Burano is one of those places where you have to see it to believe it. You see it on Instagram, you like it; you see it on Pinterest, you pin it… but seeing all the vibrant colors in person is something else. Like how Murano is known for its glass, Burano is known for its lace but today their main economy is tourism. Burano sits in the Venetian Lagoon about 4 miles from Venice. It is about a 40-60 minute vaporetto (water bus) ride from St. Mark’s Square.

I like mentioned in my last post about Murano, Burano was a must for me while we were staying in Venice. I was probably more excited about Burano than Venice itself. If you love taking pictures like I do, this island is heaven.

From St. Mark’s Square, we walked over to the water bus stops and bought all day water bus passes from the ticket kiosk (with the help from a super nice Italian lady). They run about 20 euros each and you can ride the vaporetto all day with the same ticket. I highly recommend purchasing the all day pass especially if you want to visit both Murano and Burano.

The vaporetto ride from St. Mark’s Square to Burano is crowded but scenic. It makes a lot of stops but after Murano, the boats frees up a lot. When leaving Murano or Burano in the afternoon, be prepared to be packed in like sardines or have to wait for the next water bus (and sometimes, it is 15-30 minutes between buses). We left Burano right after lunch and we didn’t make it on the 1st vaporetto and had to wait 20 minutes for the next one to arrive. 

The brightly painted houses are so much fun, I couldn’t stop taking pictures. Did you know that if they want to paint their home, they first have to send a request to the government and then the government will respond letting them know what colors they can paint their house? That’s because the colors of the houses following a specific system dating back to the beginning of their development. 

Legends says that the island’s fishermen were the first to paint their houses so they could recognize their house while they were out and so other fishermen could avoid bumping their boats inside the narrow canals during thick fog. 

The island itself is very small. The best approach is to just aimlessly walk around and enjoy your beautiful surroundings. Trust me, you can’t get lost. After we got off the vaporetto, we did exactly that and just started walking. We would go down one canal and up another. We did this until our stomachs started growling. We stopped in this one restaurant and I had some yummy gnocchi (I’m craving it right now), Aiden had a giant pizza and Lyndon ordered fresh fish. It was the perfect end to our time in Burano.

Depending on where you are staying on the island, you can take the following ferries to the Murano Faro terminal: 3, 4.1, 4.2, 7, 12 and 13.

From Murano Faro, you will need to take the 12 vaporetto all the way to Burano.

The 9 vaporetto will take you between Burano and Torcello, and the 14 vaporetto can take you to/from Venice but it does not stop in Murano but does make two stops on the Lido (the long island southeast of Venice)