We will be travelling from Venice to Bolzano on Saturday and was wondering which town you would recommend to stop for a few hours: Verona or Trento?

Thanks for your advice.

Hi there. Having never been to Trento, I can only speak about Verona. I took a day-trip to Verona when I was in Milan on business. It's a beautiful city, with wonderful old architecture, pretty colours, fantastic cafes for people watching and great history..all within walking distance of the train station. I just roamed around at will; The Barber of Seville was due to play at the Coliseum and the giant stage sets were still outside waiting to be assembled... I found some great shoes, toured the home of Juliet, enjoyed pizza while people watching at an outside cafe, and even walked into a fancy salon to have my hair cut and styled. The whole day was a cathartic experience for me, especially since it was all ad hoc. For what it's worth, I certainly think Verona is worth the stop. Enjoy!

Trento if it is a short few-hour stop because there is way TOO much to see that is fascinating in Verona for such a short stop - Trento is nice but IME it was the city itself that was nice and its pre-Alpine setting - perfect for a short stop

If overnight stop then Verona, to me one of the very most interesting cities in Italy.

We went to Verona for the first time last year and we LOVED it. It was sort of a mini-Rome without the craziness of the big, big city. We just did one day and night going from Venice to Ortisei (sp?).

Tough call---are you driving?
If so, I think that Sat. in Verona may be a bit hectic for parking. Tranto would make a better short stop.

Thanks for your replies. I've been to Verona but never to Trento, however my friends dictate this short trip.

Because it's just a few hours, I might consider Trento instead of Verona, just because Verona is indeed overwhelming. Or we might toss a coin.

You've all been a great help. Thanks. I'll let you know next week what we did.

Hey Bob, we are taking the train.

Update: we did neither.

The Deutsche Bahn train from Verona to Bolzano (stop Trento) broke down in Ala, a very small isolated mountain village somewhere in Northern Italy. No real train station, no store, no town nearby. We waited on the platform for 2 hours before another train came.

After the first hour of waiting, a train slowed down and honked before passing us on the platform. We first thought it was our rescue and then realized, when it stopped before us, that it was only a freight train. It was eerie because we had been asked to leave the original train and take everything with us. The freight train had huge empty freight cars much like WW2. I, and many others (including the Germans) mentioned something about how the Jews must have felt before being forced into these freight cars. We were all glad to see the train continue its journey without us.

Two hours later, our Deutsche Bahn train arrived. Even though seats were reserved, everyone took what they could find. It was a real mess but we met some nice women from München who gave us the scoop on what bras to wear under their dirndls and where to buy the best underwear.

It almost was worth our wait.

Next time we'll take the train through Bassone straight to Trento and pray it won't break down.