The 5 Best Day Trips from Bologna, Italy

Day trips from Bologna, Italy are both convenient and cheap depending on where you want to go. The train station in Bologna is a central hub for lots of locations which means that there are easy ways to get to major destinations. 

However, the best day trips from Bologna are the ones close to the city that offer a unique Italian experience. These hidden gems offer great cuisine, amazing art, and unforgettable experiences.

We relocated to the U.S. to Italy in 2024 and we are proud to now be local residence to Bologna!

Short on Time? Here are the key takeaways:

• There are so many options for day trips from Bologna that are easy on the wallet
• With the exception of Venice and Florence, train tickets are usually under 10 euros one-way for a cheap getaway.
• Ravenna was our personal favorite in the list below

This post was written in collaboration with our friend, Matt. We met him while he and his wife were living in Bologna for a few months. 

Boozing Abroad contains affiliate links throughout the site. If you choose to purchase items through these links, we will earn a small commission at NO extra cost to you. Read the full disclosure policy here**

Map of 5 best day trips

Booking train tickets in Italy

When we’re planning our European adventures, Trainline is always our first stop for booking train tickets. Their app makes travel so easy, bringing together the best prices and real-time updates from over 200 train companies across 45 countries. 

No more standing in ticket lines or worrying about communication barriers or losing your ticket — it’s all saved in the app. Plus, it has mobile tickets that work offline which is HUGE if you don’t have a data plan.

You can easily change your ticket if you are delayed and booking early can save you up to 50%. For us and for any budget-savvy travelers out there, it’s a no-brainer.

Click here to see current prices on TrainLine.

Day Trip to Florence from Bologna

• Distance from Bologna: 35-45 minutes (if trains are on time)
• Train Station in Florence: Firenze Santa Maria Novella
• Train Ticket Price: usually around €15 – €55 (depending on how far out you book)

While this is usually the reverse (people visiting Florence and day tripping up), we live in Bologna so a day trip to Florence is very easy for us. Florence is an excellent option and offers art, history, and incredible food. 

The train ride from Bologna Centrale is a quick 35-40 minute trip and trains run fairly late in the day with the last train departing around 10 PM. 

Florence in a Day

After our train ride, we walked roughly 10 minutes from the station heading to Piazza del Duomo to marvel at Florence Cathedral and its iconic dome. 

Stroll to the Uffizi Gallery, where you can admire masterpieces by Botticelli and Michelangelo. 

For lunch, we normally explore the delicious options at Mercato Centrale, a crazy food hall that has just about every type of food imaginable (sushi, cow intestines, pasta, pizza, etc). If you want to try something more local, Mercati di Sant’Ambrogio is located in the Santa Croce neighborhood and isn’t nearly as chaotic as the Mercato Centrale. 

After exploring the city center, cross the iconic Ponte Vecchio and discover artisan shops in the Oltrarno district which has a decidedly more local feel than the city center.

Stop at Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina for a wine tasting featuring Tuscan vintages paired with small plates. If you’re craving something sweet, don’t miss gelato at Gelateria La Carraia, considered one of Florence’s best. 

End your day with a stunning sunset view over the city at Piazzale Michelangelo before heading back to Bologna. 

If you have more time in Florence, read our in-depth guide on How to do Florence in 2 days.

What to drink in Florence

Florence is home to some incredible cocktails and wines but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that the infamous Negroni cocktail was birthed here. While the bar that invented this masterpiece is gone, the current-day bar, Giacosa 1815, has extensive Negroni offerings if you want to try a few different types. 

Florence is also home to the Chianti wine region so local wines to try would be Chianti or any wine that is made with the Sangiovese grape. You can easily grab a glass at an infamous wine window in the city center.

Lastly, we love to end our dinners with Tuscan Vin Santo and a couple of cantucci cookies. Vin Santo is a sweet dessert wine paired with the hard cantucci cookies that you dip in the wine to make them softer and full of flavor. As Americans, we would call these cookies biscottis. But no matter what you call them, this dessert combination is delightful and we highly recommend you indulge. 

Day trip to Venice from Bologna

• Distance from Bologna: roughly 1.5 – 2 hours
• Train Station in Venice: Venezia Santa Lucia
• Train Ticket Price: usually around €14 – €50 (depending on how far out you book)

While Venice isn’t exactly a “hidden gem”, it belongs on a list of day trips from Bologna, Italy because the train ride is only about an hour and a half to two hours by bullet train. Venice is absolutely worth adding to the list of destinations while touring northern Italy. 

While it’s definitely worth sticking around Venice for a couple of days if you have the time, you can absolutely explore this enchanting city in a day if you leave early in the morning.

There are trains that leave about 3 times every hour that will take you to Venice so there are lots of options to choose from. We’d recommend trying to leave as early as possible – the tickets are cheaper for earlier in the morning and you’ll have more time to explore once you get there. 

