Trento · Go deeper
Getting around
You can happily live here without a car, your nearest airport is Verona, and the trains are your friend. This is a compact, walkable alpine city with a real bus network, so daily life in town runs on your own two feet and the odd bus ride. Trento sits right on the Brenner line, the main rail artery through the Alps, which puts Verona, Venice, and even Innsbruck across the border within an easy ride. You’ll want wheels for the high mountain villages and the ski lifts, but for the city itself, and for reaching the wider world, the train does the heavy lifting.
Getting there
By air, the long-haul leg
Arriving from far away, you’ll connect through a major European hub, then take a short hop or a train down into the valley; there’s no long-haul service into Trento itself. Fly the long leg into a big European gateway and finish the trip by air to Verona or by rail.
Verona (Valerio Catullo), the airport you’ll actually use
About an hour south by car or train, this is your closest practical airport, with a solid spread of domestic and European routes. For a wider choice of flights, Venice and Bergamo are both reachable by rail in a couple of hours and often worth the extra leg.
By train
This is the good news. Trento sits on the Brenner corridor, the main north-south rail line through the Alps, so fast and regional trains run straight through all day. Verona and the rest of Italy lie to the south, Bolzano and the Austrian border to the north. Rough times below. For most arrivals, the train is the easiest way in.
By car
Coming from the south, the A22 Brennero autostrada runs right up the valley from Verona to Trento and on to the Brenner Pass; from the north you drop down the same road from Austria. It’s a simple drive, but once you’re settled in the city you may find you rarely need the car except for the mountains.
Around the city
On foot
The center is compact, handsome, and made for walking, and most daily life in town happens on foot. The historic core is tight and largely pedestrian-friendly, so for everyday errands you simply walk.
City and regional buses (Trentino Trasporti)
Trento has a genuine, well-run urban bus network, plus regional and valley routes reaching out into the mountains. A city ticket is €1.20 for 70 minutes or €1.50 for 120, a day ticket good until midnight is €3.00, and buying on board costs €2.00. This is a city where public transport actually works. Fares and monthly passes on Trentino Trasporti ›
By bike
Trento is flat on the valley floor and bike-friendly, with cycle paths along the Adige river and a local bike-share. In the warmer months plenty of residents get around on two wheels; in deep winter, less so.
A note on driving and parking
There’s a ZTL (limited-traffic zone) covering the historic center, so you don’t drive into the old core, you park at the edge and walk in. Parking otherwise is manageable and far less fraught than a packed resort town. Many residents keep a car for the mountains and weekends but leave it parked during the week.
Intercity coaches (FlixBus / Itabus)
The cheap way to move between cities, FlixBus and similar run to the bigger northern destinations. Slower than the train on most routes here, but sometimes cheaper, worth checking both. Routes and fares on FlixBus ›
Train connections — from Trento station
Trento sits on the Brenner line, so the region’s hubs and the cities beyond are a short ride away. Rough fastest times:
Bolzano
about 35–45m
Verona
about 1h
Venice
about 2h 15m (change at Verona)
Innsbruck (Austria)
about 2h 15m
Milan
about 2h 45m (change at Verona)
Rome
about 4h 30m (change at Verona/Bologna)
Rough fastest times, check Trenitalia for live schedules.
One note
One thing to understand about Alpine travel: it follows the valleys. You can’t just cut cross-country to the next valley over the way you might on a plain, the mountains decide the routes, and a trip that looks short on a map can mean going down one valley and up another. The saving grace is the Brenner rail line running right through Trento, which makes the main north-south journeys easy. Plan around the ridgelines and you’ll find it remarkably well connected for the mountains.