Has anyone used bologna as a central location. We are thinking of staying for a week and use rail for day trips. Also any airbnb recs would be appreciated. Thank you
Posted by
185 posts
If you search “Bologna” and choose forum posts within the last 6 months or year, you’ll find many posts with tons of information.
Posted by
163 posts
I just returned from a trip to Italy, where Bologna was my last base city. I stayed at a fantastic Airbnb in a great location for exploring on foot, but it was a 34 minute walk from the train station. If it were my trip and I wanted to take numerous day trips, I'd make sure my lodging option was nearer to the station.
I had intended on making a day trip to Ravenna from Bologna, but had my fill of crowds and tour groups during my stays in Venice and Florence, as well as my day trip to Siena and was worried I'd encounter the same in Ravenna, so I opted to explore more of Bologna which was very enjoyable.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
2257 posts
Hello wvanwyk, and welcome to the forum,
Bologna is a good central location for visiting a lot of places - larger places Florence, Verona, Padua and even Vernice on the fast train. And smaller places Modena, Parma, and Ferrara are good candidates. Bologna train station is famously sprawling and also has underground parts so leave extra time until you know exactly where you're going.
Bologna is also large and interesting enough to explore for a couple of days on its own so be sure to leave some room in the schedule for the town itself. I find it nice to take local break days between day trips so it doesn't start to feel like another day trekking to the train station and heading somewhere day after day like its your job.
As noted this has been discussed a fair amount recently so searching previous threads will reveal a lot of good information.
Have a great trip and reach out if you have questions about towns or transportation when you start planning in detail.
=Tod