How do you like to travel when abroad? Do you like to stay in the same place or do you like to move every couple of days to see new cities? We’ve done both!

On this trip, we tested out having a home base in Verona for 3 weeks and it turned out to be the best choice for our preferred pace of travel – slow! Without the hassle of having to constantly check out of hotels and wait around to check-in to the next, this allowed us to come and go as we pleased. It also allowed us to plan day trips or short overnight trips based on the weather and what else we had going on in Verona already! If your budget allows you to do this, we highly recommend it. 

We had never traveled to Italy in December. We usually opt to go in shoulder season (April/May or October) so this was a new adventure. Lucky for us, they were having one of the mildest winters on record so it wasn’t too cold! I will not, although I did not mind, almost every day was overcast and most days had light showers. Nothing a beanie and a raincoat can’t fix though!

We celebrated New Year’s Eve in Verona which was so fun! We dined at Antica Bottega del Vino which is known for its wine list (shall we call it a book?) of over 1,000 wines. Not sure how that is even possible but it was. We opted for a beautiful bottle of Amarone since we were celebrating and we wanted to drink try something from the region. The meal was fantastic and the service was as well. Despite dining out on a busy evening, we never felt neglected or a lack of service (impressive, to say the least).

The city hosted a free concert and an impressive fireworks show at Piazza Bra to celebrate NYE so after dinner we strolled over to enjoy the music.

Verona is located in a great part of Italy that allowed us to catch the train or bus to explore several other cities! We took day trips to Sirmione on Lake Garda, Padua (Padova), Mantua (Mantova), Ferrara, and stayed a couple of nights in Venice. We highly recommend staying in Verona and using it as a home base to explore the Veneto! With the amount of great restaurants to choose from, it made for a great city to dine in as well. The city introduced us to sbrisolona (almond crumble cake), a specialty from nearby Mantua (Mantova). Many restaurants served this as a bonus dessert and we ended up buying some to bring home to Austin, Texas as our souvenir of the trip!

Thinking of visiting Verona soon? Check out our Verona City Guide for dining and lodging suggestions and explore these great options for sightseeing and experiences.