Most people treat Verona as a stopover — a night between Venice and Trento, or a base for Lake Garda. But Verona has far more going for it than its Romeo and Juliet reputation suggests.
Whether you believe the legend was rooted in real history or not, you can’t help getting swept up in this city’s charm — the Roman amphitheatre alone is extraordinary, the old town is beautifully intact, and the evening culture of long alfresco dinners with an Aperol Spritz in hand is reason enough to linger.
Here’s how to get the best out of a single day in Verona.
Table of Contents
✈️ Quick Resources
- 📱 Stay connected: Airalo — new users get 15% off. I came to eSIMs late and wish I hadn’t — it’s saved me hundreds of dollars since.
- 🚗 Car hire: DiscoverCars — useful if you’re planning day trips into the Dolomites. All mandatory fees included upfront, no hidden surprises at the counter.
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- 🛂 Visa: iVisa — check whether you need a Schengen visa and sort it in a few clicks before you fly.
- 🎟️ Tours & experiences: GetYourGuide — browse Trento experiences and use code trulyexpattravel10 for 10% off via the app.
🗺️ Before You Go: Practical Verona Tips
Where Is Verona?
Verona sits on the Adige River in the Veneto region of northern Italy — one of the region’s seven provincial capitals. It’s about 144km from Milan and 99km from Trento, making it a natural stop on a northern Italy circuit.
Best Time to Visit
Verona is beautiful year-round, but summers are warm and dry — up to 29°C — which makes alfresco dining and evening strolls around the Arena particularly appealing. Winters drop to around -1°C, which is cold but manageable, and the city is noticeably quieter. Late June through August brings the Arena’s opera season, which is a genuine reason to time your visit specifically around it if you can.
Getting to Verona
There are no direct flights from Singapore to Verona, but you can connect via Milan or add Verona to a northern Italy road trip. Verona’s Valerio Catullo Airport is around 12km from the city centre — I flew in from London on EasyJet in just over two hours. FlixBus connects Verona to most major European cities, and trains are frequent, cost-effective, and easy to use across the region. Driving is the most flexible option if you’re making Verona part of a wider Italian itinerary — exhilarating in the city itself, but worth it.
Getting Around Verona
The old town is compact and very walkable. For broader coverage in a single day, the Hop-On Hop-Off bus is a practical option — two routes cover the main sights, and you can ride them fully or hop off wherever takes your interest. Pick up tickets at the tourist office along with a city map.
The Verona Card
The VeronaCard gives free or reduced entry to the city’s museums, monuments, and churches, plus free bus rides — worth picking up at the tourist office alongside your Hop-On Hop-Off ticket if you’re planning a full day of sightseeing.
Things to do in Verona
Arena di Verona
The Arena di Verona is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world — built in the first century AD and still in active use today. During the day, you can walk through the interior for a small fee (free with the VeronaCard) and get a genuine sense of the scale of the place. In summer, it transforms into one of Europe’s most dramatic opera venues: the season runs from late June, and watching a performance here — candlelit, open to the night sky, with that ancient stone rising up around you — is the kind of evening that’s hard to forget.
💡 Tip: Even if you’re not attending the opera, book dinner at a restaurant on Piazza Bra during the opera season — you’ll hear the performances drifting across the square from your table, which is a very satisfying alternative to buying tickets.
Juliet’s Balcony
Whether you’re a committed romantic or a decided sceptic about the whole legend, Juliet’s Balcony is worth a visit — partly for the courtyard itself, partly for the sheer spectacle of watching visitors queue to touch the breast of Juliet’s bronze statue (apparently considered good luck, and yes, I joined the queue without fully understanding why). You can pay a small fee to stand on the balcony itself, and there are plenty of souvenir shops nearby for anyone who wants to take a piece of Verona’s most famous love story home.
👩 Solo travel note: The courtyard around Juliet’s statue can get crowded, particularly in summer — go first thing in the morning for a quieter experience and better photos.
