A functional central train and bus station. Arrived mid-day on a weekday and the station was…read morebustling, also arrived/departed from here during morning and evening an additional few times during my stay in Bologna and each time was as busy as the last. Only time it wasn't busy was when there was a national transportation strike one of days. Even then a bout 30-40 minutes into the strike some of the buses were finishing up routes they began before the strike started so there were still a fair amount of people. The layout of the station is a bit confusing, mostly because the signs to the platforms point in every direction possible. For examples there are signs pointing in opposite directions to the same platform if they can be reached by following walkways circling left or right. It feels like in an effort to provide all the options they made it more complicated than necessary. The majority of local and regional trains depart from the ground/first floor level. Depending on which entrance you enter the station, this may be as easy as walking past the lobby, scanning your ticket and heading straight into the platform area. If you enter on the side entrance you may need to walk thru an underground walkway and up stairs or escalators reach your platform. If you are arriving or departing from longer regional routes on high speed trains, these platforms are located on the lower sub basement level. There are ticket machines and offices located on this level. I saw some station associates helping customers at specific ticket kiosks. Between the first/ground floor and sub basement level is a parking and secondary passenger pick-up drop off area. If you're looking to purchase local Bologna public transit bus tickets, you can buy physical tickets for individual rides or a 10-pack at the convenience/smoke shop located on the left side of the lobby inside the main entrance. Also note that physical tickets aren't necessarily needed since most buses also can scan credit cards with chips.

Review #1010 - One of the easier and larger train stations in the path of my recent Italy trip. I…read morecame through Bologna a few times coming from Venice and to Imola. Signage is large, there's ticket kiosks everywhere, ground transportation by car and ride share right out front and close to my Bologna hotel too. Really no complaints here. Easy access spot for the trains.

Close enough to most tourist area in Downtown Modena. We ended up walking to most of our planned…read moredestinations with no issue. Enzo Ferrari Museum is only 10 minute on foot and Modena Cathedral is around 15 minute. Ample taxi outside the station if you need go anywhere else in the area. Facilities here is minimum but they do have a coffee shop and a fast food place on the left when you exit the building.

Small and quiet. An easy short walk to the Ferrari Museum…read more Some interesting ironwork on the façade. There is a McDonald's. Yippee. We walked past it.

It has been a couple of years since I took this tour, but I had a dream about it last night and I…read moreremembered that I never wrote a Yelp review about it - which is crazy because it is the best tour my husband and I have ever taken! Our day with Italian Days Food Experience was the highlight of our one month in Italy. I don't say that lightly. We've traveled a lot and we've eaten a lot. Still this stands as an absolute top notch experience in our travels. I highly recommend it to anyone! (I have pictures of the factories (cheese, balsamic vinegar, ham) and also of the platters of food served during our feast. I even have video of the parmigiana reggiano cheese from the vats into huge cheese balls that will blow your mind! I'll try to attach them to this review.) The out-going, energetic, and extremely knowledgeable Alessandro is the owner and tour guide for the Italian Days Food Experience. It's important to mention him because his excitement and intensity make a wonderful day even more fun and special. First an early morning visit to a Parmigiano Reggiano factory - so interesting - like something none of us had ever seen before. Starting with the big vats of milk and watching each process, step by step until it is turned into stacks and stacks of big wheels of authentic Parmigiano Reggiano cheese - The King of Cheese! You will learn the importance of DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) the European Union system of laws protecting the names of specialty food products with a specific geographic origin. For example, authentic DOP Parmigiagno Reggiano cheese can only come from the Parma / Reggio region of Italy. It's sort of a big deal. Next we visited a small "farm house setting" where we ascended to the attic to see the processing and aging barrels to produce balsamic vinegar - Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena. I had no idea that for most Italians, making balsamic vinegar is not about making money, it is a family tradition and labor of love. When a baby is born a new batch is started and the barrels are carefully tended to through the next 20 years or so until both the vinegar and the child becomes of age. Then when that adult has a baby, the cycle repeats itself. It is a lovely and of course delicious family tradition. Last we visited a ham factory to see the hams processing. This was my least favorite part, but many people enjoyed seeing the hams curing and also the refrigeration unit. After our busy morning, we were promised a "light lunch" - which I quickly discovered was actually a FEAST. It was the most food I have ever been served - at least ten courses. The servers just kept bringing out platter after platter of amazing dishes of food - different types of pastas, steaks, chicken, veal, vegetables, desserts and of course always bottomless bottles of wine. What an incredible feast! In addition, our relatively small group (of like-minded tourists from around the world) quickly became friends as we bonded over our passion for food and wine. All the while, our guide Alessandro dashed from guest to guest, making sure everyone was happy and satisfied with the food and the service. That man is a delight - so smart, hardworking and passionate about his work. I don't know where he gets all of his energy, but it is lovely - the man is nonstop and wonderful. At the end of the day we were given the opportunity to buy some of the DOP products at very affordable prices, and we did, but there was absolutely no sales pitch or pressure to do so.

