Italy is easily in the top three countries we’ve visited. It’s just magical and every place has something different to offer. Verona is a great little city to spend a day or two, or a great place to base yourself for some day trips. You can also see Verona as a day trip from another city. Here are our favourite things to do if you’re visiting Verona on a budget.

Cost: Free

The Italian streets have such a specific feel and walking around them is something we will never get sick of. Our number one recommendation is to allocate at least a couple of hours to walking around the magical streets. Verona has a reasonable sized city center with heaps to see and do. Everywhere you look there is something cool to snap a photo of or something delicious to eat.

Here are some things to keep an eye out for as you wander around:

• Torre dei Lamberti, which is the tallest Medieval tower in the city, built in 1172. It costs €6 to climb up.
• Colonna di San Marco which is a large statue of a lion
• The Medieval draw well
• The Church of Saint Mary ‘Antica’
• The Palazzo della Ragione which is a Palace from the 1100s and costs €8 to enter

While some of these landmarks have costs associated, some are free and can be admired from the street.

Probably the most famous landmark in Verona is Casa di Giulietta or Juliet’s house which is of course in reference to Romeo and Juliet. However, when we were researching it, we found that it has no relation to the story. The house dates back to the 1200s, and was owned by a wealthy family involved in a feud. That’s where the connection to Romeo and Juliet ends. The original play was based on a poem which was based on stories about the two families from Verona, but Romeo and Juliet were likely not real. Also, the balcony that you can get photos on was only added in the 1900s, so couldn’t have had anything to do with the play anyway!

Entry is between €6-8 depending on how much of the house you’d like to see. You’ll need to buy a ticket if you want a photo on the balcony. Entry to the courtyard that the balcony looks out onto is free, you’ll just have to line up. If you’re really interested in going, then make sure you arrive early as the line can get very long. We decided to give the whole thing a miss, as it seemed like just a normal house with a balcony that you can see all over the city.

Cost: Free or €3 for a return funicular to the top

One of our favourite things we did in Verona was visit the grounds of Castel San Pietro. This is an old Austrian barracks dating back to 1854 up on a hill overlooking the city. The view from the top is stunning and you can see the entire city and much of the surrounding area.

We chose to walk to the top and it takes about 15-20 minutes but is quite a steep walk. The path is easy to find on google maps, it is labelled as the Passeggiata a Castel San Pietro. 

There is also a funicular to the top that is open 10am-5pm every day for €3 return or €2 one way. To find both the path and the funicular, head to the north of the city, and cross the Ponte Pietra bridge. 

At the top there is one bar at the funicular station but no shops or anywhere to get food. It really is just a place to see the view, then head back to the city.

Cost: €6 entry to the museum and free for the bridge

The Castelvecchio Museum is something great to do in Verona, and is only €6 entry per person. This museum is housed in a 14th century fortress and exhibits statues, paintings, weapons, ceramics and more from ancient Italy.

If you don’t have time to see this museum or don’t want to, you can still walk into the main courtyard and across the Castelvecchio bridge for free. This bridge looks really impressive crossing over the Adige river and has a great view of the water and the castle.

It’s one of the more interesting bridges we’ve seen as it has really high sides. It doesn’t even feel like you’re walking on a bridge. It’s definitely worth it to cross the bridge and walk along the river to get a good view of the castle too.

Verona is quite a small city so you may be tempted by a day trip to another Italian city. Milan, Bologna or Venice as all are within 2 hours each way from Verona and are all worth a visit. We spent more than a day in each of them, and you can definitely take your time, however if you don’t have long, you can make the most of a day instead. We probably wouldn’t recommend doing these journeys by bus though as buses aren’t super reliable in Italy. They also take a lot longer than the fast trains so aren’t the best option for day trips.

Milan is a great day trip as it’s not that big and doesn’t require a huge amount of time or effort to see everything (unless you’re planning to go to multiple museums). A train trip to Milan takes an hour and 15 minutes each way and is best booked on Trenitalia as tickets are less than €20 per person each way.

It has good public transport so once at central station, it’s easy to catch a metro into the main area. You’d probably want to go to see the Duomo first, which is easily found at the metro stop called Duomo. Right next to it is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which is a beautiful shopping center. And on the other side of that is Teatro alla Scala which is an 18th century opera house.

