Bologna or Verona as a base withut a car for a week

Since you’re interested in visiting lakes and mountains, I think Verona would be a good choice. You could take a quick train ride over to Peschiera del Garda, at the southeast corner of Lake Garda, and take ferry boats to explore more of the lake. For mountains, you could take a train to Bolzano, and explore further by bus if you wish.

Verona is very close to Lake Garda by train. Also, Padova, Vicenza, or Venice are easy day trips. I took a cooking class and a city bike tour with Veronality last time I stayed in Verona. I would contact them and let them know you’re traveling solo and flexible - just want something that won’t be cancelled last-minute because of group size.

https://www.veronality.com/en/

Modena & Parma are easy to reach by train from Bologna. Both have excellent food choices, and there are food tours that begin in Bologna and go to those cities, too.

I know the frustration of trying to sign up as a solo person joining a group activity! Some of the sites won’t let one person sign up, only two or more. And I had a food tour in Parma cancel on me the night before the event - ugh! So, my advice is to always have some Plan B activity ideas, just in case.

Here’s a nice easy daytrip from Verona: take the train to Desenzano del Garda, the stop after Peschiera del Garda. Check the ferry schedule from there to Sirmione, and down from the train station to the old town area and the lakeshore and ferry dock. Buy a RT ticket and board the next ferry for the short scenic ride to Sirmione. Head first to the Grottoes di Catullus at the tip of the peninsula, then work you way back through town with stops that interest you. If time before the next ferry there is a castle to visit as well.

https://www.bresciatourism.it/en/things-to-do/catullus-grottoes-sirmione/

Hi phaedra,

I've not been to Bologna, but we did stop in Verona on our way to Dolomites from Venice.

Verona was lovely, with a lot of things to see and explore (less "big sights"), I'd spend more time there if I could do it again.

It's an easy train ride north to Bolzano, which has some great sights (we saw Otzi!) and going up to the Dolomites from Bolzano via bus was easy too.

Hope this is somewhat helpful!

Thank you so much for all your suggestions. I decided to stay in Bologna for a week before my tour and take lots of day trips to Verona etc.

Be sure to visit Ravenna—-the mosaics are stunning.

I suggest you lose Regionale trains as much as possible for your Bologna daytrips. They depart from tracks at street level, close to the main entrance from the city center.

The fast Frecce and Italo trains depart from platforms deep underground, with several levels of escalators and long corridors. The signage going down is pretty good, but coming back up make sure you know the name of the side you are heading to (probably the main entrance on the south side of the station). It is not signed “City Center” or Centro as one might expect.

If you end up at the monorail to the airport you’ve gone the wrong way.

Ravenna is wonderful but the mosaics are in the churches, baptistery and also one archaelogical site for a domus area. I love Ravenna. Rimini is also a good day trip from Bologna as well as Modena and Parma. There are some food tours in Bologna (I have a friend that is a guide). There are also some fun bike tours in the area where you go from a winery to a cheese place etc. Castelvetro is very popular for this and is off the beaten path but can be reached by regional trains and buses. Bologna is a great choice to be able to reach many nearby places.

I’m happy to see you chose Bologna. It is very different from Florence and Venice and other main centers and may seem sleepy in comparison, but it is a delightful city with lots of good food and some very interesting sites to visit. Try to take a day and walk (really it’s a hike) up to San Luca. If going uphill for the distance is not to your liking, there are roads to it, but I’m not sure about public transportation.
The Santo Stefano complex is well worth a visit and there is a vibrant piazza in front of it. Bologna is very walkable and easy to navigate. I think you will have a wonderful visit.