Such a fun day exploring the foods of Bologna! First we were picked up promptly, first thing in…read morethe morning (the sun hadn't come up yet) at our hotel in a passenger van, and drove to the first experience which was the cheese factory/farm. We actually got to see how the whole processing of making Parmigiano Reggiano,from start to finish, which was very enlightening. I have to say their Ricotta cheese is the best I have tasted from all over the world. Next we drove to a family owned DOP balsamic vinegar vineyard where we were able to see the process of making balsamic vinegar. Did you know it takes years and years to make just a small amount of vinegar. Very fascinating to hear and to taste. We got to compare balsamic venegar that isn't DOP and some that is. We were also able to taste the 25 year old, and 50 year old vinegar. This is tightly guarded as it is quite an arduous process, and very, very, time consuming just to get a few bottles out of the 25 and 50+ vinegar. Let's just say it's yummy. Make sure you buy a bottle while you are there. I didn't, and I could kick myself as it's more expensive is the USA from the same vineyard. Then it was off to the place where the prosciutto di Modena is made. That was interesting as well all these ham hocks hanging up, and the process of how the most tasty prosciutto is made. Final stop was to have lunch at a cantina on a sprawling estate. Great views. Did I say FOOD, lots, and lots of Italian food and wine. Very tasty and a good variety of Italian dishes. Then off to our hotel we go. We had our driver drop us off closer to city center so that we could enjoy the city before heading back to our hotel since this was or last night in Italy. She was very happy to oblige us. Such a fun day. I highly recommend this tour.

Great central train station in the heart of Bologna! It was only a ~10 minute cab ride from our…read morehotel. It did not appear that large from the front of the terminal but after you have your tickets and start going through the platforms, you'll notice how large the station actually is. It's not overly complex and hard to navigate. It has multi levels downward-we went down two or three escalators to get to our platform for our train to Torin. Getting your tickets is easy: 1) you can purchase them on the app 2) the internet 3) and the machines inside the terminal. Since we took an intracity train, we did not see any entry kiosks to pay with your phone. We purchased our tickets online. Just check your departure time, get the platform number from the monitors, and proceed to the platform. After that, you will soon be on your train and off to your destination!!

This was definitely the most chaotic and confusing station we've traveled in and out of. We were in…read moreBologna for a day - for a walking food tour, let's be so real - and took a regional train from Verona. And maybe it's unfair for me to compare this station to Verona, or Florence, or even Rome, but that's human nature, isn't it? While it has a lot of modern-looking finishes and several places for one to sit, on the day we were there the station gave off an overall vibe of dinginess and over-crowdedness. That "at capacity" feeling was at its worst that evening, when every bench, chair, open floor space was occupied by a human, waiting to find out where they should go to catch their train out. We were lucky to find an empty table at one of the cafes, after purchasing some drinks and snacks to tide us over for the evening. We weren't lucky enough to get seats with a view to the departures board, though, so we had to take turns walking over to the boards to see if our platform informaiton had been updated. And friends, I'm so glad we left as soon as the platform information populated because whooo, was it ever a trek from where we were to where we needed to be! I hadn't realized until that moment exactly how big a station Bologna Centrale was.

Such a fun (and fairly inexpensive) way to get up to the Santuario Madonna di San Luca!…read more We bought our tickets online and came to the kiosk that is in front of the shops to the left (east) of Basilica di San Petronio (left when you are facing the church.) At the kiosk, the person scanned our tickets and placed us on the next "train." We didn't have to wait that long and he made sure to tell us which side we were being picked up from. The ride didn't take that long because it was so interesting. I appreciated the headsets and being able to listen as we drive along. The second "train" that brought us back down to the city didn't have headsets but there was a loudspeaker for interesting facts.

