How to Get There
Our day began bright and early at Milano Stazione Centrale (or if we back up a bit, it began at the Duomo Metro Station and from there we took the yellow line 5 stops to the Central Station stop).
Once we were at the Central Station, we had breakfast at one of the coffee shops on site and then found our train platform and jumped on. We purchased the ticket online at Treintalia a few weeks before the trip. I found that long distance high-speed train tickets can be cheaper if you buy them with anticipation. In this case, they had an offer for Saturdays for 2×1 tickets (which really weren’t 2×1 but we payed for regular class and got business class instead). The tickets cost 40 euros roundtrip and the train takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The Verona train station is called Verona Porta Nuova and leaves you about a mile from the actual historical part of Verona (15 minute walk), Centro Storico.
What to Visit
I would say the main attraction of this beautiful but big city is the historical area, Centro Storico. Here you will find most of the main shops, attractions, restaurants and beautiful picture opportunities.
Casa Di Giulietta (Juliet’s House)
As many of you know, Verona is known as the city of LOVE and ROMANCE, thanks to our protagonists, Romeo and Juliet. Our first stop after getting off the train was Juliet’s house (or Giulietta’s house). Located smack in the middle of the historical area (great location) you will find it most likely by the huge crowd of people trying to go in through this arc and a small brown sign that indicates the name.
You can enter into the patio area for free, you will see the walls full of hearts and signatures of other visitors, the famous balcony and even the statue of Juliet. The statue is a must touch (yes touch) for eternal luck in love, so you will see everyone grabbing Juliet and taking pictures. There’s also a wall that people all put their letters and notes for Juliet asking her for help in their love lives.
Apart from this, you can enter the museum of Juliet’s house by paying 6 euros. The museum in my opinion is not worth it. The house in itself is pretty empty and not very interesting. There are various artifacts from all the different versions of the movies that were filmed, along with a few picture stories. The best part in my opinion is the computer station where you can write electronically a letter to Juliet, just in case you didn’t take a paper one (like me). You can also take a selfie on the famous balcony, although to me it didn’t make much sense since you couldn’t see you were on the actual balcony.
Walking around after lunch, we ran into this beautiful piazza with a lot of tents selling really cute things (like a market or a fair). We did go on a Saturday afternoon so keep this in mind as it might have been why there was a market. There are also many restaurants in the area to sit and enjoy.
We didn’t visit inside the arena, although I know there are tours that take you. Even if you don’t go inside though, it is worth a visit on the outside as it sits in one of the main piazzas and the entrance to Centro Storico.
Where to Eat
Walking alongside the water, we noticed it was time for lunch. We looked around and found this little hidden gem, Tosca Cafe Bistrot.
This place has a beautiful outside sitting area and a very small but cute inside area. They had a lunch menu with specials and then their regular menu. The pasta dishes were all between 10-14 euros, the ones pictured were 10 and 12 euros. The gnocchi were delicious and the spaghetti as well, they both included some type of meat (we couldn’t figure out exactly what kind lol). The service wasn’t amazing but they spoke enough English to be able to order and the food was really delicious. I definitely recommend this place.
Sightseeing
Verona has many areas which are perfect for just sightseeing. We walked the whole day and would have loved to say an extra day to enjoy these views even more. Some of the places we visited include:
Ponte Pietra
Ponte di Castelvecchio
If possible I would recommend you stay overnight. Just because I feel I would have enjoyed having dinner by the river and sightseeing some more. A day was enough to see everything we had in mind though.
Have you been to any other places I’ve missed? Let me know (I definitely plan on going back) 🙂
Traveling Around the World with Jacqueline 