Verona or Milan with teenagers?
 

We will have two days in Milan or Verona in late June (on our way from Venice to the south of France). After reading about Verona , I am more inclined to stay in Verona. Any suggestions?

Verona is a small, pretty, walkable city. You can hike out of town and up to the lookout point to see a lovely vista of the city. You can shop, visit the arena and go to see Juliet's balcony which, of course, isn't Juliet's balcony at all but fun perhaps for teenagers. I use Verona as a home base so I can get the train up to Trento, Rovereto, Bolzano to see painted houses, art gallery and Otzi the Iceman respectively.

Milano is a big city with more in the way of entertainment for teenagers I would think. The duomo is fantastic and you can get up onto the roof and walk around, which is sensational and would probably appeal to teenagers. You can go to the Brera museum, and if you book online very, very quickly you might be able to get in to see the Last Supper. There's the La Scala museum, the Galleria and plenty of fashion shopping if your teenagers are girls.

I liked Verona and didn't care for Milan (much larger) as a city much. It does have its artistic and cultural attractions that of course Verona lacks. Otherwise, Verona is much more pleasant and easily enjoyed. I'm not sure how teenagers would react to either one.

How old are your teens? Old enough to ask?

Some kids are really into fashion and the cachet of Milan, and they additionally have fun climbing the roof of the duomo.

If the kids could care less or are more in the direction of pre-teens, they might think the attractions of Verona -- the knockout castle and the Roman arena -- were more impressive. The Romeo-Juliet stuff is touristy-to-the-max, but kids usually don't care.

Another possibility might be to indulge the fun-factor totally with a trip to the Italian amusement park of Gardaland, easily reached from Verona on Lago di Garda.

By the way, I noticed in an above post that Milan's fashion scence was recommended for girls.

The majority of people working in Milan's fashion industry are men, and most people today recognize that gender doesn't predict an interest in fashion among the young.

Any restaurant recommendations for Verona?

socaltraveler - you should probably start a new thread to get your restaurant question answered. However, we stopped in Verona for lunch on our way driving from the Lakes to Dolomites and ate at Osteria Bertoldo (Vicolo Cadrega 2/A). It is one of the best meals we have had in Italy. Everything was fantastic but the octopus salad is still something I dream about(keep ordering it at other restaurants but so far no one has done it as well).

If your kids are captivated by finance or fashion and like big impersonal cities, then Milan is the place.

If not, then Verona is a gem. It's intimate, lively, attractive, atmospheric, has the finest set of small Romanesque churches in Italy as well as the Roman arena and the terrific Castelvecchio complex.

I went once briefly a long time ago and very early in my travel days. Verona left a "good" impression at the time but after many more travels all over Europe, I felt a "strange" urge to go back recently (last fall). I had come to believe that my faded memory of Verona encompassed everything that I had come to love about Europe but wasn't experienced enough to know when I first visited.

She did not disappoint.

It won't be nearly as long until I return again.

The kids are 13 and 14. Not that into fashion. By then (at the end of 3 long weeks of sightseeing) I think they will be more into the wander around, have a look at a few things but the smaller Verona sounds more like them. We love just walking and exploring. Thanks for the help.