Duomo — Basilica di Sant’Anastasia
No Italian city day is complete without at least one cathedral, and Verona’s Duomo more than earns its place on the itinerary. The Basilica di Sant’Anastasia is the city’s largest church — a late Gothic structure with a remarkable collection of paintings and frescoes inside, including Pisanello’s famed fresco of St George and the Princess. Audio headphone tours are available for a small entrance fee (discounted with your VeronaCard) and are worth taking for the context they add to what you’re seeing.
Castelvecchio Bridge & Museum
The Castelvecchio Bridge — formally the Ponte Scaligero — is a 14th-century fortified bridge across the Adige River, connecting the Castelvecchio Castle and Museum to the far bank. It’s a 15-minute walk from the Duomo, or a short hop on the bus. The bridge itself is worth pausing on for the river views; the castle museum inside houses an excellent collection of medieval and Renaissance art. If you’d rather let someone else do the context work, a guided walking tour of Verona’s highlights covers this area along with the Arena and the old town.
Shopping — Centro Storico
The streets in and around the Centro Storico run the full range from boutique independents to well-known Italian brands, with the Piazza delle Erbe market adding fresh produce, flowers, and local goods to the mix. It’s a good place to walk off a substantial Italian lunch, or to do some serious browsing — both are equally valid ways to spend an afternoon in Verona.
🍷 Where to Eat & Drink in Verona
Lunch — Caffè Lamberti, Piazza delle Erbe
After a morning at the Piazza delle Erbe market, Caffè Lamberti is an easy choice for lunch. The Caprese was fresh, the pasta properly al dente, and the Aperol Spritz exactly what you’d want mid-afternoon in a Veronese piazza. It’s a touch more expensive than it strictly needs to be given the competition nearby, but the location — right on the square — is worth paying for.
Dinner — Ristorante Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza Bra
Eating alfresco at Ristorante Vittorio Emanuele directly in front of the Arena, with an opera concert drifting across the Piazza Bra from the evening’s performance, is one of those unexpectedly perfect travel moments. Everything we ate was good — I’d struggle to single out one recommendation — and the location does a lot of the work. An Aperol Spritz as the sun goes down over the Arena is, frankly, the only logical way to end a day in Verona.
Gelato — Amorino
Ice cream in Italy is always good, but Amorino is a cut above. I went safe with raspberry and lemon sorbet from a long list of genuinely interesting flavours, and it was exactly what you want mid-afternoon between sightseeing stops.
The Aperol Spritz — Anywhere in Verona
Verona has a strong claim to being the spiritual home of the Aperol Spritz, and you can order one at virtually any bar or café in the city — it’s ubiquitous for a reason. The classic recipe, if you want to recreate it at home:
- Aperol — a bright orange, bittersweet Italian apéritif
- Prosecco — dry and sparkling; doesn’t need to be expensive
- Soda water — a splash of unflavoured sparkling water
- A fresh orange slice — the classic garnish, non-negotiable
💡 Tip: Order your Aperol Spritz at a café on Piazza Bra with a direct view of the Arena. It’s the definitive Verona experience.
🛏️ Where to Stay in Verona
For a comfortable, well-located option without the luxury price tag, Best Western Armando delivers. Expect clean rooms, good service, and a continental breakfast that genuinely sets you up for a full day out rather than leaving you hunting for a café by 10am. It’s within easy walking distance of the city centre — which, in a compact city like Verona, makes a real difference.
👩 Solo travel note: Best Western Armando is a solid solo option — the location means you can walk to the main sights without needing to navigate the bus system, and the breakfast situation means you’re out the door and moving early without faff.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
📍 Ready to Explore Verona?
Verona earns more than most people give it credit for when they’re planning a northern Italy trip. The Arena is extraordinary — doubly so during opera season. The old town has that lived-in Italian elegance that’s harder to find in the more heavily touristed cities. And an evening on Piazza Bra with a Spritz and the sound of an opera drifting across the square is, frankly, one of the lovelier ways to end a travel day anywhere in Italy.
→ Browse Verona tours and experiences on GetYourGuide — use code trulyexpattravel10 for 10% off via the app.
→ Sort your Schengen visa with iVisa before you fly.
→ Get travel insurance sorted with SafetyWing — worth having before you board.
→ Sort your eSIM before you land with Airalo — 15% off for new users.
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