Village Italy Flight Question

Have you considered how many connections there are to fly home from Venice vs. Bologna? I would take that in to consideration. I love Venice, but do you plan to stay there for a couple days before flying home. I do see Bologna is much closer. I took this tour years ago and loved it, but we ended in Lago de Orta, I believe. I do recall the tour guide helped plan our transportation to Milan to group folks together who were taking flights out of there.

Anyway, just some thoughts. It does seem Bologna is very close & there are several flight options to US.

I took this tour a few years ago when it ended near Milan. However, one consideration you need to take into account is that flights out of Venice with international connections usually leave very early in the morning. Since Modena is more than three hours from the Venice airport, you would most likely need to spend at least one night in Venice before your flight. This may negate any savings on the airfare. It looks like the Bologna airport is less than an hour from Modena, so you could possibly leave the same day as the tour ends. Of course, you may WANT an extra day in Venice!

There is also the cost of getting to the airports - most likely cheaper to get to Bologna. You may be able to share transportation with other tour members, especially to Bologna if most tour members are leaving from there. The tour guide usually helps organize these airport runs.

The trip from Modena to Bologna is a regionale local train connection and there is a tram from the train station to the airport. If you stay in the city not really close to the train station is ~20e taxi ride to airport from downtown.

From Bologna to Venice is a fast train from Bologna to Venice Mestre (on the mainland) and then a bus or cab to the airport. Connections from Venice proper to the airport are also complicated by the Venice infrastructure. If you have an early Venice flight - many are - it makes the most sense to stay in an airport adjacent hotel the morning of your flight. All of this is manageable and after that long in Italy staying at the airport hotel is a disappointing, if very sensible, finale to your trip. (I speak from experience.)

It is all really just logistics of getting to the airport. MIlan and Venice airports are modern style and well outside the town itself while Bologna, Florence and Pisa airports are very close to the city itself. So "flying out of Milan/Venice/Rome" always involves the extra time of the actual city to airport connection. The trade off is that Bologna is an older airport that often (always?) requires the old school walk to the stairs boarding rather than the sleek elevated walkway directly onto the plane.

As always it is a trade off of time and expense versus your schedule. If the flights are cheaper and your are going to stay a night in either Bologna or Venice it mostly comes down to what you do on your last night. I love Venice and would always encourage people spend their extra days there, but it is logistically a difficult city to fly out of - especially early.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

Also note that, if your flight leaves Venice airport at 6:30am it is rare to find a hotel near Venice airport with a shuttle that leaves in time to get you to the airport at 4:30am and it won't be free. On booking.com, hotels say "shuttle," but they are either later in the day or are just from not to the airport. So, figure in the cost of that taxi to Venice airport.

Unless you plan to spend some time in Venice before coming home, you should fly out of Bologna.
Of course consider that Bologna has no non stop flights to North America so depending on where you are going and the availability of flights you might decide to go all the way to Milan or Venice if they have direct non stop flights to your destination.

Yes, I confirm that Bologna airport has no jetway bridges, so you will take a bus airside from the gate to the plane on the tarmac then the stairs up to the plane. They plan to build them by 2028, with the proposed airport expansion.

Modena is easy transportation for travelers. Unless you want to add Venice to your itinerary, there’s a direct train 90-minute to Milan from Modena. I find Milan’s Malpensa airport to be easier morning flights than flying home from Venice. For Malpensa, I stay at the MOXY airport hotel - very handy, and I sleep well there.

I’m always flying Delta or one of their partners, so my options are Milan, Rome & Venice with Milan & Rome being the less expensive choices.

I haven't taken this tour, but you haven't gotten any other responses, so I'll give you my thoughts.

I really like both Modena and Venice, and spent quite a few nights in each place, on different trips (and in Bologna). Modena obviously doesn't have the tourist sights and sites that Venice does, but it also has fewer people, is a delightful place to walk around and see people who live there living their lives. If you could swing an extra night in Modena, you may enjoy that. I like Bologna for the food and the youthful vibe (I am not youthful myself). If you are considering spending, for example, two nights in Bologna or Venice as your departure city, then decide based on the cost and on which city's attractions appeal to you the most. Also look at what time the flights leave from Venice and Bologna. I've never departed from Venice, but have read that flights tend to leave pretty early in the morning.