Day Trip to Murano, Burano and Torcello
“This was Venice, the flattering and suspect beauty – this city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed”~Thomas Mann
Venice has always had a way of capturing the imagination. For centuries, the maze-like city of gondolas and canals has captivated artists, poets, writers and tourists with its uniqueness, its romance and its unparalleled charm.
It’s no wonder that nearly every country in the world claims to have a Venice of its own.
I first visited Venice in elementary school, when my mom and I met up with my friend Sophie and her family for a few days of exploring the labyrinthine city. We rode gondolas through the Grand Canal, meandered the charming, narrow streets and fed corn kernels to pigeons on San Marco’s Square. Like so many others, I fell in love with the city and dreamed that I would someday return.
So, as a flight attendant, I was thrilled the first time crew scheduling placed a Venice trip on my schedule. I looked forward to being able to see the city again through older and more experienced eyes.
VENICE: A CROWDED ROMANTIC CITY LIKE NO OTHER
Venice has always been regarded as one of the most beautiful cities on Earth. It is a city on nearly everyone’s Italy bucket list. And while places around the world are quick to compare themselves to Venice, there is no city that can quite compare. Venice’s wealth of attractions comes at a price however. And that price is over-tourism. There is no doubt that Venice can be crowded–especially in summer.
After my first few trips to Venice as a flight attendant, the crowds began to weigh on me. I sometimes found myself focusing so much on the feat of swimming through the crowds, that I forgot to enjoy Venice’s hidden gems and breathtaking attractions. There were only so many times that I could fight the throngs of tourists for a glimpse of Venice’s canals and piazzas. On some layovers, I hardly left my hotel room (something I’m almost ashamed to admit). If I did leave my room, it would be in the evenings–when day trippers returned to their hotels in Mestre, cruise ship tourists vacated the city and Venice’s side streets became eerily quiet.
One of my favorite cities in the world was becoming a place I started to avoid. So I changed up my routine and decided to take a day trip to the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello during one of my layovers in Venice.
DAY TRIP TO THE ISLANDS IN THE VENICE LAGOON
The Venice Lagoon is home to a handful of islands that make for a worthwhile day trip from Venice. These islands offer respite from the hoards of tourists that descend on Venice’s narrow streets each year.
Murano, Burano, and Torcello are three of the most beautiful islands in the lagoon. They are easily accessible as a day trip, and offer numerous opportunities for shopping, sightseeing and photographing.
For €20, I bought a full day hop-on-hop-off vaporetto pass and set out to explore some of the most beautiful islands of the Venice Lagoon.
MURANO: HOME OF THE WORLD-FAMOUS MURANO GLASS
The famous glass-blowing island of Murano was my first stop on my self-guided tour of the Venice Lagoon. From St Mark’s Square, the vaporetto line 42 travels directly to Murano before continuing to the other islands near Venice.
Resembling a mini Venice with its waterways and canals, Murano consists of seven islands that are connected by bridges. Like Venice, Murano is best explored on foot, without a set itinerary. The island is small enough that it can be toured in a couple hours. Noteworthy things to see in Murano include the Palazzo da Mula, the Church of San Pietro Martire and the Museum of Glass.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Murano flourished as Europe’s major glassmaking center. Today, shopping for Murano glass is one of the most popular activities in Murano and the island contains dozens of shops specializing in blown glass
In some shops, it is even possible to watch the artists at work.
BURANO: ONE OF THE MOST COLORFUL VILLAGES IN ITALY
From Murano, I hopped back on the vaporetto for a ride to the smaller and more colorful island of Burano. Located half an hour away from Murano, Burano is a photographer’s dream and an Instagrammer’s obsession.
Burano is a popular day trip from Venice because of its cheerful and brightly colored houses. Legend has it that the island’s fishermen traditionally painted their houses in bright colors so that they would be able to keep sight of them while fishing in the lagoon. Today, the houses on the island represent nearly every color of the rainbow—royal purple, deep blue, bright yellow, lime green—and tourists meander down the canals, ogling at the picture-postcard views in every direction.
Lacemaking is to Burano what glassblowing is to Murano. The island’s residents have been experts at making intricate lace since the 1400s. Leonardo Da Vinci himself even used Burano lace in order to decorate the alter of Milan‘s famous Duomo.
While Burano is a popular day trip from Venice, the island has some quiet canals and backstreets that are surprisingly tourist free. I was surprised to see that few people strayed from the main canal that cuts through town.
TORCELLO: A QUIET RESPITE FROM THE CROWDS
As the sun began to set, hopped back on the vaporetto in order to enjoy an evening near St Mark’s Square. On the way from Burano to Venice, I stopped for a quick visit to Torcello–the oldest center of civilization in the Venetian lagoon—with its baptistries and churches dating to the 7th century.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Dell’Assunta is Torcello’s most popular attraction. The church, built in 639, is famous for its stunning Byzantine mosaics that depict the Last Judgement.
Torcello is a short boat ride from Burano on vaporetto line 9. Compared to Murano and Burano, Torcello is fairly off-the-beaten-path.
Torcello was eerily quiet when I visited. The streets were deserted, the churches lay silent and the fields of grass rippled gently in the evening breeze. I reckon it was largely due to the hour of my visit, yet I couldn’t help but feel that Torcello was a sanctuary of sorts away from the crowds.
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Venice is one of the most visited and heralded cities in the world. But after walking the same streets and fighting the crowds week after week, it took me a visit to its beautiful lagoon in order to remember why I fell in love with the city’s canals, colors and romantic waterways in the first place.
It is easy to get perturbed by the throngs of people and the camera-clicking crowds, but I guess everyone just wants a slice of the fairy-tale pie before its too late. For, along with an ever-growing list of other cities around the world, Venice is suffering from environmental changes and rising sea levels. And the maze-like city that has lured artists, writers and travelers for centuries is now slowly sinking below the water.
The timeless city is running out of time.
That is the irony of Venice.
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Additional Tips and Resources for Visiting the Venice Lagoon
- In order to avoid the crowds and heat, try to avoid Venice in July and August
- A 24 hour transportation pass to Venice costs €20. The pass is valid for for all buses and vaporettos within the Venice Municipality and include the islands of Murano and Burano. The bus pass is valid for travel around Mestre and Lido, but excludes travel to and from the Marco Polo Airport
