Last Updated on 24/10/2026
Licensed Guides in Verona: Arena, Juliet’s House, Lake Garda and Venice Day Trips
Private walking tours, church and museum visits, an Arena opera day, and full-day trips across the Veneto with a nationally registered tourist guide.
On OfficialGuides you book an independent licensed guide in Verona directly, for a private group of your own. The approximate guiding fees per group, not per person: €300 for a half day and €590 for a full day in the city or on a day trip, with entrance tickets and transport paid separately. Programmes cover the Arena, Casa di Giulietta, Piazza delle Erbe and the four historic churches, and go out to Lake Garda, Valpolicella, Vicenza, Padua, Mantua and Venice.
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Each guide sets their own languages, programmes and availability; write to the guide to confirm a date before you book.
A private walking tour in Piazza delle Erbe, the site of Verona’s Roman forum (ai illustrated)
Who Can Work as a Tourist Guide in Verona
Tourist guiding in Italy is a regulated profession under Law no. 190/2023 and its implementing decree, Ministerial Decree no. 88. A qualified guide has either passed the national qualifying exam, which has written, oral and technical-practical parts, or had a foreign qualification recognised, and is then entered in the national register of tourist guides (Elenco Nazionale delle Guide Turistiche) kept by the Ministry of Tourism.
Registration covers the whole country. A guide entered in the register can therefore work in Verona and also on the day trips on this page, including Sirmione and Mantua, which are in Lombardy rather than the Veneto. The Ministry issues each registered guide a personal licence card (tesserino) with a photo, a registration number and an identification code, and the guide shows it while working. The public register shows each guide’s specialisations and working languages; you can reach it from the Ministry of Tourism’s national guide platform.
Marketplace listings for Verona often describe the same status as a certified guide; under Italian law the qualification is the entry in the national register. The status has practical effects at two Verona sites. At the courtyard and house of Juliet, a tourist guide leading a group enters free. At the four churches run by the Chiese Vive foundation, the single-church ticket drops from €3 to €2 per person when visitors come with an authorised tourist guide holding an Italian qualification.
OfficialGuides is a platform where tourist guides registered in Italy’s national register publish their own programmes and fees for Verona. You write to the guide who will lead your day, agree the route with them, and the guide answers your questions directly before and after booking.
Free Walking Tours, Per-Person Tickets and a Private Guide
Search results for Verona tours mix three different products. Tip-based “free” walking tours run on fixed routes with open groups; one platform that lists them suggests a tip of €10–20 per person. Tour marketplaces and ticket resellers sell small-group walks priced per person. A private guide is booked for your group alone, at one price whether you are two or eight people, and the route, pace and start time follow your plans.
Independent resale sites sell Arena and Juliet’s House entries as skip-the-line tickets; one of them charges €28 for an adult Arena entry, against the official €12. The city’s own museum service names verona.midaticket.it, reached through museiverona.com, as the official online sales channel and advises against resale sites that mark prices up or advertise skip-the-line access. Your guide books timed entries through the official channels with you.
Private Tours in Verona with a Licensed Guide
Walking Tours of the Centre
Roman and medieval Verona on foot: Arena, Piazza Bra, the courtyard of Juliet’s House, Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza dei Signori and the Scaliger tombs.
Churches and Museums
San Zeno Maggiore, Sant’Anastasia, the cathedral complex and San Fermo, with Castelvecchio’s collections and the Roman Theatre.
Arena and Opera Days
A guided afternoon in and around the amphitheatre during the summer opera season, before an evening performance you attend on your own ticket.
Day Trips from Verona
Lake Garda, the Valpolicella wine area, Vicenza and Padua, Mantua and Venice, by train or with a vehicle booked separately.
The half-day programmes below take about the same time each and can be combined into a full day. Your guide adapts the order to opening hours, which differ between the city museums and the churches.
Roman and Medieval Verona
The walk starts at Piazza Bra with the Arena, a Roman amphitheatre of the 1st century AD that is still used as an opera and concert venue. Along Via Mazzini it reaches the courtyard of Casa di Giulietta, where entry is now by timed booking only. It continues to Piazza delle Erbe, laid out on the site of the Roman forum, and to the Torre dei Lamberti: begun in 1172, 84 metres high, the tallest building in the city, climbed by 368 steps or by lift. The walk ends at Piazza dei Signori and the Scaliger tombs (Arche Scaligere).
