Verona sits in a loop of the river Adige, and almost everything a visitor wants is inside that loop: the Roman Arena on Piazza Bra, the market square of Piazza delle Erbe, the Scaliger lords' Piazza dei Signori and, between them, the courtyard of Juliet's house. Across the river rise the hill of Castel San Pietro and the Roman theatre, and to the west the red-brick Castelvecchio guards its bridge.
The city is small enough to see in two days on foot, and summer changes its rhythm: from June to September the Arena becomes an open-air opera house and the city fills in the evenings. Beyond the walls, the vineyards of the Valpolicella, home of Amarone, begin about 20 minutes north-west, and Lake Garda is a short train ride west.
Opera in a Roman amphitheatre every summer since 1913, with sets so big that pieces stand in the square outside.
What it is
Every summer since a performance of Aida in 1913, the Roman amphitheatre has been an open-air opera house, with sets so big that pieces of them stand in Piazza Bra outside. The 2027 festival runs from 11 June to 11 September, with an Aida in its 1913 staging, La Traviata, Carmen, Nabucco and a Romeo and Juliet ballet.
How to do it
Every place is now numbered, including the stone steps of the upper sectors, which are the cheapest seats, from about €28; the stalls cost far more. Shows start at 21:15 in June and July and at 21:00 later in the summer, and the gates open two hours before.
Good to know
Bring or buy a cushion for the stone, leave big bags, food and drinks behind, and know that rain can delay the start by up to two and a half hours, with no refund once the performance has begun.
Time needed
An evening, about 3 to 4 hours
Best time
Mid June to mid September; August shows start at 21:00
Vaulted passages and complete tiers in one of the best preserved Roman amphitheatres, with the rooftops below the top rows.
What it is
Verona's amphitheatre, built in the 1st century AD, is one of the best preserved in the Roman world, because the city kept using it: only a four-arch fragment of the outer ring, the Ala, survived the earthquake of 1117, but the inner ring and the tiers are complete. By day you walk the vaulted passages and climb to the top rows for the view over Piazza Bra and the rooftops.
How to do it
A full ticket costs €12 and is free for under 18s and with the VeronaCard; buy it online on the official ticket site to skip the queue.
Good to know
It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 to 19:00, last entry 18:30, and is closed on Mondays; on opera days the hours are shorter. In summer, the stage and seating for the opera fill part of the arena.
Book a slot for Juliet's house, knowing the balcony's story
Via Cappello, entry from Piazzetta Navona
30 minutes to 1 hourTimed entry
A medieval inn turned into Juliet's house in the 1930s, its balcony assembled from an old stone slab, now on timed tickets.
What it is
Go knowing what you are seeing: the building was a medieval inn, and the house museum and the balcony were arranged by the museum director Antonio Avena in the 1930s, the balcony assembled from an old stone slab; the bronze Juliet in the courtyard dates from 1973. Shakespeare's Juliet never had an address.
How to do it
Since 1 April 2026 the courtyard of Juliet's house, once free and permanently crowded, is visited only on a timed ticket bought online on the city's official ticket site, and you go in through the Teatro Nuovo in Piazzetta Navona rather than the old archway on Via Cappello. The courtyard ticket costs €5; €12 adds the rooms of the house.
Good to know
Hours are 9:00 to 19:00 from Tuesday to Sunday and 14:00 to 19:00 on Mondays, and VeronaCard holders must book too.
Ride up the Torre dei Lamberti over Piazza delle Erbe
Via della Costa 2, Piazza delle Erbe
45 minutesNo booking needed
An 84-metre tower over the old Roman forum, the easiest way to see the Arena, the river loop and the hills at once.
What it is
The town hall tower, 84 metres high, rises between Piazza delle Erbe, the old Roman forum and still a market square, and the quieter Piazza dei Signori, and it is the easiest way to see all of Verona at once: the Arena, the river loop, the hills and, on clear days, the Alps.
How to do it
You can go up by lift or climb the stairs. A ticket costs €6. With the VeronaCard the stairs are free and the lift costs €1. The entrance is at Via della Costa 2, just off the square.
Good to know
It opens every day, 10:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and 10:30 to 19:00 at weekends, with last entry 20 minutes before closing.
Walk Castelvecchio's bridge and Scarpa's museum inside the castle
Corso Castelvecchio
2 hoursNo booking needed
A fortified bridge free to cross at any hour, and a museum where Scarpa set Cangrande's statue to be seen from every level.
What it is
The Scaliger lords built Castelvecchio in the 14th century with its own fortified bridge over the Adige, so they could escape north if the city rose against them. Inside the castle, the civic museum is as famous for its design as for its collection: between 1958 and 1964 the architect Carlo Scarpa reworked the rooms, the walkways and the way each statue and painting is shown, and set the equestrian statue of Cangrande della Scala on a concrete platform where you see it from every level.
How to do it
The bridge, its swallowtail battlements in red brick, is free to cross at any hour. The museum opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:15, and a full ticket costs €9.
Good to know
Walk the battlements on the riverside for the view of the bridge.
See the bronze doors and Mantegna altarpiece of San Zeno
Piazza San Zeno
1 hourNo booking needed
73 rough, vivid bronze panels of Bible scenes under a rose window called the Wheel of Fortune.