We walked right past the doors to the welcome center at first because and we should have known…read morethey're a lot of people in front blocking the doors. So to find it visit the Fontana del Nettuno it's the large building near the middle of the open square across from the basilica di San Petronio. If you walk around the building you will find a gelateria. Walk into the welcome center to your left you will find staff to help you get what you need. In this case tickets for the San Luca express. We also purchased a bundle here at the welcome center where we hop on and off the bus stop was in front of our hotel so it worked out perfectly. We were able to visit many museums. So if you're wondering where do I go now that I have my ticket for the train you'll exit the building the same way but make a left walk to the end of the portico and cross the street the train will be there shortly but if you are talking the bus tour today only walk to the end of the portico do not cross the street. I noticed some were confused with the guides.. TIP: after you receive your ear buds plug them into the radio speaker located just in front or on the side of you depending on the type of vehicle.. the number indicator tells you what channel you are on, you will need to change the channel unless you speak Italian. You may be surprised but yes Italian first speakers do take these tours as many of them are from another region. So Italian is channel 1 English is 2 many languages to choose from.. believe it or not many get confused where to stand in line.. yes the doors open to many cars but you need to check in. First to get your earbuds and they can check your ticket. Also the back is reserved for handicapped. I believe the trains run every 20 min they told us 15 but we waited closer to 30 minutes to leave. We passed many fit people looking tired from walking the hills through the porticos I bet it's amazing if you have time and like to take photos the walk would be great! But the train ride was well worth it I'd do it again!

My mom and I had a wonderful tour with Darren. The small group was fantastic and it gave the…read morefeeling of a group of friends exploring a new city. Darren was wonderful and provided excellent recommendations for other places to try in the city and was very knowledgeable. The food was fantastic and everything was well worth the tour price. It was about four hours and a perfect way to get to know the city!

Definitely, worth it!…read more Stumbled upon this tour, while doing some research for my trip. It had great reviews, so I was in. So I reached out to them on very short notice. The booking person, Andrea C. was so kind and went above and beyond to accomated our group so we could go the next day. Our total group size, upon arrival, was 10 total. We arrived at their requested meeting place, central location of the Basilica Petronia. Valentina was our tour guide, and she was so sweet. She gave us lots of fun facts and a little history, which I loved, along with each visit. They have several tours: Bologna Wine Tasting Tortellini Making Experience Cooking Class Sunset Food Tour Classic Tour We did the Classic tour. Includes yummy pasta tasting, with traditional broth, which tasted like a warm hug. We had several stops (dress comfortabld/sneakers), including traditional coffee shop, bread shop, and cheese shop, and farmers market. The group got along well, and enjoyed walking in and out of the cobble stone streets, and stopping to hear from Valentina. Great tour!

Ray N is your new official tour guide and concierge for the 8600 sq mile Emilia- Romagna region in…read moreItaly. What makes him qualified for this honor you akse? 14 trips since 2021 and have eaten at and stayed at and stopped at almost every restaurant,hotel, resort and 5 km marker. Behold- 1) The home to the best Parmigiano Reggiano cheese worldwide. Tours and Tasting too! 2) The best Balsalmic vinegar - right in Modena. 3) The best prosciutto in Europe ( and exported to the US) for the meat lovers. The city of Parma. 4) The home to the oldest University in the world, the University of Bologna. 5) The home to Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini for all you fast car and race enthusiasts. Factory tours and test drives for a fee - Si home to the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Imola ohhhh in about 11 hours. Vroom Vroom! 6) The school and the basketball courts where the one only Kobe Bryant ( RIP) began his magical journey in 1990. 7) The birthplace of Pavarotti and Verdi. 8) The Tardura, the best pasta dumplings in broth you will ever have in the Forli-Cesena area or on this planet, then message me to join me here in September. Then some Raviggiolo- sweet curd from cow milk with fruit jams. 9) The Capital of Italian Summer fun in the sun on the Adriatic Sea at Rimini. Croatia is 102 miles east. Lovely ferry ride. 10) Love from the wonderful Italians with the food being just one of countless avenues. This review should be and is part Uno of a 12 part series as I have barely scratched the surface. My heartfelt suggestion for all of you flying into Europe, and especially Italy, and this part of Italy this summer; please do consider Bologna Marconi Airport., Rimini Federico Fellini International Airport and/or Parma airport as easy and stress free options vs flying into the big cities. Stay tuned for the next series! Ciao!

The main draw of this hotel is its price, the main drawback is location. It's cheaper than other…read morehotels of this category but you have to take a bus number 25 which takes 20 min from the Bologna Central train station. The rooms were clean and quiet. It had air conditioning, which is a life saver in August and September with 30+C temperature. Breakfast room was big with a typical continental breakfast, no cooked eggs or sausages. They had fresh brioche, joghurt, cereal, milk, jams, nutella, bread, cheese, cold sandwich meats, fruit, juice. Although the coffee was from the machine, it wasn't that bad. I didn't have a chance to try out the fitness centre with swimming pool. The hotel lobby has a single computer with free Internet. There is a small bar area next to the breakfast room. The room itself has a TV with some English satellite channels (CNN, BBC, don't remember others). It has a fridge but no minibar. Large wardrobe, bathroom with shower but no bathtub. Overall, good hotel and you could get it for £34 on Airmiles or 36 euros sometimes on hotel website itself.