Burano?

When people have 2 days plus in Venice, I say it's a must to visit both islands, even if yiu are not that interested in glass blowing. It is a bit different than Venice and as pretty.
My little story is that I wasn't AT ALL interested in glass blowing. So we enter one shop. Oh well... and then, i fall in love with the work, the art, the artisans. I'm the one who wanted to stop at every shop to see how brilliant these guys were.
To see one actually doing something for my wife in front of us, i was blown away(bad joke!) by the talent.
We simply asked for a neckless with her name. This is now a great piece of jewelry that reminds us this wonderful time we had and the discussions with the artisan while he was working.
So, in conclusion, if you can go to both, even if it's just for the sceneries, the buildings, the wonderfull boat ride between inslands.
If you have another 50 minutes, go to Torcello island as well for a visit of a very old church that i wasn't able to do. All books are saying it's worth.
Have a great trip, and only one piece of advice: yes, visit the san marco piazza and rialto bridge but as soon as you can, loose yourself away from these way too crowded spots. You will find another Venice.
Such a beautiful place, we went twice. :-)

Lots of lace for sale is not made in Burano, so check carefully. Of course, if you see someone making it, you know it's from there.

I found many artisan glass studios on Burano. If I had time for only two islands as side trips, I would visit Burano and Torcello, they are pretty close to each other.

You could go to the lace museum on Burano - when I was there, there were women making lace. It was fascinating to watch. I also loved seeing the brightly-colored houses and their reflections in the canals. Also, when you're at the Burano vaporetto stop, you can turn left and walk across a small causeway to Mazzorbo. There's a large walled-in garden which, at the time, was displaying some interesting sculptures.

Yes, it is possible to make the trip to Burano and back in half a day. We did just that, and enjoyed it immensely, though we saw only a fraction of what the island has to offer.

We went to Burano in 2008 and it was a sleepy little quaint place with few tourists and mainly residents. We wandered around for several hours enjoying the solitude. We returned in 2012 and Burano had been discovered now offering souvenir stands everywhere changing the whole amenity of the island.

You should go a draw your own conclusions.

Buon viaggio,

As the previous person posted, Burano is now full of tourists but I still love it (but not because of the lace, because of the photo ops). It's a very doable half-day trip. I don't recall seeing a lot of lace shops but there certainly are some.

Murano did nothing for us. Burano is pleasant, lovely and photogenic, though we weren't interested in lace. We splurged on lunch at Da Romano, famous for risotto, which was pricey but wonderful. Yes, half-day is totally realistic.

Since you collect laces, if by any chance you are in Florence, you will be thrilled at a visit to Palazzo Davanzati. I went there because it was part of my Florence Museum pass (whatever the name of that pass is) and tremendously enjoyed the palace's architecture and interiors, but was astonished at the several rooms of displays of antique laces from several centuries of Italian lacemaking. Beautifully displayed - some under large glass panes hung vertically and you can flip through them, or drawers and drawers that you can pull out and examine (though cannot actually touch them, of course). Just in case you get out of Venice...