PRO TIP: When searching for tickets, make sure to select Venezia Santa Lucia as your destination. There is another Venice train station that’s on the mainland but you want to end up on the island. 

The last train out of Venice leaves around 7:40 PM so if you’re brave enough to take the last train out, we’d select that as the return and you’ll have a full day to see the sights. 

The total cost can range from €30 to €70 depending on the time of day and length of the journey. This is definitely the most expensive of the day trips from Bologna, Italy but it is well worth it.

Your Day in Venice

Once you arrive, you can choose to purchase a day pass for the vaporetto system which is a boat system that can take you along all the major canals in the city. There can be a lot of walking involved so it can be a nice change of pace (literally) to get around by boat.

Google Maps is your friend here in terms of navigating the system – it works the exact same as it does for buses so just navigate where you want to go and Google will tell you which vaporetto to wait for, what stop, and when it should arrive.

The best thing to do in Venice is to get lost among the narrow winding alleyways. Yes, you read that right: allow yourself to GET LOST.

It’s an extremely romantic city to just wander around and gawk at the architecture and marvel at the way the city was built. You can’t go wrong in terms of areas to explore as they’re all quite beautiful. 

The major tourist attractions are Saint Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace. We didn’t visit these while we were there because the outsides of the buildings are impressive enough and we wanted to explore more of the city. However, you can purchase tickets and tours if you want. 

While Matt and Alyssa didn’t do a gondola ride because traveling by water using the vaporetto system gets you the same experience in a bigger boat, we (Chris and Sam) did a gondola ride when we visited in 2017. 

To help keep the costs down, we shared the boat with my cousin and her husband. While the experience was amazing, it comes at a high price point and can be as much as €90.

Local Food and Booze to Try

If you’re looking for something to eat, the best and cheapest option is to bar hop and eat the Venetian version of tapas called cicchetti. There are little bite-sized snacks that you can find at any of the bars along the canals. 

They’re really delicious and there’s lots of variety so everyone can find something they like, and they’re only about €1.50 to €2 per item! The area north of the city called Cannareggio has some of the best options available for cicchetti. 

There’s also a local wine called Dorona that’s produced on a small island nearby called Mazzorbo that is worth trying if you can find it anywhere on the main island!

Day trip from Bologna to Ravenna

• Distance from Bologna: 1.15 – 1.5 hours
• Train Station in Ravenna: Ravenna
• Train Ticket Price: €8

Ravenna is definitely one of the best day trips from Bologna and is our personal favorite. Tickets are only €8 each way. We’d recommend buying a one-way ticket and waiting to buy the return ticket until you’re ready to leave.

While that might sound risky, Ravenna and the remaining cities on this list will use regional trains that are very unlikely to sell out, so leaving your trip open-ended will give you the most flexibility if you want to shorten or extend your day.

Your Day in Ravenna

The mosaics and architecture are the top priorities in Ravenna. 

There is a complex of eight of early Christian monuments that are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it’s not difficult to see why when you get a chance to see them. The best way to do that is to purchase a ticket online. You can also purchase tickets in person at several of the different sites. 

The first site we saw was the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo and we stopped at the ticket office to pick up a very handy map that lists all of the sites. The city isn’t big so walking from site to site is relatively simple.

The architecture of some of the churches is very interesting to look at from the outside but it’s when you go inside that the magic really happens. Amazingly intricate mosaics line the ceilings and walls while the gold-plated images shimmer in the sunlight. 

It’s awe-inspiring and beautiful to look at. Walking from site to site is also charming – the cafe owners were welcoming and the tourists were generally respectful. 

In addition to the basilica, we also saw the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the Neonian Baptistery,the Church of San Vitale, and the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe. Dante Alighieri’s (author of Divine Comedy) tomb is in the city as well and is worth checking out. 

Local Food to Try

We spent a full day in Ravenna (around 8 hours) so make sure to budget time for lunch. We stopped at Profumo di Piadina “Laboratorio del Palato”. Piadina is an Italian specialty (originally from Rome) and is a delicious warm flour flatbread folded in half and filled with meats and cheeses. Think of it kind of like a quesadilla, but Italian. This particular spot had amazing reviews, great prices, and very friendly staff.

There happened to be a vintage pop-up market happening near the train station the day we arrived so we explored that as well. Lots of local vendors were there showing off second-hand clothing but also handmade clothes and accessories.

It was a great taste of the local scene – make sure to check and see if any events are happening when you decide to visit, Ravenna is an artsy town so there’s likely something cool going on that would be worth a side quest from the main attractions. 

Day trip to Parma from Bologna

• Distance from Bologna: around 1 hour
• Train Station in Parma: Parma 
• Train Ticket Price: €8

If you’re a cheese lover like us, Parma is a must in terms of day trips from Bologna, Italy. Parmigiano Reggiano can only be made in 5 different provinces of Italy for it to be considered official and Parma is one of them. 