After that we’d recommend walking 15 minutes up Via Dante (Via means street) to the Sforzesco Castle. This is a huge Medieval fortress that has grounds you can walk around for free, or has a €5 entry fee to see the Museum and art inside. Behind the castle is Parco Sempione which is a gorgeous park that is definitely worth a visit and is a great place to relax.

For lunch, while of course Italy is home to the most amazing pizza, if you’d like a personal recommendation we loved Rom’antica Milano Ponte Vetero for some cheap and delicious pizza. They have tables so you can sit in, you can pay with card and they also sell yummy arancini balls. The best part is that it’s a chain so you can find other Rom’antica locations all over the city.

Other things to do in Milan are visit the Santuario di San Bernardino alle Ossa which is a church with an incredible ossuary decorated with human skulls and bones. The Naviglio Grande canal area looks a bit like Venice and has some really nice shops and restaurants.

Bologna is a fantastic day trip as it’s so walkable and there’s a lot you can fit in to one day. A train trip from Verona takes between 50 minutes to an hour 40 each way depending on which train you book. Again, booking with Trenitalia, you can get tickets for less than €20 per person each way.

Once you get into the central station, it’s only a 20 minute walk to the old town. The best place to start is Piazza Maggiore which is the main square and is home to the Basilica di San Petronio. This is an absolutely incredible Basilica and is free to enter. You can also see the Piazza del Nettuno which is a statue of Netpune and Palazzo Re Enzo which is a 13th century Palace.

Just off this square is Via D’azeglio, a street with huge neon signs of the lyrics to John Lennon’s song “Imagine” hung over it. This street used to pay respect to Lucio Dalla who is an Italian singer and songwriter from Bologna, and have his lyrics up on the street, but has since changed. You can still visit his house on Via D’azeglio and go inside for €15.

Another important landmark in Bologna are the Due Torre (Two Towers) which are two leaning towers. They’re leaning so far that they really don’t look like they should be able to remain standing. The smaller tower leans at an angle of 4 degrees, meaning it’s leaning slightly more than the tower of Pisa. In December 2023 it was listed as in danger of collapse and is now going through a 10 year renovation. The bigger tower leans at an angle of 1.3 degrees and can be climbed for €8 per person. This would give you an amazing view of the city and the other leaning tower.

Bologna definitely has enough to keep you entertained for the day and is such a beautiful city. Also, if you’d like a gelato recommendation, we went to Cremeria Cavour and it was absolutely delicious!

Of course, Venice is such a unique and wonderful place that we really do recommend more than one day here. However if you’re short on time, one day is better than nothing. A train trip from Verona only takes 1 hour 15 on Trenitalia for less than €20 per person each way.

HOWEVER when booking, make sure you’re going to the Santa Lucia train station and NOT the Mestre train station. Santa Lucia is actually in Venice and is the closest you can get to the canals by train.

There is so much to do in Venice including taking the ferries out to the islands of Burano and Murano. For a day trip we’d recommend just walking around the canals and getting lost in all the beautiful streets. Everywhere you look is gorgeous and it’s easy to spend hours just walking around looking through all the shops.

The main area is St. Mark’s Square and this is where the bell tower is which can be climbed for €10 per person. There’s also a beautiful garden nearby called Giardini Reali. Also in the city is the famous Rialto Bridge which you can walk over and admire all the jewlery shops. Honestly one of our favourite things to do in Venice was just watch all the gondoliers and the traffic jams they all get in on the canals.

It’s such a beautiful and unique city and is definitely worth at least one full day of just exploring because there is so much to see!

As you can see, there’s three different and super interesting day trips you can take from Verona! Luckily they’re all easy and not too expensive and whichever one you pick will be an absolutely unforgettable day out. These combined with our other tips for Verona makes it such a great place to visit on your trip to Italy.

If you’d like to see what we got up to during our time in Verona, you can check out our vlog:

• How to Make the most of Florence in Spring
• See Naples On a Budget With These Six Great Ideas!
• Ferryhopper: The Easy Way to Book Ferries Around the Mediterranean