Italy · Veneto
Plan your Verona trip
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01Your itinerary
02Where to stay
Centro storico, near Piazza delle Erbe
Best for first-timers who want to walk everywhereThe medieval heart of the city, dense with cafés, market-square energy by day and bar crowds by night. As central as Verona gets, and everything is within a ten-minute walk.
A boutique hotel on a quiet lane off Piazza delle Erbe
Look for a small, family-run property tucked just off the main square so you get the location without the evening aperitivo noise under your window.
€€€A restored palazzo apartment near Via Mazzini
Via Mazzini is the main shopping street linking the Arena to Piazza delle Erbe — a base here puts you between the two main squares.
€€Near the Arena & Piazza Bra
Best for opera-goers and first visitsGrander, wider, and built for crowds — the obvious base if you're attending the opera, with restaurants and gelaterias ringing the piazza, though it's noticeably busier by day than the old market quarter.
A classic hotel directly on Piazza Bra
Walking distance to the Arena matters most on opera nights, when the square fills with crowds right up to curtain time.
€€€Veronetta
Best for better value and a less touristy baseThe university quarter across the river — looser, cheaper, younger, with the Roman Theatre and Castel San Pietro viewpoint on the doorstep and a short walk back over Ponte Pietra into the centre.
A small guesthouse near Ponte Pietra
Staying just across the river trims costs noticeably while keeping the old town a five-minute walk away.
€€San Zeno
Best for longer stays and a local-feeling baseQuiet and residential around the great Romanesque basilica, with some of the city's best-value trattorias and far fewer day-trippers than the centre.
An apartment near Piazza San Zeno
A twenty-minute walk from the Arena, but with genuinely local shops and restaurants that don't cater to coach groups.
€€Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.
03Tickets & tours
Arena di Verona
A first-century Roman amphitheatre, one of the best-preserved in the world, that still hosts opera for fifteen thousand people on summer nights — not…
Tip The cheapest unreserved stone-step seating (gradinata) for opera is a genuinely good seat and a fraction of the price of numbered chairs — bring a cushion, since two…
Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's House)
A 13th-century courtyard house given a balcony in 1936 purely to satisfy visitors hunting for Shakespeare's fictional setting — the walls outside are…
Tip See the courtyard and skip the paid interior — it's a generic house museum with no real connection to the story, and the queue rarely matches the five minutes it's worth.
Piazza delle Erbe
The old Roman forum, continuously used as a market square for over two thousand years, ringed by frescoed palazzi and still filled with striped…
Tip Come back after the stalls close for the evening — the same square turns into the city's best spot for an aperitivo with the fountain and towers lit up above the tables.
Castelvecchio & Ponte Scaligero
The fortified 14th-century castle of the Scaliger dynasty, now an art museum with an excellent collection of medieval and Renaissance painting,…
Tip Walk across the bridge at golden hour — the brick arches and the green river below are one of the most photographed, least crowded views in the city.
Torre dei Lamberti
The tallest tower in the city centre, rising 84 metres above Piazza delle Erbe, reachable by lift or stairs to a panoramic terrace over the old…
Tip Go up within an hour of sunset — the light on the roofline and the Arena's outline in the distance is worth timing deliberately rather than visiting at a random midday…
Ponte Pietra & the Roman Theatre
The oldest bridge in Verona, part genuinely Roman and part careful post-war reconstruction after the 1945 demolition, leading across to the…
Tip Climb past the theatre to the Castel San Pietro viewpoint — the funicular runs most of the year, but the walk up is short and the view over the river loop and old town…
Verona Cathedral (Duomo)
A Romanesque-Gothic cathedral built over earlier church foundations, with a richly carved main portal, an elegant cloister, and — in a city that…
Tip The combined ticket covering the Duomo, San Zeno, San Fermo and other churches is worth it if you plan to see more than two — ask at any of the participating churches.
Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore
One of the finest Romanesque churches in northern Italy, with a famous bronze-panelled door depicting biblical scenes in a naive, almost comic-strip…
Tip Study the bronze door panels up close before going in — they're some of the best medieval relief work in the country and easy to walk past without noticing.
Giardino Giusti
A formal Renaissance garden laid out in the 16th century on a steep hillside, with box hedges clipped into geometric patterns, a grotto, and a climb…
Tip Go on a weekday morning — it's one of the few central sights that rarely sees a queue, and the climb to the top terrace is worth the effort for the view alone.
Day trips from Verona
Lake Garda (Sirmione & Malcesine)
Italy's largest lake is twenty to thirty minutes away by train or car — Sirmione's thermal springs and castle on a narrow peninsula are the easiest…
Day tripValpolicella wine region
The hills producing Amarone, Ripasso and Valpolicella Classico start within twenty minutes of the city — a car or an organised tour gets you to…
Day tripMantua (Mantova)
An hour south by train, a UNESCO-listed Renaissance city built almost entirely by the Gonzaga dynasty, with Palazzo Ducale's frescoed rooms and a…
Day tripSoave
A small walled medieval town half an hour east, built almost entirely from the profits of the crisp white wine that shares its name — climb the…
Day tripEverything to do in Verona
Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips, all in one place on Booking.com.
04Getting there & around
Getting around
Verona's centro storico sits inside a near-loop of the Adige river and is almost entirely walkable — the distance from Porta Nuova train station to the farthest edge of the old town is about twenty-five minutes on foot, and most of what matters is far closer together than that.
Flights
Compare fares into Verona and pick dates that suit the days you planned.
Airport transfers
Book a private or shared ride from the airport so the first evening starts at your door, not at a ticket queue.
Car hire from Verona
Only worth it for day trips beyond the city — in town, the plan above works on foot and public transport.
Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.