My husband and I will be driving past Bologna on our way to Venice this spring. We'll be doing a 5 hour trip on the autostrada (we're coming from Pescara on the adriatic coast where my husband will be working and will already have a rental car). I was wondering if there would be an easy way to stop for lunch in Bologna and take an hour or so to see the city centre...but it's not in my 2010 guide book and I'm lost without Rick. Can anyone tell me if there is an easy-to-get-to parking lot on the outskirt of Bologna with some sort of public transport into the centre?
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
This website might help you: www.autostazionebo.it It has all the information on the Bologna bus system, plus driving directions from the autostrada to the bus system's parking lots.
Posted by
OP
Belleville, Ontario, Canada
58 posts
Wow, thanks for the quick response. From this website, I can see how to get to a parking lot at the bus station, but it is located pretty much in the city centre, close to the train station. Is anyone familiar with driving in this area? It looks pretty straight forward, just take an exit off the ring road and keep going until you see the station, but how crazy is the traffic?
Posted by
Denver
787 posts
Last fall, we drove from our car rental place, which was within a block of the train station. It wasn't too bad to get out of the city from there. On a previous trip, several years ago, we drove to Bologna for a day trip (from Ferrera). As I recall, we followed signs for parking lots, and parked in a public pay lot close to the train station, on the north side of the city, under some sort of market. We could walk everywhere we wanted to go from there. It was somewhat annoying to drive there, but not horrible. Looking at Google maps, I think we parked at (under) Piazza 8 Agosto
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA, USA
1003 posts
This may sound awful but one of the reasons bologna is so wonderful, in my opinion, is because Rick ignores it. If you pick a lunch place carefully, you may have one of the best meals of your life.
Posted by
Dallas, TX, USA
1170 posts
The entire (historic) city center is a restricted traffic zone (Zona Traffico Limitato: ZTL). Everything within the road that rings the historic city center will be off-limits to you by car. You should probably park at or around the train station and take a taxi from there as it will be fairly easy to get to and to find adequate parking. I found this link where you can book your parking in advance. http://www.myparking.eu/parcheggio_bologna.php
Posted by
Cesena, Italy
791 posts
If the rental doesn't have a GPS I would highly suggest bringing one with you. With the roundabouts, one way streets etc etc the GPS can make things alot easier than just using a map. It should also give you an option to find parking lots.
Posted by
OP
Belleville, Ontario, Canada
58 posts
Thanks Scott, this looks like a great website. Does anyone know how far it is from the train station to the historic centre? Is it walkable? Any restaurant suggestions?
Posted by
Dallas, TX, USA
1170 posts
The historic center begins just inside the ring road across from the train station and the ZTL starts a few blocks inside this ring. This link has a downloadable map of the Bologna ZTL (mappa ZTL): http://www.comune.bologna.it/trasporti/servizi/2:3023/2993/ It certainly is a walkable distance, but it would be a long walk. Your goal would be the Piazza Maggiore where the (unfinished) Duomo is located. Radiating out from here, especially to the left of the Duomo facade, you will find a lot of good restaurants and shopping. It's not your regular touristy eats and shopping.
Posted by
Florence
362 posts
I drove up from Florence a couple of years ago and used one of the garages by the station. It was okay, just followed the signs, and had a print out of a Google map. The parking was underground and we came up not far from the center. Bologna is great - if you have a chance the Morandi museum is free and wonderful -