What it is
San Zeno, a 20-minute walk west of Castelvecchio, is one of the great Romanesque churches of Italy. The rose window is called the Wheel of Fortune, and the main doors carry 73 bronze panels of Bible scenes and the life of Saint Zeno, rough and vivid, cast at different times by several founders, while the rose window above is signed by Brioloto in 1189. Inside, Andrea Mantegna's altarpiece stands on the raised presbytery; its predella panels are copies, since the originals, taken after Napoleon's campaign of 1797, are still in the Louvre and in Tours. Tradition places Romeo and Juliet's wedding in the crypt.
How to do it
Entry is €4 for this church alone, sold at the door, or €8 for the four main churches of the city, also covered by the VeronaCard.
Behind a palazzo front on an ordinary street, a Renaissance garden climbs from box parterres and a maze to wooded terraces.
What it is
Across the Adige in Veronetta, behind a palazzo front on an ordinary street, the Giusti family laid out an Italian Renaissance garden in 1580 that climbs from formal box parterres and statues, through an avenue of cypresses, to wooded terraces on the hillside. Beside the parterres is a hedge maze, already shown in a print of 1714 and rebuilt after 1945, and from the top terrace the view runs back over the garden to the towers of the city. The tall cypress Goethe admired here was felled by a storm in 2020.
How to do it
Tickets cost €14, or €10 for students and VeronaCard holders, at the gate or online.
Good to know
The garden opens every day except 25 December, 10:00 to 18:00 with last entry at 17:00, and longer hours in summer.
The river bend, the bridges and the domes and towers of the old town, from a hilltop terrace across a Roman bridge.
What it is
The terrace in front of the castle, which itself is closed, is Verona's viewpoint: the river bend, the bridges, the domes and towers of the old town, best at sunset.
How to do it
Cross the Roman Ponte Pietra to the left bank and the hill of Castel San Pietro rises straight ahead. Since 2017 a short funicular, on Via Fontanelle Santo Stefano, does the climb in just over a minute: €2 one way or €3 return, daily from 10:00, until 21:00 in summer and 17:00 in winter. The stairs from the end of the bridge take about ten minutes.
Good to know
Below the hill, the Roman Theatre, still used for summer shows, and the Archaeological Museum in the old convent above it open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00, for €9.
Taste Amarone where the grapes dry in the Valpolicella
Valpolicella, north-west of Verona
Half a dayBook ahead
Grapes dried in airy lofts for 100 to 120 days and pressed only in winter into a dry, strong, dark wine.
What it is
The hills north-west of Verona are the Valpolicella, and its great wine is made in an unusual way: after the harvest, the best bunches of Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella are laid out to dry in airy lofts called fruttai for 100 to 120 days, and only in winter are the shrivelled grapes pressed into Amarone, dry, strong and dark. The same grapes give the lighter Valpolicella and, partly dried, Ripasso and the sweet Recioto. The historic Classico zone covers the valleys of Fumane, Marano and Negrar with Sant'Ambrogio and San Pietro in Cariano.
How to do it
Book winery visits ahead. Without a car, a wine tour from Verona is the simplest way; the area starts about 20 minutes out of the city.
Good to know
Ask to see a fruttaio from autumn into early winter, when the racks are full.
Time needed
Half a day
Best time
September to December, when grapes dry in the lofts
Verona Porta Nuova is on the main railway between Milan and Venice, with high-speed trains to both in roughly an hour to an hour and a half, and on the line north to the Brenner Pass. Verona's Valerio Catullo airport is linked to Porta Nuova by the Aerobus. From the station, buses run along Corso Porta Nuova to Piazza Bra, or it is a 20-minute walk.
Getting around
On foot: from the Arena to Ponte Pietra is about 15 minutes through the centre, which is closed to most traffic. City buses are free with the VeronaCard, which costs €33 for 24 hours or €38 for 48 and also covers the Arena, the Torre dei Lamberti by the stairs and the main churches. Juliet's house still needs a separate online booking even with the card.
How many days
In must30's view, two: one for the Arena, Piazza delle Erbe, the Torre dei Lamberti and Juliet's house, and one for Castelvecchio, San Zeno, the Giusti garden and the view from Castel San Pietro at sunset. Add an evening at the opera in summer and a half day in the Valpolicella.
When to go
The opera festival runs from mid June to mid September, 11 June to 11 September in 2027, and hotels fill on performance nights. Spring and autumn are calmer and good for the vineyards; the Valpolicella harvest is in September and October. Several civic museums close on Mondays.
Where to base yourself
Inside the river loop, between Piazza Bra and Piazza delle Erbe, for walking everywhere. Veronetta, across the river below Castel San Pietro, is the university quarter and a little cheaper. Near Porta Nuova station is practical for day trips to Lake Garda, Venice or Milan.
Questions travellers ask
Do you need to book Juliet's house in Verona?
Yes. Since 1 April 2026 even the courtyard with the balcony is visited only on a timed ticket booked online on the official site, entering through the Teatro Nuovo in Piazzetta Navona. The courtyard ticket costs €5 and the full visit with the house €12.
How long do you need in Verona?
Two days in must30's view, plus an evening at the Arena in summer. One day covers the Arena, the squares and Juliet's house if you book ahead; the second gives you Castelvecchio, San Zeno and the view from Castel San Pietro.
Is the VeronaCard worth it?
Usually, if you visit three or more sights in a day. At €33 for 24 hours it includes the Arena, normally €12, the Torre dei Lamberti by the stairs, the main churches and city buses, and gives a reduction at the Giusti garden. Juliet's house still has to be booked separately.
What should you wear to the opera at the Arena?
There is no formal dress rule for the stone steps, but bring a cushion, which you can also buy there, and a layer for after midnight. Bags over 17 litres, food and drink are not allowed, and the gates open two hours before the show.
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