Churches and the River Adige
Sant’Anastasia is the largest church in Verona, a Gothic building with frescoes by Pisanello and Altichiero. A short walk leads to the cathedral complex: the Duomo with its altarpiece by Titian, the church of Sant’Elena with early Christian remains, and the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte. The programme then crosses the Ponte Pietra to the Roman Theatre and its archaeological museum on the far bank of the Adige.
Castelvecchio and San Zeno Maggiore
The Castelvecchio Museum holds the city’s civic art collections, next to the Ponte Scaligero. From there the route reaches San Zeno Maggiore, a Romanesque basilica known for its bronze door panels and the triptych by Andrea Mantegna. San Fermo Maggiore, two churches built one above the other, a Romanesque lower church and a Gothic upper church, can replace Castelvecchio on request.
Full Day in Verona
Roman and medieval Verona in the morning, then either the churches and the Roman Theatre or Castelvecchio and San Zeno in the afternoon, with a lunch break of your choice. A full day is the practical way to see the Arena, Juliet’s House and at least two of the four historic churches without rushing.
Arena by Day and an Opera Evening
During the Arena di Verona Opera Festival, held in the amphitheatre from June to September, a guided afternoon covers the Arena itself, Piazza Bra and the streets around it before the performance. The opera ticket is bought separately from the Arena Foundation; the guide is not present during the performance, and neither the daytime Arena ticket nor the VeronaCard includes it.
San Zeno Maggiore, home of Mantegna’s triptych
Day Trips from Verona with a Licensed Guide
A day trip is charged as a full day, €590 per group, and transport is booked separately. Because the national registration is valid across Italy, the same guide can lead you in the Veneto and in neighbouring Lombardy.
Lake Garda: Sirmione and Peschiera
Desenzano del Garda-Sirmione station is about 20 minutes from Verona by train, and Peschiera del Garda about 13 minutes. In Sirmione the programme covers the Scaliger Castle and the Grotte di Catullo archaeological site; entrance tickets are not included in the guiding fee.
Valpolicella Wine Area
Vineyards and villages of the Valpolicella, with a visit to a wine cellar. Cellar tastings are paid to the winery, and the day needs a car with a driver, booked separately from the guide.
Vicenza and Padua
Regional trains on the Venice line stop at Vicenza and Padua. Vicenza is the city of Andrea Palladio, inscribed by UNESCO in 1994 and extended to the Palladian villas of the Veneto in 1996. In Padua, the Scrovegni Chapel with Giotto’s frescoes is visited only with a pre-booked time slot, and a visit lasts about 30 minutes.
Mantua
Mantua is about 34 km from Verona; the fastest regional train takes around 46 minutes. Its historic centre is on the UNESCO list together with Sabbioneta.
Venice
High-speed trains reach Venezia Santa Lucia from Verona Porta Nuova in about 1 hour 10 minutes; regional fast trains take about 1 hour 30 minutes and run roughly hourly. A full day covers the historic centre on foot with your Verona guide.
Sirmione on Lake Garda, about 20 minutes from Verona by train
Guide Prices in Verona
Guiding fees are fixed per group and do not change with the number of people. They cover the guide’s time only.
| Service | Guiding fee (per group) |
| Per hour | €100 |
| Half day in Verona | €300 |
| Full day in Verona | €590 |
| Day trip (Garda, Valpolicella, Vicenza, Padua, Mantua, Venice) | €590, transport separate |
Entrance Tickets
| Site | Full price | Notes |
| Arena | €12 | €9 groups of 15+ and over-65s · €3 EU citizens aged 18–25 · free under 18 |
| Juliet’s courtyard (via Teatro Nuovo) | €5 | timed booking only |
| Juliet’s courtyard and house | €12 | timed booking only · €3 aged 18–25 |
| Castelvecchio Museum · Roman Theatre museum | €9 each | city museums |
| Gallery of Modern Art (Palazzo della Ragione) | €6 | €4 reduced · €2 aged 18–25 |
| Historic churches (Chiese Vive) | €3 per church | €2 with an authorised tourist guide · no booking needed |
| VeronaCard | €27 (24 h) · €32 (48 h) | city buses included |
The Scaliger tombs are free with a ticket to another city museum or monument used on the same day. The VeronaCard runs for 24 or 48 hours from its first use and includes the Arena, Juliet’s House, the Torre dei Lamberti, Castelvecchio and the four historic churches, each once, plus the urban ATV buses; it does not include extra-urban buses or the airport shuttle. With a guide who explains each site, the VeronaCard mainly saves you separate ticket purchases.