Getting to the city is cheap and easy just like Ravenna and tickets are also only about €8 each way. 

Your Day in Parma

Getting a tour of a cheese factory is the main thing to do here. 

Parmigiano Reggiano is different from “parmesan” in the way it’s produced, the ingredients that are included, and where the ingredients come from. So pretty much everything…

Getting an inside look into the process and hearing about the strict regulations that are in place for making Parmigiano Reggiano made this a memorable experience that provided a new-found appreciation for the time and care that goes into making one of our favorite cheeses. 

Almost all the pasta dishes you’d have in Italy can be topped with this salty, crumbly delight!

Just like the classification system and process with wine in Italy (DOC, DOCG, etc.), there is an official stamp for Parmigiano Reggiano called “DOP” which stands for Denominazione d’Origine Protetta or Protected Designation of Origin. This means that everything from the location to the packaging must be done by a specific tradition to be considered official. 

We toured a small factory called Caseificio Ugolotti and we took a taxi to get there and back to the city. Just like all major transport hubs, there was a line of taxis outside the train station when we got off. 

Even though it was a small operation in terms of staff and land, the aging room still contained over 10,000 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano stacked in rows that went 30 feet up to the ceiling! We got to see the three main phases of the process (formation, salting, aging) and then had a tasting of 4 different aged versions ranging from 1 to 4 years old.

To get back to the city, we asked our tour guide and she called the taxi company for us to arrange a pick up at the factory. There wasn’t a lot that we wanted to see outside of the factory so we walked around the main square a little bit and popped into the main cathedral of the town, but left shortly after. 

All in all, we only spent about 4 hours in Parma.

Day trip to Modena from Bologna

• Distance from Bologna: roughly 20-30 minutes
• Train Station in Modena: Modena
• Train Ticket Price: €8

Modena is on the way to Parma and it’s also a spot where a few hours is likely plenty to get a feel for the town and see the major sights for the same price. Seeing these two towns together is a great way to combine day trips from Bologna, Italy.

Your Day in Modena

Modena is filled with friendly locals who are happy to share their slice of Italian heaven with you. The main square has a beautiful cathedral that is worth visiting because you can actually go inside and behind the altar to get a closer look at some of the ornate sculptures and fixtures that you normally can’t get to in most churches.

Along the pathways to the main church, you’ll find clean sidewalks that take you past cute shops and restaurants. 

We went specifically to see an exhibit for Salvador Dahli as one of the largest collections of his work was being showcased and it was incredible to read about his life and influence on the world of art and get an up close look at some of the most famous paintings and sculptures from this wacky but brilliant artist.

Local Food to Try

Another major activity in Modena is the acetaia. This is the place where they make traditional balsamic vinegar. 

Most balsamic vinegar that you can find in the United States will say that it’s from Modena but it has been produced differently and has a very different taste and texture. The traditional balsamic vinegar is a thick, syrupy substance that’s very sweet to taste (yet quite potent) and can be the perfect topping for a salad but also for different meats and cheeses.

And while it might sound crazy, the name for this black gold is a bit of a misnomer because traditional balsamic vinegar made in Modena isn’t even a vinegar, or at least it shouldn’t be considered a vinegar. Yep, that’s right. True vinegar is made by fermenting a liquid, like wine; but in Modena – which has a pretty rich history of producing this stuff – the grapes aren’t allowed to fully ferment into wine.

The tours of these producers allow you to gain a better understanding of how balsamic vinegar is made and to taste the different kinds and ages. Warning: you might get sticker shock when you find out the price of some of these 100mL bottles to be well over €60 but it’s a detailed process that takes a master skill set and lots of time for aging (some vinegars can age over 25 years!) to produce the perfect product. And as we mentioned before, this stuff is potent, so a little bit goes a long way meaning that little bottle will probably last longer than you think.

There are lots of good restaurants in the area as well so make sure to do some research and plan to get lunch or dinner. We stopped at a spot that had really good gnocchi fritti which is a traditional dish from the Emilia-Romagna region and worth trying.

There’s no shortage of places to choose from if you’re looking for the best day trips from Bologna. Because Bologna is in such a central location, you can find things to satisfy any craving whether it’s art, wine, churches, architecture, or food. 

All of the trips are cheap and easy to get to with lots of options available among the regional train lines. These unique and memorable places make Bologna one of the best spots to stay in if you’re looking for a northern Italy headquarters.

Looking for more Italy guides? We have a bunch! Click here to see them all or check out the most popular below:

• Ultimate Road Trip to Tuscany: A Wine Lover’s Paradise
• The Best 3 days in Rome Itinerary Guide
• How to do Florence in 2 days – The Ultimate Florence, Italy Itinerary

About the Co-Author

Matthew DeFusco loves to explore new places by eating local foods and diving into the history of their traditions. He and his wife are originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and love to travel.