace shop looked very much like every mass produced gift shop.

[Hlitner]

I was very disappointed in Burano because they hyped it as the place where the "lace factory where you can see lace made" was and it wasn't. The lace shop looked very much like every mass produced gift shop.

 

Yeah, this would be one of those different strokes for different folks kind of things. We actually like Burano even more because they do not have a lot of touristy things like "lace factories," "glass factories," etc. Just about everything in and around Venice is dedicated to tourism...but Burano is most an exception since its primarily a residential island used by folks that live and work in Venice and who want to live away from all the touristy stuff.

 

Hank