When to Visit Verona
The busiest period is the opera season, from June to September, when evening performances fill the Arena and the streets around Piazza Bra. Book timed entries for the Arena and Juliet’s House early for these months.
From November to March, the city museums charge €1 on the first Sunday of the month; Juliet’s House is excluded from this offer. The city museums are closed on Mondays, which matters for a Monday arrival. The historic churches open to visitors only from early afternoon on Sundays and religious holidays, so a Sunday programme puts the churches after lunch. San Fermo has steep stairs and no wheelchair access.
Getting Around Verona and the Region
Verona Porta Nuova is the main station, on the Milan–Venice line and the line north to Bolzano and Munich. High-speed trains reach Milano Centrale in about 1 hour 15 minutes and Venice in about 1 hour 10 minutes. Bus 199 (Airlink) connects Porta Nuova with Verona airport in about 15 minutes.
The historic centre is compact and best seen on foot; the urban buses are useful for San Zeno and the station. For Valpolicella, and for combining several places around Lake Garda in one day, a car with a driver is more practical than public transport.
Driver and Guide: Two Separate Services
The guiding fee does not include a vehicle. Under Law no. 190/2023 guiding is a profession reserved to registered guides; a driver provides transport. For a day trip by car you book a vehicle with a driver separately and your guide travels with you. On train days you buy your own train tickets and agree with the guide where the day starts.
Guides in English and Other Languages
All programmes on this page are offered in English. A professional guide works in the languages listed for them on the platform, and the national register records the language competences of every registered guide. Ask the guide before booking if your group needs a second language besides English.
Tailored and Premium Days
A private day can be built around a theme: Roman Verona only, Romanesque and Gothic churches, or the Scaliger family. On request your guide plans a day that combines a chauffeured car, a reserved cellar visit in Valpolicella and timed entries, or an Arena afternoon before a performance with seats you book with the Arena Foundation.
For other Italian cities with licensed guides on OfficialGuides, see Rome, Florence and Bergamo.
Visa and Entry Requirements
Entry rules for Italy depend on your nationality. Check the current requirements on the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official visa portal before you travel.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a private guide in Verona cost?
A private guide in Verona costs €300 for a half day and €590 for a full day, per group. The hourly rate is €100. Day trips are charged at the full-day rate, and tickets and transport are paid separately.
How do I know a guide in Verona is licensed?
Registered guides carry a licence card issued by Italy’s Ministry of Tourism. It shows a photo, a registration number and an identification code, and the guide shows it while working. You can also check the guide in the national register through the Ministry’s guide platform. When travellers ask for an official guide in Verona, this registered status is what they mean.
Do I need to book Juliet’s House in advance?
Yes, both the courtyard and the house can only be visited with a timed booking. The courtyard alone costs €5 and the courtyard with the house €12; entry is through the Teatro Nuovo in Piazzetta Navona.
Is the Arena included in a walking tour?
The guide’s fee covers the guiding; the Arena ticket is separate. A full ticket costs €12, booked online through the city museums’ official channel. Your guide can book the time slot with you.
Can a Verona guide take us to Venice or Lake Garda?
Yes. A guide entered in Italy’s national register can work anywhere in the country. Day trips to Venice, Lake Garda, Vicenza, Padua, Mantua and Valpolicella cost €590 per group plus transport.
Is the VeronaCard worth buying with a guide?
It depends on how many sites you enter. The 24-hour VeronaCard costs €27 and the 48-hour version €32; it includes the Arena, Juliet’s House, Castelvecchio, the Torre dei Lamberti and the four historic churches once each, plus city buses.
Does the guide come to the opera?
No. The opera is attended on your own ticket from the Arena Foundation. The guided part of an opera day takes place in the afternoon, in and around the Arena.
Book a Licensed Guide in Verona
Write to a guide, agree the route and the date, and confirm the fee for your group.
Questions About a Verona Tour
Send your dates, group size and the places you want to see, in English or another language, and we will reply by email.
Prices, opening hours and ticket rules are set by the guides and by the sites and can change; check them before your visit. See our terms of service and privacy policy.