Where to stay in Verona

Across the Adige from the old town, round the university: student bars, cheaper rooms and the Giardino Giusti. Ponte Nuovo and Ponte Navi put Piazza delle Erbe ten minutes away on foot.

The quarter round the basilica, west of Castelvecchio: a big square, neighbourhood trattorias and few tourists after five. Twenty minutes' walk from the Arena along the river.

The great square round the Arena and the streets south of it towards Porta Nuova station. Easy for arriving by train and for opera nights; the Liston's café terraces are pricey but the walk home is two minutes.

North across Ponte Garibaldi and the Ponte Scaligero: residential streets, local cafés and views back to the old town. Good apartments, quiet nights.

The old town inside the river's loop: Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza dei Signori, Juliet's House and the Scaliger tombs. The grand hotels and the smart shops of Via Mazzini are here, and it is quiet by midnight.