Is the Bologna train station and airport in the same place? If my flight arrives in Bologna at 5:45 pm, what's the earliest train I could/should book out? Is 6:45 safe, or should I wait until 7:45? I'm leaning toward 7:45 since we'll be coming from Istanbul with bags.
Posted by
Green Bay
21348 posts
No, the airport is outside of town. There is a bus or you can get a cab.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16232 posts
It is hard to predict if your flight will arrive on time, or how quickly you'll be able to retrieve your luggage and go through customs, or how long you'll need to wait for the aero-bus (which departs every 30 min and takes 20 min to get to the station). You don't need to book any train. Just get to the station and buy a ticket on the spot at the ticket window or the automatic kiosks. Train seats don't sell out and they are very frequent. I don't know where you are going from Bologna, but if you are landing at BLQ I presume you are either staying around there in Emilia or going to Florence/Tuscany. Either way the train trip will be short and the full train fare is not that high on short trips. Purchasing in advance a discounted ticket won't save you much on a short trip. If you have a discounted ticket purchased in advance and you can't make that specific train, your money will be lost, because discounted tickets are non refundable and non changeable. The risk of losing your money is not worth the small discount you'll get on a short trip ticket. PS: If you go to Florence the full train fare is 25 Euro. The aerobus to the station is 6 euro (more if you take a taxi). So the total would be 31 euro. However for Florence you should also consider the AppenninoShuttle bus which takes you directly from BLQ airport to Florence for 19 Euro total. The trains are fast but since the bus takes you directly from the airport to Florence non stop, the time of travel is comparable to the train (probably shorter).
http://www.appenninoshuttle.it/
Posted by
Bromley, Kent,, UK
1829 posts
It costs us about 15 euro from the railway station to Bologna airport by taxi. So not much more than the airport bus and much more comfortable. Here is the airport bus timetable http://www.atc.bo.it/sites/atc.bo.it/files/Orario_BLQ_Aerobus_dal_10_giugno_2012.pdf
Posted by
Used to be Steilacoom, now it’s Las Vegas
2324 posts
If you feel like you should have advance reservations, then I'd opt for the 7:45 train. We found our way through the airport easily -it's not that big. It was easy to find the bus, and we were moving along smartly, until we hit rush hour traffic. I was sweating bullets that we would be in time to collect our tickets from the agent (no chip & pin card for the automatic machine)and find the train. We did, but it was more nerve-wracking than I like. You could always wait til you get there, as suggested. The train you want will have a name. Knowing the name, not just time or destination,made it easier to find on the departure board.
Posted by
Used to be Steilacoom, now it’s Las Vegas
2324 posts
If you feel like you should have advance reservations, then I'd opt for the 7:45 train. We found our way through the airport easily -it's not that big. It was easy to find the bus, and we were moving along smartly, until we hit rush hour traffic. I was sweating bullets that we would be in time to collect our tickets from the agent (no chip & pin card for the automatic machine)and find the train. We did, but it was more nerve-wracking than I like. You could always wait til you get there, as suggested. The train you want will have a name. Knowing the name, not just time or destination,made it easier to find on the departure board.