Things to do in Verona worth pre-booking
Most of Verona costs nothing to enjoy — the piazzas, the bridges, the walk up to the castle viewpoint. What genuinely needs booking ahead is short: an Arena opera night, a timed slot at Juliet’s House, and anything that involves a vehicle out to the vineyards or the lake. We link Viator first and GetYourGuide as a backup; compare price and timing before you commit.
Opera at the Arena (mid-June to mid-September)
Verona’s defining experience: a Roman amphitheatre turned open-air opera house, with the 2026 season running 12 June to 12 September and Nabucco, Turandot, La Traviata and the Zeffirelli Aida on the bill. Cheap unnumbered seats are on the ancient stone steps — bring a cushion and something warm for after midnight.
Buy directly from the Fondazione Arena box office when you can; resellers are worth it mainly for packages bundling a seat with dinner or transfers.
Guided walk of the Roman and Scaligeri centre
The Arena, Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza dei Signori and the Scaligeri tombs sit within a few hundred metres of each other, and the Della Scala family story that connects them is the part you cannot read off the stones.
Valpolicella wine tasting & Amarone cellars
The Amarone hills start about 20 minutes north-west of the city; cellar visits combine a vineyard walk with a seated tasting of Valpolicella, Ripasso and Amarone. April is Vinitaly month, when the whole wine trade is in town.
Tastings mean driving hill roads afterwards — book a tour with transport rather than renting a car for the day.
Lake Garda day trips (Sirmione, Peschiera, Malcesine)
The southern end of Lake Garda is close enough for a half-day: Peschiera del Garda is a short train hop from Porta Nuova, and Sirmione’s castle and Roman villa ruins sit on a peninsula out into the lake.
Doable independently by train and bus for a few euros; a tour earns its price mainly if you want several towns or a boat leg.
Verona from above: Castel San Pietro & the Torre dei Lamberti
Two very different views: the funicular (or the steps) up to Castel San Pietro gives you the whole river bend and the rooftops; the Torre dei Lamberti puts you directly over Piazza delle Erbe.
Juliet’s House, the balcony and the Romeo & Juliet trail
The balcony is a 20th-century addition to a medieval house and the courtyard is chaotic — but the museum inside is genuinely interesting, and it is one of the VeronaCard sites that needs a timed booking rather than a walk-up.
Book a time slot in advance through the civic museums system; the courtyard itself is free and needs no ticket.
Some booking links are affiliate links — if you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which options we recommend.
Booking tips (so you don’t overpay)
- The VeronaCard (€27 for 24 hours, €32 for 48) covers the Arena, Juliet’s House, Castelvecchio, San Zeno, Sant’Anastasia and the archaeology museum plus free city buses — it pays for itself in about three sites, but only if you actually visit that many.
- Juliet’s House needs a date-and-time slot reserved on the civic-museums ticketing site even when a VeronaCard makes the entry free — the card pays the fee, it does not hold the slot, and visitors do get turned away for missing it.
- Mondays break sightseeing plans here: the Arena and the civic museums are closed or open only in the afternoon. Book monument time for Tuesday to Sunday and keep a Monday for churches, piazzas and the hill.
- During the festival the Arena’s daytime visit shuts early on performance days, and on some dates does not open at all — if you want to see the amphitheatre empty as well as full, do it on a morning early in your trip.
- Verona’s major churches are working churches with an admission ticket outside services; they close to visitors during Mass, so plan Sunday mornings around that rather than around opening hours.
- Prefer free cancellation on wine tours and lake trips, then re-check closer to the date — outside Vinitaly week and opera weekends, prices in this market soften rather than climb.
Want these slotted into a day-by-day plan? See Verona in 3 days.