Verona, Italy

The one thing that I recommend the very most when visiting Verona, if you love the story of Romeo and Juliet, is to reserve your hotel room at Relais Balcone Di Giulietta. It is a tad bit more expensive than staying in other hotels, but it is definitely worth the money! The entrance to the hotel is inside the courtyard where the Juliet statue is. At night when the courtyard is locked to the public, you get the entire courtyard all to yourself! Here is their official website:

Relais Balcone di Giulietta

Juliet's Courtyard after hours

Entrance to the hotel, inside the Juliet courtyard

We arrived by train in Verona. Our train had been cancelled and rescheduled due to a train strike, so we were running late for our appointment to enter Juliet's House, which I'd reserved tickets for before leaving on our trip. Juliet's House is not the same as the hotel -- in order to stand on Juliet's Balcony or leave a letter in Juliet's mailbox, you have to purchase tickets to enter Juliet's House. Inside the house you will also see the original Juliet statue, which was moved inside because it was starting to show damage from the countless people who had rubbed her right breast in hope of receiving good luck and true love. Now she is behind a roped area inside the house, but if you look at the statue close enough you can see a small hole in her right breast. Here is the official website to purchase tickets to Juliet's House:

Casa di Giulietta

Tickets cost 22 euro, and are definitely worth it if you are a Romeo & Juliet fan. Obviously, since Juliet is a fictional character, the home is not really where "Juliet" lived, but it is tradition that this was her house and her balcony. The home was said to have been owned by the Cappello family, who were supposedly the inspiration for the Capulets. The Juliet statue is visited by over a quarter million people each year, although they may not know that the statue in the courtyard now is a duplicate of the original which was made by Nereo Costantini in 1968. It was moved indoors and replaced with a duplicate statue in 2014.

The original Juliet statue, which is inside Juliet's House

From the Verona Porta Nuova train station we found a taxi driver who dropped us off in a huge crowd of people, saying that our hotel was about a block to the left. Walking through the very crowded streets with our suitcases, we found Juliet's House. We decided to take the chance that they would let us in with our suitcases because we knew that we were already late for our appointed ticket time, and that Juliet's House would be closing soon. Thankfully, they agreed to hide our suitcases behind their front counter while we toured the house.

We climbed the stairs to each floor and each room. There are some openings in the walls where people have left locks on cords. There is a mailbox where one can leave a love letter for Juliet. And finally, there is the line to wait in to take a photo on the balcony. We stood in line several times because we wanted several different vantage points of the balcony. Upstairs there is a window that is perfectly situated to catch a photo of someone standing on the balcony. I also went out in the courtyard to catch a photo of my daughter standing on the balcony. Juliet's House was about to close, so we had to retrieve our suitcases from behind the counter and go out into the courtyard, which stays open until 7 p.m. We tried to get photos with the Juliet statue, but the courtyard was completely packed, and people kept crowding around Juliet to take photos, so when my daughter did finally have a chance for a photo it was very rushed. We were disappointed, but decided we had better make our way through the large crowd and figure out where our hotel was. We were about to leave the courtyard, when I looked over to the right and saw steps leading into what appeared to be a hotel entrance. I decided to try it, and the door was locked. Luckily, a guest to the hotel came at that exact moment and explained that we needed to ring the bell for entrance to the hotel. I rang the bell and was soon greeted by a member of the hotel staff. This was indeed our hotel - the entrance is inside Juliet's courtyard. He brought us inside and gave us the code to enter the hotel, as well as a key to the exterior gate so that we could come and go during our stay.

Letters to Juliet mailbox

view from the balcony of Juliet's House

Locks in the wall at Juliet's House

Our room was amazing! I had chosen a room that overlooked Juliet's Balcony, and it also had a jetted tub in it! It was very modern, very beautiful, and very comfortable. My only regret is that I had chosen not to purchase the breakfast when booking the hotel, and I found out once we were there that breakfast would have been delivered to our room. If I ever go back to Verona, I will pay the extra amount for breakfast. I am sure it would have also been amazing!

After 7 o'clock had passed and the huge crowds had been sent out of the courtyard, we ventured out of the hotel. We were completely alone in Juliet's courtyard. We were able to take many photos in peace, although tourists were standing outside the gates taking photos of us as we took photos with Juliet. Then we unlocked the gate and went out into the streets. Each time we came out or went in the gate, people outside the gate asked us to let them inside. We felt bad telling them no, but did not allow any of them to enter, even those planning to only take a quick photo.

Juliet in the courtyard

Gate to Juliet's' house

Juliet's balcony

The empty courtyard from Juliet's point of view, looking at the entrance to the hotel

We walked the busy, crowded streets at night and did some shopping and ate dinner. Piazza della Erbe was magical at night. Even more magical, was visiting it at 8 in the morning the next day when it was completely empty! It was almost like two separate worlds, seeing it completely full of people verses completely empty, as well as seeing it at night and then in the morning. We found a bakery to buy some breakfast before leaving the hotel and heading to a corner on Piazza della Erbe where we saw "Taxi" posted. We rode the taxi to our rental car company, which was right next to the train station. We rented our car from Locauto, which was right next to the Verona Porta Nuova train station. Their address is Piazzale 25 Aprile, 6 - 37138 in Verona. Their workers were friendly and spoke English. Their website is here:

Locauto Verona Train Station

First we drove the car to church, because it was a Sunday. Then we followed the car's navigation and also our Google maps on our phone to visit Veja Natural Bridge. Ponte di Veja is a 35 minute drive from the Verona train station. It is a beautiful, winding drive through the mountains to the parking lot for the trailhead. The parking is free in the trailhead parking lot. It's a very easy walk to stand on top of the arch, which is level with the trail. It's also an easy and very short walk down to admire the arch from below, to walk under the arch, and to hike behind the arch. We did the hike in our Sunday dresses and shoes. Ponte di Veja is the largest natura bridge in Europe. It is 150 feet high, 120 feet long, and 60 feet wide. There are fences on top of the arch to prevent people from falling off it. By contrast, the famous Delicate Arch in Utah is only 52 feet high.

We drove back to the rental car office just in time to drop off the car and catch our train to Florence. It was a great stay in Verona!