Guide

June 04,2018 | 10383 2

Verona…… We’ve all heard the name, the city of Romeo and Juliet. The city of love. A medieval holiday hotspot as named by Goethe and Mozart.  A UNESCO city.

Located 2 hours from Venice by train, and an hour from Milan, Verona is a beautiful escape from the hustle and bustle of these bigger cities, where you could take a breath and truly feel like you are in the real Italy. Set in the province of Veneto on the banks of the Adige river, this Shakespearean city deserves to be enjoyed for a week, 3 days or easily explored in under 5 hours if you are really in a time crunch. So if you ask yourself, can I stop over in Verona for 3-6 hours and will it be worth it? The answer is still yes!

The easiest way to get in if you’re already in Italy would be by train. Arriving at Verona Porta Nuova station, the city centre is a leisurely 20-minute walk away. If you’re a budget traveler, this city is perfect as it’s very easily walkable and you won’t need to pay for any public transport at all.

If you are arriving by plane, the Valerio Catullo Airport caters to European flights, or you could easily fly to Milan and take a train to Verona for 10 euros on average! Easy peasy!

We flew to Milan, stay over in Verona that night, saw Verona for half a day the next day before we were well on our way to Venice at 2pm. And it was time well spent.

5-hour itinerary for Verona

Arrive, or wake up if its morning! This itinerary is planned so that you start at the train station  but you could definitely adjust it, change it, add it to it, depending on where your accommodation is and how much time you have.

Walk to CastelVecchio Museum, here you’ll see the grounds of a medieval castle, drawbridge and all. If you’re in Verona for a day or longer, you could definitely go in, but our 5 hour itinerary will not permit that. See the 3 arched brick & marble CastelVecchio bridge.

The beautiful streets of Verona

Get yourself to Piazza Bra through the narrow picturesque streets, framed on one side by the Arena di Verona (a Roman amphitheater built to fit 20,000. Much smaller than the Colosseum in Rome but breath taking none the least), another side by the Verona town hall, The Portoni della Bra, a park in the other, Piazza Bra will give you a wonderful taste of all the piazza’s (squares) of Verona still to come.

Porta dei Borsari, this arched limestone gate dating back to the 1^st century once served as the main entrance to the city. Take a detour here while you make your way towards Piazza del Erbe. You could also take a detour to Juliet’s house where the iconic balcony was rebuilt (Romeo Romeo where art thou Romeo …..). This is easily within our 5-hour itinerary, so don’t worry.

Rub Juliet’s right breast for good luck. Snap a picture! And if your heart has a burning question, leave a letter for Juliet in her mailbox or stick it with a thousand other letters on her wall. Juliet has a group of women working through her called the Secretaries of Juliet who actually answer each of these letters. No, this is not a trap! Leave a letter and be it 4 months or 6 months later, you will get a reply. I look a letter to Verona from one of my friends, and she got a personalized hand written reply from ‘Juliet’ answering all her questions only 3 months later!

Pizza del Erbe

Food!

While you are walking from Piazza Bra towards breath taking Piazza del Erbe, you will definitely pass small Italian patisseries’ and bakeries, grab yourself a typical snack. Baci di Giulietta (Juliet’s kisses), Pandoro of Verona (a type of sponge cake) or zaletti (biscuits) for example. Or if it’s lunch time, get lunch, dinner time, grab dinner.

Pro tip : Keep in mind that eating is a process for Italians. They immensely enjoy their afternoon aperitive (drinks and snacks served from around 6PM everyday in most bars and restaurants) as an appetizer to dinner which then goes on for 3 courses, starting from anti pasti ending in delicious spaghetti. Risotto al tastasal (risotto with sausage dressing), pastisada de caval (horse meat pasticcio), polenta (sort of thick porridge made with maize flour) with cheese or mushrooms on the top are just a few of the local dishes you will find.

Get a little lost through the streets, you don’t need to have a plan, just know in which general direction you’re going and let yourself find your own places of beauty. While in Piazza dei Signori, see Verona’s tallest medieval tower Torre dei Lamberti where you could get beautiful panoramic views. Pass the Scaliger Tombs. Before you cross the Ponte Pietra to get to Castel San Pietro. You could also head to the Complex of the Cathedral-Duomo.

The short climb up to Castel San Pietro is completely worth it, there’s no other place quite like it where you will get a wonderful birds eye view of the whole city!

Castel San Pietro

And…. there you have it! You’ve almost seen it all. In 5 hours or less. Depending on, of course, if you truly turned Italian during your lunch / dinner where that alone could take 5 hours.

Random story time! When we walking towards Castel San Pietro, we were stopped by 2 people who said they were from a Belgian newspaper, writing an article about love in Verona for Valentine’s day. They were late for an appointment with the Secretaries of Juliet but still wanted to talk to us, hear our story and take a picture of us. We awkwardly agreed and that resulted in the beautiful picture of us looking into each others eyes that you can find on our About Us page. 

Views from Castel San Pietro

Where to stay?

We stayed at a wonderful place 15 minute walking from the train station called B&B Verona23. Booking.com offers other good affordable options for two as well. Or AirBnB is always an option.

What else to see if you have more than 5 hours in the city?

• Teatro Romano – the Roman theatre of Verona, its ruins can be seen on the way to Castel
• Giardino Giusti – a getaway of the gardens, grottoes, and fountains on the hillside, including a view of Verona
• Shop in the main shopping street (Via Mazzini), which has everything from H&M to Valentino
• Verona Cathedral

Where to go from Verona?

Milan, Venice, Lake Garda, Bologna, Padua, Tento, Vicenza

How to get around in Italy?

Bus, car, flights. However, train travel in Italy is generally more popular and can take you from A to B quickly and (most of the time) cheaper. Tickets can be easily booked through the Trenitalia website.

Pro tip : Email them after the booking your tickets for a full refund of the booking fee!

Frecciarossa and Frecciargento are the high-speed trains. Regionale Veloce are fast regional trains . Regionale are the slowest trains of them

Want to read more about Italy? Check out our list of fun facts about Italy! 🙂