My husband and I will be staying in Bologna in October and want to visit the Ferrari and Maserati Museums/factories. Is it possible to do on our own taking the train from Bologna or are we better off taking a private tour? Does anyone have any recommendations for a tour operator there?
I'm just responding to tell you we very much enjoyed Manarola. Be sure to walk the path thru the vineyards above the city and go out to the point (where the cemetery is) I highly recommend Billy's restaurant with exceptional food and wonderful views over the town and ocean.
Though we are planning to get there, we have never been to Bologna. We got to Manarola via train from Varenna (Lake Como) with a train change in Milan. I am quite certain you can easily get to Manarola from Bologna and I doubt you need a private guide/tour to get to Manarola nor do you need one to visit Manarola or the other CT cities.
Next to Manarola is Riomaggiore. Both the towns are less touristy. We enjoyed walking around both of them.
The Rick Steves guide has a lot of information for visiting Cinque Terre as well as info regarding transportation to CT and between the towns.
Move from Bologna to Modena by train is easy and fast: every 30 minutes (more or less) there is a local train that cost only few euros.
Maserati factory is like 1 mile far from the train station, so you can go there walking without problems.
Almost middle way there is the Enzo Ferrari museum, so another place easily accessible from the train station.
To reach the Ferrari museum in Maranello instead the suggestion is to use one of the Ferrari shuttle: https://www.vivaraviaggi.it/happy_circle.php?happy_circle=6 (it stops even in front of the train station). Another solution to go to Maranello is a taxi.
As suggestion for tours in Emilia Romagna is Italygate, a little tour operator based in Modena and specialized in food and motor tours.