As a couple, Burano (Colour & Lace Island) works.
Rows of houses painted in saturated candy colours along quiet canals make Burano the most relentlessly photogenic spot in the lagoon — it's a genuine mood-lift and the calm is real once the day boats thin out. The catch: it's 40+ minutes each way by vaporetto, the famous handmade lace is now mostly machine-made imports, and midday it fills with the same tour crowds you came to escape.