Everything You Need To Know About Burano

It’s said that the houses on Burano island are all painted different colours to help the fishermen find their way home in the event of fog. Whether that’s true or not, we’ll probably never know for sure, but I certainly like the idea of it! Situated near Venice, Burano and its beautiful multicoloured streets are a must visit during a trip to Venice. Here’s everything you need to know about visiting.

THINGS TO SEE

The joy of Burano is seeing the island itself: all the different coloured houses and an insight into a slower pace of life. Lace making is a popular trade of the inhabitants though, and there is a lace making museum you can explore for €6, or if you have the Venice museum pass, it’s included on there.

Most houses on Burano are one colour, but Bepi’s House is patterned and therefore the most colourful on the island, and so a destination in its own right.

Burano also has its very own leaning tower! I’m not sure what it is about Italy, but I spotted a few towers that were in no way straight during my trip to Venice, and Burano is no exception.

HOW TO GET THERE

To get to Burano, you need to catch the number 12 vaporetto waterbus from Fondamente Nove in Venice. These should leave every 20-30 mins throughout the day, but downloading the AVM vaporetto app will help guide you on the timings – I found it to be accurate. The journey will take around 40-45 minutes to get from Venice to Burano, and the vaporetto will stop at other islands on the way, such as Murano, so it’s a good opportunity to combine visits to the outer islands of Venice.

HOW LONG TO SPEND THERE

Burano is really small, so you could easily see everything in a couple of hours. That said, I prefer a slower pace of travel and enjoy taking somewhere in, so I found double this worked for me. This allowed time to wander around, do some photography, have some food and drinks for lunch and grab a gelato before catching the vaporetto back to the city.

WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK

As ever, I’m a big fan of finding a good looking wine bar with seats outside in the sunshine for a stop, before exploring more and then landing inevitably at another spritz stop. The cicchetterias and bars nearest the vaporetto stop will charge you a little more for your spritz, but it’s still very reasonable on Burano. Go a little further inland and you’ll get more for your money – and you won’t have to go far, because Burano really is small!

If you’re there for sunset, In Pescaria Vecia is a fantastic spot to watch the sun go down across the Venetian lagoon. Trattoria al Gatto Nero is a well known restaurant famous for their seafood, and for gelato head to Crema.

Burano have their own speciality of biscuit, the bussolà. You can grab some of these cookies to eat as you walk around the island, or take some back to Venice with you from Panificio Pasticceria Garbo, not far from the vaporetto stop. There are plenty of places to park for a spritz, wine and cicchetti, and you can’t go far wrong, but Aqua Salsa is a great stop away from the crowds, and they even do the rarely-seen-in-the-north pistachio coffee (espresso on top of pistachio creme)!