Planning your trip to Verona

Verona sits where the Adige river bends through the Veneto plain, ringed by the hills of Valpolicella. The climate is continental: summers get hot (the opera season peaks in July and August), winters are cold but crisp, and the sweet spot is April–June or September–October, when the city is warm without the crush. The official tourist site lists events, seasonal opening hours and city passes.

Getting there

Fly into Verona Valerio Catullo airport (VRN), about 12 km from the centre, and take the shuttle bus to Porta Nuova station and Piazza Bra. Verona Porta Nuova is a proper high-speed stop: Frecciarossa and Italo trains link Milan in about 1h20, Venice in about an hour and Bologna in under an hour, so the city works beautifully as a base or a stop between Venice and the lakes.

• ✦Two or three days cover the old town, with a day left over for Valpolicella or Lake Garda
• ✦The historic centre is compact and largely pedestrian - leave the car outside the walls
• ✦Book Arena opera seats ahead of time; the season runs roughly from June to September
• ✦A Verona Card bundles many museums and the Arena, and can pay off from two or three sights