Bologna With Kids
A red brick city where every sidewalk has a roof, two medieval towers lean over the main street, and the food is the reason Italians drive here for lunch. Bologna is 35 minutes from Florence and almost nobody brings the kids. They should.
Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel
Is Bologna good for kids?
Yes. A whispering wall, two leaning towers, 40 kilometers of covered sidewalks, a park with a lake, pasta classes and the Ferrari museums 30 minutes away. It is small, flat and much calmer than Florence or Venice.
How many days do you need in Bologna?
Two nights for the city. Three if you add Modena and the Ferrari museums.
How far is Bologna from Florence?
About 35 minutes on the high speed train, with departures all day. Venice is about 90 minutes, Milan an hour.
Can you climb the towers in Bologna?
The Asinelli tower has 498 steps and a view over the whole city, but access around the two towers has been limited while the leaning Garisenda is stabilized. Check the official site before you plan on it.
When is the best time to visit Bologna?
April to June and September to October for warm weather and the full city. August is hot and many restaurants and shops close for the holidays.
The City Under A Roof
Bologna has about 40 kilometers of porticoes, covered walkways built onto the fronts of the buildings since the Middle Ages, so you can cross most of the old city without stepping into rain or sun. UNESCO listed them in 2021. The longest runs almost four kilometers up a hill to a church, 666 arches in a row, and the kids count them.
In the middle of it all are the two leaning towers, a huge unfinished basilica, a square with a whispering wall and the market streets that feed the whole region. Two nights covers the city. Three adds Modena and the Ferraris.
Getting Around
The old center is small, flat and mostly pedestrian, and the porticoes make it the easiest city in Italy with a stroller in the rain. Buses cover the station and the San Luca hill. You will not need a taxi.
Neighborhoods worth basing in
Around Piazza Maggiore
The heart of it. The basilica, the towers, the market streets of the Quadrilatero and the porticoes all within five minutes. Hotels in old palaces, lively until late. My default base.
Via Indipendenza and the station end
The long arcaded shopping street between the station and the square. Bigger hotels, the airport monorail at one end and Piazza Maggiore 15 minutes down the arcade at the other. Practical for a train stop.
Santo Stefano and the Giardini Margherita
The quieter southeast side of the old city, with the seven churches of Santo Stefano, antique shops and the big park with the lake just outside the old gate. Ten minutes on foot to the towers.
Grand Hotel Majestic già Baglioni
The grand old hotel of Bologna on Via Indipendenza, with frescoed ceilings, big rooms that fit a family and a Roman road under the breakfast room. Five minutes to Piazza Maggiore. The splurge.
Hotel Corona d’Oro
In a 13th century palace a few steps from the two towers, with family rooms and a quiet courtyard. Central and comfortable in the oldest streets.
Hotel Touring
On a quiet street in the Santo Stefano quarter with family rooms and a rooftop terrace looking over the red roofs to the towers. Good value, ten minutes on foot to the square.
The Three I Build Every Bologna Trip Around
Piazza Maggiore and the Basilica of San Petronio
The main square, with the fountain of Neptune, the medieval palaces and the biggest brick church in the world, San Petronio, which they never finished, so the top half of the front is still bare brick. Inside is a sundial line on the floor 220 feet long, and at noon the sun hits the day’s date. Under the arch of the Palazzo del Podestà on the corner, whisper into one pillar and a friend hears it in the opposite one. Kids do this for an hour.
The towers of Bologna
Bologna once had around a hundred medieval towers and about twenty still stand, with Asinelli and Garisenda, the Two Towers from the 1100s, leaning over the end of the old main street. Asinelli is 97 meters with 498 wooden steps to the top and the whole city below. Garisenda leans so much it was cut short in the 1300s and is being stabilized now, so check before you go which parts are open. Even from the street, two towers leaning in different directions are a lesson in medieval engineering the kids will not forget.
The porticoes and the walk to San Luca
Walk under the arcades from the square out to Porta Saragozza, then follow the longest portico in the world, 666 arches climbing almost four kilometers up the hill to the Sanctuary of San Luca, with the whole city and the plain below. It is a real climb. The San Luca Express tourist train runs from Piazza Maggiore to the top for families with little legs, and you can walk down.
Family Time, Built In: Bologna With Kids
Bologna with kids is a whispering wall, towers to count, arcades to run under, pasta to roll and a park with a lake. It is small, flat and calm. These are the pieces that work.
Counting the 666 arches up to San Luca
A pasta making class in the old center
The Giardini Margherita, the lake and the playgrounds
The Ferrari museums in Modena and Maranello
PARK & DOWNTIME PICK
The Giardini Margherita, just outside the old gate on the southeast side. The biggest park in the city, with a lake and turtles, wide lawns, playgrounds, a cafe and bikes to rent. Ten minutes on foot from the towers and where every Bologna family ends up on a Sunday.
Five Things To Eat In Bologna
Tagliatelle al ragù
Parmigiano Reggiano
Mortadella and salumi
Gelato on the square
Espresso at the barNicole’s Perspective
The city on the train line everyone rides through
Florence to Venice is the most common train ride I book for families, and Bologna is the stop in the middle where the train pauses for three minutes and nobody gets off. I get them off. Two nights here means covered sidewalks when it rains, a square where the kids whisper through a wall, towers to count and the best plate of pasta of the trip for half the Florence price.
I plan it as two nights between Florence and Venice, with a pasta class on the first afternoon so the kids eat what they made, and Modena and the Ferraris as the day out for anyone with a car fan. Nobody comes home saying Bologna was the stop they regretted.
The Day Trip: Modena and the Ferraris
Thirty minutes by train, Modena is a smaller, calmer version of Bologna with a Romanesque cathedral and a tower that is a UNESCO site, a market hall full of balsamic vinegar and the Enzo Ferrari Museum, a yellow building shaped like a car hood with the cars inside. The Ferrari factory museum in Maranello is a 20 minute shuttle further, with the F1 cars and the simulators. Do Modena in the morning, Maranello after lunch, and taste the real balsamic, aged 12 years, on a spoon before you leave.
Things I Would Tell A Friend Before They Booked
How Many Days
Two nights covers the square, the towers, the porticoes and a pasta class. Three adds Modena and the Ferraris.
Piazza Maggiore, the towers and the Quadrilatero on day one, the San Luca portico and the Giardini Margherita on day two.
Add the train to Modena for the cathedral, the balsamic and the Ferrari museums, or a second slow day with a pasta class and the park.
Thirty five minutes to Florence, 90 minutes to Venice, an hour to Milan. Ten days covers Florence, Bologna and Venice on one train line with Bologna as the calm middle.
Bologna With Kids, Answered
Is Bologna good for kids?
Yes. A whispering wall, two leaning towers, 40 kilometers of covered sidewalks, a park with a lake, pasta classes and the Ferrari museums 30 minutes away. It is small, flat and much calmer than Florence or Venice.
How many days do you need in Bologna?
Two nights for the city. Three if you add Modena and the Ferrari museums.
How far is Bologna from Florence?
About 35 minutes on the high speed train, with departures all day. Venice is about 90 minutes, Milan an hour.
Can you climb the towers in Bologna?
The Asinelli tower has 498 steps and a view over the whole city, but access around the two towers has been limited while the leaning Garisenda is stabilized. Check the official site before you plan on it.
When is the best time to visit Bologna?
April to June and September to October for warm weather and the full city. August is hot and many restaurants and shops close for the holidays.
Ready To Put Bologna On The Calendar
Send me your dates and your kids’ ages and I will set Bologna between Florence and Venice, pick the hotel and book the pasta class.
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