We will be in Venice mid June and would like to purchase a bracelet of Murano glass. Any suggestions for best places to shop? Is it easy to get to Murano Island without being on a tour? Am a bargain hunter! Thanks.

Hi Jean, It has been many years, but we took a water bus over to Murano. From what I've been reading on the forum, the bargains disappeared 20 years ago.

Jean <BR>If you mean a bracelet of glass beads, you can find them all over Venice proper as well as on Murano, but if the origin is important to you, many glass items even on Murano are not made <BR>there at all, but are glass imported from many places, such as the Czech republic. <BR>There are some very fine and established glass shops around San Marco such as Venini, but they tend to have items like <BR>bowls, vases, sets of glassware etc that are quite expensive, in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. <BR>The factory showrooms on Murano (as opposed to the little gift and souvenir stores), are also reliable for quality, for locally-made items, are priced accordingly, and tend to feature vases, glassware, etc rather than much jewelry, <BR>in my experience. I really don't see the point of going out to Murano unless you want to see a factory and/or do some substantial glassware ordering, because Murano itself is not all that pretty or interesting, imo. <BR> <BR>Within Venice proper, if you don't want the serious investment glass and you don't want the cheapish tourist glass, then my advice would be to get away from San Marco, such as into the Cannaregio area, where the shops seem to cater more to locals than to visitors. <BR> <BR>However, the basic answer to your question is that it's quite easy to get to Murano on your own. Your hotel may tell you that a free water taxi will take some guests over. The water taxi is sponsored by a particular factory on Murano, any of several. When you get there, you will be directed to one factory, given a demonstration as well as a sales pitch. That's not a bad thing if you see items you like. However, I browsed several factories on Murano on my own, and finally decided on <BR>one showroom/factory that had the sorts of things I was looking for.

There are a couple of different water bus routes to Murano: <BR>http://www.actv.it/inglese/pianta.htm <BR> <BR>Go to the museo stop and walk north; we found many small boutiques with beautiful beads (make your own bracelet!), dip pens, paperweights and jewelry.

Thanks, Elaine. Your information is most helpful and we aren't much on factory tours as a rule.

Just as a point of information, factory buying is not always a good idea. When we were in Venice we went to a factory and I saw a wonderful paperweight I just had to have. Unfortunately, the price tag put it out of my budget; it was a little over $100. Later, while walking through the town we saw the exact same paperweight for $12. At least I think it was the same. It looked the same and had the same label. Nonetheless to say, I "scarfed it up" at that price.

Hi Jean Aly! I agree with Elaine that the Cannaregio area seemed to have more "different" Murano glass pieces than other more touristy areas, at reasonable prices. The same glass bead bracelets all over, but in Cannaregio we found glass jewelry that we didn't see in other parts of Venice (including Murano, St. Marks, Dorsoduro, etc.). If you see something you like, and are unsure of whether to buy it, make sure to mark it in your map! Good luck!

Mariarosa,tks for the info. I found Cannagregio on a Venice map. We are cruising there so we dont know where we dock in relation to the area so any suggestions on finding it?

Hi <BR>I believe that most of the cruise ships bring passengers into the San Marco area <BR>perhaps bordering on the Castello area. <BR>If you can find it on your map you'll see that Cannareggio is north of Piazza San Marco. No matter where you land, you'll end up there anyway. Once suggestion would be to leave the Piazza by taking Merceria <BR>d'Orologico, under the large clock tower. There aren't many straight lines in Venice, so meander over to Mer. 2 Aprile to Strada S Giovanni Grisostomo which sort of leads to Strada Nova in Cannaregio. The Grand Canal will be on <BR>your "left" pretty much, but don't forget to marvel at the sights along the Canal on the way. <BR>I don't know how much time you'll have in Venice, but if you can leave time to explore other areas, like the unforgettable sights of San Marco, and Dorsoduro.

Hi all. How much were the bracelets and necklaces in Cannareggio? Family members are interested in jewelry as souvenirs, but I wasn't sure how much the glass jewelry is? Thanks for your help.

Hi! Cannaregio is Northwest of St. Mark's. If you take the vaporetto through the Grand Canal to see the sights (which is a good idea), you can get off near the Train Station (ferrovia) and walk North of that area. However, as Elaine points out, if you are only spending 1-2 days in Venice, you will probably want to hit the main sights, and unfortunately, Cannaregio is not an area that has many sights (except for the Jewish Ghetto). If your time in Venice is limited, I would proabably not spend it in Cannaregio, especially since glass bracalets are really everywhere! Regarding the prices, it depended on how elaborate the pieces were, how much glass beads they had. I saw pieces that were over $100, but I also saw simpler pieces, which I happenned to like more than the heavier pieces that were under $10. I saw plenty of stuff in the $10-20 range that were simple but interesting. Enjoy!

Thanks to all. You have been most helpful.