What to do after Bologna

Not sure if your dates roll into June. There’s several festivals I’ve attended - Pisa night of the river’s buildings outlined in wax candles (Feast of St. Ranieri) and Arezzo (Giostra del Saracino), the Verona Opera season in their Roman Arena.

Ferrara has a castle in the city center & very authentic nice town with amazing food. Bikes are popular in that town. It’s a direct train from Ferrara to Ravenna to see all of the historical mosaics with a combo ticket.

It’s probably too early in the season to consider the Dolomites, but that area is a nice contrast with Bologna. Were you thinking something more outdoors or okay with museums, etc?

Where will you fly home from?

One proposal - extend your time in Bologna and add day trips. Possible locations include Parma, Modena, and Ferrara. Some would also recommend Ravenna, but I’d spend at least two night there especially because then you have time to get out to Classe just outside Ravenna. If you have a total of six - seven nights, this would be a full trip. Head to Ravenna when you land for your time there and then back to Bologna for the balance of the trip.

Bologna is well-connected to many other northern Italian cities. So, I agree with HK: choose it as a hub and take some day trips.

You could experience Bologna to the fullest for 2-3 nights and, with an emphasis on variety, intersperse day trips to:

• Verona or Padua
• Ravenna

Note: You'd see plenty of beautiful mosaics in Ravenna w/o visiting Classe.

Of course, my suggestion is contingent on your arrival and departure points and family's interests - none of which you shared. :)

Emilia-Romagna region has a lot to offer if you want to do visits without lose too much time moving to another place.
What you like more? How do you move? That's is very important to understand what to suggest. Are you fond of cars: maybe a factory tour or a museum visit (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ducati, Pagani....)?
Are you more on food? Why not visit some food producers like dairies of Parmigiano-Reggiano, Ham makers, Traditional Balsamic Vinegar... End of May is the beginning of cherry harvest: maybe you can visit Vignola and the cherry festival (on top of a wonderful XCV century fortress).
On top of Bologna three cities of Emilia-Romagna are UNESCO World Heritage: Modena, Ravenna, Ferrara. If you like history and monuments could be an idea.

Thank you for all the responses! We love everything, which can make planning difficult, but at least we are easy to please. As for activities, we like both cultural exploration (i.e. Doge's Palace tour when we traveled to Venice and Pompeii and Herculaneum when we were in Naples) as well as active adventures (we hired a small boat and spent the day swimming and exploring a small part the Amalfi coast as well as hiking Mt. Vesuvius). We will fly home from Milan. Can someone comment on whether or not Cinque Terre has become a tourist trap? Would Lake Como area be a better choice? Could be do both? I know the visits to both would be rushed, but we really do want to see as much as possible. If you could only choose one, which would it be? We are traveling the last week of May and beginning of June. Thank you again.

We will fly home from Milan.

You will need to be in Milan or near the airport night before your departure flight. Being anywhere else is a risk- unless your flight is late afternoon- which is doubtful if you are flying to US.

Can someone comment on whether or not Cinque Terre has become a
tourist trap? Would Lake Como area be a better choice? Could be do
both?

Both areas have become overrun with tourists. I would pick only one if you must. Read thru some of the threads here about crowding at both locations. CT is a long haul from Bologna so that's a half day at least wasted on travel.

Alternatively consider Lake Maggiore- Stresa is closer to MXP than Milan and has direct bus to the airport so can stay there night before departure.

I agree with above- I would add at least 1 night to Bologna- as it is you have just 1 full day. There are so many great day trips from Bologna- take advantage of that and don't move around so much. I would give Bologna 4 nights- 2 full days for Bologna and 1 day trip on the 3rd full day.

Between Bologna and Milan- Brescia, Bergamo are both interesting worthwhile stops.

What are your interests?

You've told us your family will be:
- In Italy for 4-5 nights, late May-early June.
- In Bologna for 2 of the nights.
- Departing from Milan.

You have not told us:
- What city you'll arrive.
- If you'll rely on train, bus, car or a combination.
- If you have 2-3 unaccounted nights on this trip. (Or actually 1-2 nights, if you take
Christine H's wise advice and stay in Milan the night before your departure flight.)

Please fill in the blanks if you'd like more input.

I second Christine H: let go of the very impractical ideas of visiting CT or both CT and LC on this trip.

Genoa and Turin are two under-touristed cities you might want to research.

Thank you for the suggestions of alternate cities. Additional details regarding our trip:
We arrive in Milan and will be in Italy for a total of 8 nights and 8 full days (not counting our departure day).
Our first stop is Bologna as one of our children is finishing their study aboard program. We will spend from lunch on a Friday to sometime late Sunday or early Monday in the city of Bologna-giving us 3 days full in Bologna. As our child will have been in Bologna for 5 months, they are confident they can guide us through the city in 3 days time.

