5 days in Verona - day trips?

Take the train to Mantova (Mantua), lovely small city with great buildings surrounded on three sides by water. It has been designated a World Heritage site. Although I have not been myself, a lot of people seem to like Padova (Padua)

Padua

We spent a week (again) in Verona this summer. Mantua is worth a day trip; it is 30 minutes by train and in a lovely water setting. Don't miss the fortress, the rooms are quite incredible. Padua is interesting, but mainly for the Scrovegni Chapel (you'll need reservations). The markets are the main interest in Padua, as is the large assembly hall right next to them. The rest of Padua is (IMHO) a large, somewhat modern city with little to merit the trip. Verona to Venice is a quick trip on a ICE.

In 2007 we really enjoyed visiting Verona as it is a lovely town. We were staying near Lake Garda and also visited Mantova (info in Lonely Planet book) which is very nice and untouristy and surrounded by the Mincio River. On our way back from Mantova, on the recommendation of the family running our agriturismo, we stopped at Valeggio Sul Mincio and Borghetto Sul Mincio (located north of Mantova) which is a hamlet of Valeggio located on the Mincio River. It is beautiful and home of the best tortellini in Italy. There is a large Scaligero castle in Valeggio and in June they put out tables across the Visconti Bridge in Borghetto for a huge tortellini festival. We were here in the summer and we loved it but don't know what it is like in the winter months. We also had a car so don't know what train connections are. Also visited the Scrovegni Chapel in Padova which is beautiful. On Lake Garda we enoyed the villages of Riva del Garda, LaZise, Torre del Benaco, Bardolino and Garda. Buon Viaggio!

Forgot to add in above posting--we also enjoyed Sirmoine on the south side of Lake Garda. Very beautiful here!

thanks for the replies everyone! Has anyone been to Bologna? I've heard that could be done as a day trip from Verona also?

Recently returned from Italy. We spent our entire time in Tuscany but did spend one day/night in lovely Bologna and really enjoyed it. I think you could easily do a daytrip from Verona to Bologna. According to the Trenitalia website from Verona to Bologna the EuroStar takes only 52 minutes, InterCity 1:55 and regionale trains range from 1:21 to 2:19.

Vicenza is packed with Palladio and quite close. We spent a nice day there. Easy to walk in a day for our interests. Also, the single most outstanding dish of pasta in my Italian history. We spent a month in Italy, including a couple of days in Bologna, which goes down in my book as nice enough but nothing I would hurry back to. Perhaps like Dennis's Padua, Bologna came across to me as a regular working city with little that floated my boat. On the other hand, I liked Padua a lot...so go figure, 'cause I can't. If nothing, it reinforces for me just how personal travel experiences can be for different people. And how different experiences ( that bowl of noodles, the nice family who ran the hotel ) can color one's own impressions. Have a great time!

Since you'll be in the Veneto region, I recommend Portogruaro. We stayed there for 10 days this summer and loved it for its lively and walkable town center. It has canals too, lovely stores, markets, cafes and restaurants. Not a lot of museums, but it is an easy day trip by train to/from Venice, Vicenza, Verona and Padova. We visited all of them but spent the rest of the time enjoying "our" town. It is also close to Trieste and Adriatic beaches.