Venice + Veneto in 5 Days on a Budget (With Costs)
Five days: Padua, Verona, Vicenza, and now the lake
Five days keeps the 4-day plan’s Padua, Verona and Vicenza days and adds Lake Garda, the furthest of the easy train trips at roughly 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes via a change at Verona. Same spine, one more day, nesting into the 6-day and 7-day plans if you have more time still.
Book these before you go
- Book the Scrovegni Chapel timed slot first; there are no same-day daytime bookings.
- Book a Verona day trip if you’d rather not plan the trains yourself.
- Check hotel rates in Venice or Padua before locking in five nights of lodging.
| Day | Focus | Distance/train time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Land, settle in Venice or Padua | - | Room rate varies |
| Day 2 | Padua: Scrovegni Chapel + old town | 25-30 min / EUR 2-9 | Chapel ticket ~EUR 15-16 |
| Day 3 | Verona: Arena + Piazza Erbe | ~54-60 min / EUR 4-12 | Arena ticket ~EUR 12 |
| Day 4 | Vicenza: Teatro Olimpico + Villa Rotonda | 45-50 min / EUR 5-8 | Mostly free walking |
| Day 5 | Lake Garda: Peschiera or Sirmione | ~75-90 min / EUR 10-15 | Free lakefront; lunch on you |
Day 1: land, settle in, keep it cheap
Get to your room, spend the evening on what’s free, and get an early night ahead of tomorrow’s timed Scrovegni slot. Basing in Padua or Mestre keeps costs down without adding real time to any of the five day trips.
Day 2: Padua on the Scrovegni Chapel’s clock
Book the strict 15-20 minute timed slot ahead: full price about EUR 15 plus a EUR 1 presale fee, reduced around EUR 6 plus EUR 1. Prato della Valle and the Palazzo della Ragione are free to walk past, and the train back runs as little as EUR 2-9.
Day 3: Verona, the Arena over the balcony
About an hour out, fares from roughly EUR 4 to EUR 12. The Arena’s daytime ticket runs about EUR 12, details at arena.it ; skip Casa di Giulietta and spend that time on Piazza delle Erbe instead.
Day 4: Vicenza, the cheapest full day on this list
45 to 50 minutes out for roughly EUR 5-8, on the same line as Padua and Verona. Walking Corso Palladio is free; the Teatro Olimpico charges a modest fee, and Villa Rotonda keeps limited hours, commonly Friday through Sunday, April to October, so check villalarotonda.it first.
Day 5: Lake Garda, the furthest easy trip
Lake Garda runs roughly 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes by train, typically with a change at Verona, landing at Peschiera del Garda or Desenzano del Garda before local transport carries you on to Sirmione or another lakeside town. By car it’s a similar 1.5 to 2 hours. Walking the lakefront and old towns costs nothing beyond lunch and a gelato; the train fare itself runs roughly EUR 10-15 round trip depending on route and booking window.
Why does Lake Garda come after Verona instead of before it?
The train route runs through Verona’s station either way, so doing Verona first means you already know the connection when you tackle the longer Garda trip. It also spaces the two furthest day trips apart, rather than stacking your two longest travel days back to back.
Is Lake Garda worth the extra travel time versus the other four trips?
Yes, if lake towns and mountain backdrops appeal to you beyond amphitheaters and frescoes; it’s the one stop on this itinerary that looks nothing like the others. If your five days are tight on energy, though, it’s the easiest day to cut, since Padua, Verona and Vicenza already deliver more history per euro and per minute of travel.
Book the Scrovegni slot the moment your five dates are fixed; the Verona, Vicenza and Garda train legs can all wait until the week you travel.