An additional day, likely Monday, will be spend touring Modena and/or Parma.
That leaves Monday evening for travel to our next desitination-this is where I need help as I'm not sure where to go for the next four full days (Tuesday morning to late Friday).
Friday night we will spend in close proximity to MXP for our 11 AM flight back to the US.

I originally had planned to travel by train, but I am open to renting a car(in our case a minivan). We travel light so either would work.
As I previously mentioned, Cinque terra as always been somewhere we wanted to visit. We absolutely love the coast, any coast, but a great deal of what I am hearing now about CT is not very positive as a result of the crowds (we are traveling at the end of May). If we have a car, would that change anyone's opinion on visiting? We would still want to hike but it might make travel to another town/destination easier......I apologize for not giving adequate details initially. Thanks again for the advice.

Thanks for those helpful details, OP.

Bologna: I agree with your child; 3 full days is perfect. You could even do 2 full days and day trip to Ravenna (1h by train) for the ancient mosaics w/o shortchanging Bologna.

Modena: Okay, it's close to Bologna, and it's the epicenter for balsamic vinegar and luxury sports cars. But....

Here's how I suggest to fill your remaining time.

• Train from Bologna to Verona (~ 1h 40m) on Monday.

imo, Verona would be a much better experience and use of time than Modena. Plus, you wouldn't need to backtrack to Bologna to get to Verona!

• Spend 2 n/1 full day in Verona. It would offer you the history, architecture, and culture you want to experience.

• Train to Bardolino (~ 1h 30m) or train and bus to Garda town (~ 1h 30m) along Lake Garda on Wednesday.

• Spend 2 n/1 full day in either town enjoying Lake Garda coastal and Alpine mountain views by walking, hiking, ferry, or charter boat w/o the tourist traps. You want those things, too, correct?

• Train to Milan (~ 2h) on Friday for a 1/2 d and 1 n stay. Early Saturday morning, you reach MXP for departure.

This itinerary would also be a terrific way to experience the diversity of the Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, and Lombardy regions in northern Italy!

Cinque terre is what you want and you have three days, so I say go for it. Yes it can be horribly crowded, but presumably you will be on the trails or on the water during the day. A car is of no help and parking is scarce, so I do not think that would be worth the bother. I would not call it a tourist trap, as that implies a place of little value, and it is just that places this small cannot absorb the crowds.
If crowds bother you, then Camogli-Santa Margarita Ligure is as easily accessible, with nice hiking in Portofino Park.

I agree with Valadelphia that if you really want to go to Cinque Terre, that is what you should do. It is not a tourist trap. We spent 3 nights in Manarola last May, and the CT was one of our favorite places on our 5-week trip through central and northern Italy. We saw some the most amazing sunsets!

Regarding the crowds, the daytrippers don't arrive until 10am or 10:30am, and they start leaving around 4pm. So the early mornings and late afternoons/evenings are not that terribly crowded. In fact, Manarola was quiet in the evenings. We found it very easy taking the trains to the different villages. We never had to wait in line and always had a seat. We noticed that the crowds were thickest closer to the train stations. However, as we wandered through the villages and got further away from the train station, the crowds thinned out. In fact, while in Riomaggiore, we walked uphill to a plaza (don't remember the name) where we had lunch and then visited the local church. There was hardly anyone here in the plaza and church. I think the daytrippers don't wander very far because they want to visit every village that day, so they don't have the luxury of spending a lot of time in each village.

We also took the ferry along the coast to see the villages from the water. We boarded the ferry in Riomaggiore and disembarked in Monterosso.

You can check the cruise schedule to see how many ships will be in La Spezia and then plan your time in CT when there are zero or very few cruises in port.

Want to add that we did not have a car while visiting the CT.

Will you regret not visiting the CT if you decide not to go? I realize that everyone has a different tolerance level for crowds. When I was planning our trip, there were a lot of CT naysayers, but I didn't listen to them. I went with my heart. And we absolutely loved our time in the CT, and we absolutely don't regret going. When I was planning other trips, there were many people who advised us not to go to Santorini, or Dubrovnik, or the Isle of Skye, for example, but we did go and those are some of our favorite travel memories. Visiting the popular and crowded destinations do require some planning, though. Check cruise ship schedules, go during the shoulder season (which is popular, too, but better than the height of summer), and don't visit as a daytrip because then you won't be there during the quiet times

Also want to add that Vernazza was the most crowded of all the villages, due to its being Rick's favorite.

If you decide not to visit the CT, I would highly suggest Verona. It's a very pretty city with enough to do there. And, if you are wine drinkers, you can take a wine tour to the Valpolicella wine region just outside Verona.

You can follow your heart and go to CT on this trip, OP. With your head though, consider:

• Avg. train travel time, Bologna to CT: 3.5h - 4h with train changes.

• Avg. train travel time, CT to Milan: 3.5h - 4.5h with train changes.

That's a total of 7h to 8.5h - on trains - over 2 of the 4 days that your family wants to experience sites and outdoor adventures.