The most colourful island of Venice’s archipelago, Burano is the unsung diamond in the Venetian crown.
Venice, Italy is one of the most extraordinary places on Earth. Romance flows down its canals like the many little boats, gondolas and vaporetti that float along its waterways.
The whole city is a living, floating museum, but there’s one place in particular that most people miss out when they visit Venice, which is a terrible shame.
Burano is a little island on the north-eastern fringe of the lagoon. Its streets and canals are lined with brightly coloured buildings. In fact, the closer we looked we realised no building was the same colour. It makes for a very pretty spectacle.
It’s not only pretty, Burano also has a very happy feel to it. It’s almost like a toy town. The little canals, the wonky church tower, the brightly coloured houses and shops. But the colourful walls have a deeper purpose than just making the place look nice.
Traditionally, every house was painted a different colour to signify the borders of that building’s property. There are no house numbers here.
We even found a little out-of-the-way enoteca to have a quick drink and sit down before the ride back to town.
We were very pleased we’d made the journey out of Venice away from the hordes of cattling tourists. Burano is very small, but there are still hundreds of little alleyways and interesting nooks you can explore and get lost in.
It’s one of the highlights of our visit to this remarkable destination.
From Ferrovia in the centre of Venice to Burano, it’s about a 35-minute vaporetto ride north. A lot of people head to the bigger, closer and more famous island of Murano. Murano is well-known for its coloured glass, but we found it to be a bit dull and very touristy.
Vaporetto number 12 goes to Burano, though many others will take you most of the way to neighbouring Murano. For more information on the vaporetto system, check out our guide to using Venice’s public waterbus service here.
Have you been to Venice? What was your favourite bit? Tell us in the comments!
yojo
I also enjoyed Burano–the people there were the friendliest in Italy. I bought some really cool watercolour paintings & heaps of handmade lace items at the lace-makers!
Mr Romance
That’s right, Yojo – Burano has some amazing lace products there. I’m glad you had a good time too. They really are so much friendlier there, aren’t they?
Jx
Liz @ I Spy Plum Pie
I loved Burano when I went as well – it was a gorgeous summer day so the sunshine on the houses really made the colours stand out. Perfect! So nice to be away from the craziness of Venice for a while too!
Mr Romance
I bet Burano looked amazing in the sun, Liz! When we were there it was a bit grey and cloudy. The houses were still really lovely and colourful but we were saying how bright they must look when the sun’s out. It’s strange that it’s so much more peaceful there though, isn’t it? I’d expect it to be much busier, but then it’s a long way to go for people only there for the day.
Jx
Jaime Chew
Hey guys, I am going to venice in September and have just bookmarked this page as a place to see!
Thanks!
Jaime x
Mrs Romance
oh you’ll love it Jaime! They also do beautiful lace there which makes a great souvenir x
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