4 Days: Venice and the Veneto
Four days lets you add a lake to the 3-day Padua, Verona and Vicenza plan . Day 4 pushes on to Lake Garda’s Sirmione, reached with a change at Verona, so this whole itinerary still runs on trains alone. Shorter on time? Try the 2 or 3 day version. Want the Dolomites or the Prosecco road too? Jump to 5 , 6 or 7 days.
Book these before you go:
- Padua’s Scrovegni Chapel: book a timed slot at cappelladegliscrovegni.it days ahead, there is no same-day daytime ticket.
- Vicenza’s Villa Rotonda opens on limited public days, commonly Friday through Sunday, April through October, confirm before building day 3 around it.
- Verona’s Arena, if your dates land inside the June 12 to September 12, 2026 Opera Festival , book weeks ahead for the popular productions.
- Your Venice base: check rates on Booking.com near San Polo or Santa Croce for the shortest walk to Venezia Santa Lucia.
| Day | Focus | Distance/Train Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Padua, Scrovegni Chapel | 25 to 30 min, EUR 4 to 9 |
| 2 | Verona, the Arena | 54 min, EUR 9 to 12 |
| 3 | Vicenza, Palladio | 45 to 50 min, EUR 5 to 8 |
| 4 | Lake Garda, Sirmione | 1h15 to 1h30, change at Verona |
Day 1: Padua and Giotto’s Frescoes
A short regionale ride, as little as 25 to 30 minutes, roughly EUR 4 to 9, gets you to your timed Scrovegni Chapel slot: 15 to 20 minutes with Giotto’s 1305 fresco cycle, after a mandatory climate-controlled anteroom wait. Full price is about EUR 15 plus a EUR 1 presale fee, reduced about EUR 6 plus EUR 1. Spend the afternoon at Piazza dei Signori and the Prato della Valle, then a cheaper university-town lunch than Venice offers.
Day 2: Verona and the Arena
Roughly 54 minutes out, fares typically EUR 9 to 12. The Arena is the centerpiece, a first-century Roman amphitheater seating around 15,000 for opera every summer with no microphones, the stone handles the acoustics. Daytime entry runs roughly EUR 10 to 12. Wander Piazza delle Erbe for lunch, and skip “Juliet’s House” if pressed for time, the balcony is a manufactured 20th-century add-on, not a genuine literary site.
Day 3: Vicenza and Palladio’s City
Just 45 to 50 minutes on the same line, EUR 5 to 8. The Teatro Olimpico, Palladio’s final work and the oldest surviving indoor theater anywhere, runs on a normal schedule. Villa Rotonda is the trickier booking, public days are limited to Friday through Sunday, April through October, so confirm before committing the afternoon. The City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto listing covers the wider network.
Day 4: Lake Garda and Sirmione
Change trains at Verona for Peschiera del Garda or Desenzano del Garda, roughly 1h15 to 1h30 total. Fares run in a similar band to the Verona leg, plus a short additional regional fare for the final hop. From either station, local transport reaches Sirmione, the lakeside town on its own narrow peninsula, in well under 30 minutes. Our Lake Garda page has the lakeside detail if you decide the lake deserves an overnight of its own.
This is a long day by train, so buy your Verona-onward ticket at Venezia Santa Lucia before you leave in the morning rather than sorting it out at a change with a tighter connection window.