If you are looking for an easy weekend trip to Italy, to enjoy Italian culture and historical heritage away from mass tourism, Padua (or Padova in Italian) might be your answer. This lovely Italian city comes nothing short of, you will find there a bunch of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, good restaurants, a vibrant city life, great shopping, and lots to see and do. So, if you are looking for a 4-day itinerary in Padua for your next city trip, I’ve got you covered. This is exactly what I did during my long weekend in Padua.
Read more: Best things to see and do in Padua
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How to get to Padua?
It’s quite easy to travel to Padua. You can fly either to the Marco Polo Airport of Venice or to the airport of Treviso and then take the public transport to Padua. I flew to Treviso and had a private taxi arranged via my accommodation to pick me up at the airport, which was quite convenient and absolutely not expensive even if you travel on a budget.
If you fly into Treviso, there is a direct bus from the airport (line 101) to Padua. The journey takes about hour and a half. If you fly into Marco Polo Airport, you can get to Mestre and then take the train or the bus (line 15) to Padua, and all this in about an hour.
Pro tip: Check out on Omio.com for all transportation options (flights, buses or trains) to and from Padua.
4 days in Padua – suggested Padua itinerary
A few years ago my Italian teacher was telling us that many people rush to Venice and just forget about Padua. She told us so vividly about the frescoes of Giotto and the big villas along the Brenta canal, as if she herself had been there. Well, she hadn’t, but a passionate story teller she was, she won me to visit this city one day.
So, this is what I did during my 4 days in Padua. This itinerary covers most of the attractions in Padua, including a boat trip on the Brenta Canal to Venice.
On the map below, you can find all attractions in Padua included in this itinerary:
Day 1 in Padua
Walk the streets of Padua
Plan half a day to spend on discovering the city, making sure you are walking all those arcaded streets from the Duomo to the Piazza dei Signori, Piazza dei Frutti and Piazza delle Erbe, up to the Piazza Eremitani and all the way down to Prato della Valle.
The best way to discover the city is to walk around. Do not forget to stop from time to time to enjoy a cup of cappuccino, or a glass of Moretti if it is an extremely hot day, and observe the passers-by and everyday life. Alternatively, you can take a 2,5 hour walking tour to see most of the sights.
Fun fact: Talking about cappuccino, you should know that Italians have a cappuccino etiquette, and the hot beverage is to be consumed strictly in the morning. But hey, we as tourists can afford drinking a cappuccino in the afternoon, or not?
Visit the Botanical Garden
When visiting a city and there happens to be a botanical garden there, I never miss the chance to visit it. The Botanical Garden of Padua (Orto Botanico) is absolutely worth the visit! It is the world’s oldest academic botanical garden, created in 1545, and is also listed among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It has a historical garden and a biodiversity garden located in a solar active building.
Marvel Giotto’s masterpiece – The Scrovegni Chapel
One of the reasons to visit Padua was that I wanted to see Giotto’s frescoes. Giotto (1267-1337) – the father of the Italian Renaissance, was one of the first painters who diverted from the flat images of the Byzantine painting traditions.
When visiting the Scrovegni Chapel, take a good look of the faces on the walls: they are so vivid and full of emotions! I must admit, I had the impression that Giotto knew quite a lot of beautiful women. The frescoes in this small chapel are simply mesmerizing.
Unfortunately, you can’t enjoy them endlessly, unless you visit the chapel multiple times. To visit the chapel, you need to book tickets in advance and visitors are allowed in the chapel in small groups, first having to wait in a climate controlled room.
The Scrovegni Chapel is a good example of how sites of high cultural and historical value are being preserved in a sustainable way. Let’s be straight on this one: we, as tourists, do our utmost to ruin our monuments by loving them too much.
The Scrovegni Chapel has been included on the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2021 together with seven other sites in Padua under the name of Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles.
Day 2 in Padua
Spend half a day shopping in Padua
Yes! Spend the day shopping! Padua is a city that offers not only a fine combination of art, history, culture, this special academic halo (the university of Padua is the second oldest in Italy, established in 1222), but also a whole lot of shops, scattered around the historical center.
When you are shopping around, just do not forget to look up and around, then you won’t miss for sure some of the highlights in Padua:
- Palazzo del Capitanio
- Loggia della Gran Guardia
- Palazzo della Ragione
- Palazzi communali
- Cafè Pedrocchi
- Palazzo del Bo
- Palazzo Zabarella
You can also book a special shopping tour with sightseeing in Padua.
Visit Padua’s Cathedral – Il Duomo
Il Duomo is the cathedral of Padua. It took 200 years (1551-1754) to build it and the facade has still remained unfinished. It has been initially designed by Michelangelo, but later on the designs have been changed.
Enjoy a drink on the square in front of the cathedral. Highly recommended is the Pizzeria al Duomo.
Day 3 in Padua
Take a boat trip on the Brenta Canal
If you happen to be in Padua between March and October you should go on a boat trip on the Brenta canal with Il Burchiello. You’ll cruise the Brenta canal all the way to Venice, visiting 3 villas: Villa Pisani, Villa Widmann and Villa Foscari, aka the Malcontenta.
The villas were actually summer residences of the wealthy built throughout the 16th, 17th and the 18th centuries. You can spot frescoes of Veronese or Tiepolo and enjoy the Vitruvian beauty of the Palladio’s architectural genius. The Paladian Malcontenta is another masterpiece on the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Read more: Read: Do you want to learn more about this boat trip, read my experience about Brenta Canal cruise.
Spend a couple of hours in Venice
At the end of this amazing Brenta canal trip a city will open to you with all its beauty and grandeur – Venice. There’s no better way to enter Venice, than from the water. It gives this special feeling of the city offering itself to you, like it did in the glorious days of the Maritime Republics to the sailors arriving there.
Venice is not a city for a day but you can make the most out of it in a few hours by allowing yourself to get lost in its labyrinth of alleys and channels. At a certain moment all tourists will be gone in the evening and you will find yourself all alone on a bridge and then you will have Venice all for yourself! And if you fall in love with the city, you will come back again one day.
At the end of the day, you can go back to Padua by train. There’s a train each 20 minutes from Santa Lucia train station and it takes about 25 minutes from Venice to Padua.
Day 4 in Padua
Visit the Observatory
The former tower of the Carrarese Castle has been transformed into an astronomical observatory in the 18th century. It’s not one of the most popular attractions in Padua, but you can learn quite a lot by visiting it. The Specola (the way the Observatory is called among the Italians) hosts today the astronomical museum.
Pay tribute to Il Santo (St. Anthony of Padua)
The name of Saint Anthony is immediately associated with the name of the city. Saint Anthony is the patron saint of Padua. The Basilica of Saint Anthony forms a large complex together with the Franciscan Friary (a network of 5 cloisters) and the Oratory of Saint George.
The relics of St. Anthony are kept in the Treasury Chapel and the basilica is one of the international shrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Il Santo is a must-see in Padua.
Do not forget to take a break at one of the cafés across the square where you can enjoy a refreshing gelato feasting your eyes on the church, the square and the statue of Gattamelata, cast by Donatello.
Discover Padua’s markets
Spend some time at the famous Padua markets hosted on the three central squares of the city: Piazza dei Signori, Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Frutti. Smell Italy! Taste Italy! Sense Italy! And when you just think you’ve seen it all, visit Palazzo della Ragione, the old town hall of Padua, where on the ground floor you will find numerous deli shops.
And just like magic, all stalls will be cleared in the late afternoon and Piazza dei Signori will turn into a big outdoor restaurant with all cafés and restaurants claiming their terrace space under the big tower with the astronomical clock built in 1344.
The markets in Padua are so popular, that you can even do a special markets tour.
Where to stay in Padua?
I stayed in this beautiful one-bedroom apartment just one block away from the cathedral and right in the historical heart of the city. I’ve booked the apartment via AirBNB, but it’s not available anymore.
There’s one thing however that I can recommend, when searching for a place to stay in Padua, have a place in the historical center, within the old town walls. Thus all sites will be within a walking distance.
Check here for the best places to stay in Padua: Booking.com
