Day Trips from Bologna: The Best Destinations by Train and Tour

Bologna Centrale sits at the crossroads of Italy’s high-speed network, which means an astonishing range of day trips are easy to do independently — several of them before lunch. Modena is under 20 minutes away, Florence around 37 minutes, Venice about an hour and a quarter. You rarely need a car, and for the classic food-and-culture circuit you rarely need a guided tour either.

A note on prices: rail fares are dynamic. Regionale fares are fixed and cheap; high-speed Frecciarossa and Italo fares rise as the train fills. Every figure below is indicative — confirm on Trenitalia, Italo or the relevant museum’s own site before you travel.

The one day trip that genuinely repays a guide is the producer circuit — a Parmigiano dairy at dawn, a balsamic acetaia and a prosciutto cellar are all working businesses, not visitor attractions, and getting inside them alone is difficult. Live dates and current prices for the most-reviewed version of that day are below.

The master table

Modena

Why go: a UNESCO Duomo, the world’s most famous restaurant, a covered market locals actually shop in, and the temples of Italian motoring on the doorstep.

See and eat: the 12th-century Duomo, the Torre Ghirlandina and Piazza Grande (all UNESCO); Mercato Albinelli; Traditional Balsamic DOP, aged 12 years and up, tasted at the Acetaia Comunale; Osteria Francescana, Massimo Bottura’s restaurant, ranked the World’s No. 1 in 2016 and 2018 and famously hard to book; and the Enzo Ferrari Museum (MEF).

Getting there: regionale in 20–30 minutes, Frecciarossa in about 18.

How long: half a day for the centre, a full day if you add an acetaia or a Ferrari museum.

If you’d rather not self-organise the acetaia visit: From Bologna: Parmesan Cheese & Balsamic Vinegar Tour with Lunch — from €125, rated 4.90/5, though from only 18 reviews. It bundles the dairy and the acetaia with transport and lunch, which is the awkward part to arrange alone.

Parma

Why go: the gastronomic heavyweight — Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma — and a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy since 2015.

See and eat: the pink-marble Baptistery, Correggio’s Duomo dome, the wooden Teatro Farnese; culatello, Felino salame, aged Parmigiano and prosciutto crudo.

Getting there: regionale in 50 minutes to an hour and ten.

Dairy visits: cheese-making runs early, roughly 6–11am, so caseificio visits usually depart between 8:30 and 10am — see our full guide to Parmigiano Reggiano factory tours. Book ahead — this is the single most common day-trip mistake, turning up in the afternoon to a dairy that finished work five hours earlier.

Our pick: Parma: Cheese, Ham, & Balsamic Vinegar Tour with Tastings — from €170, rated 4.87/5 across 301 reviews, and comfortably the most-reviewed producer day in the region.

By train, in first class: From Bologna: Parmigiano and Prosciutto Tour by 1st-Class Train — from €168, rated 5.0/5 but from only 9 reviews. A thin listing; we mention it because it is the only version that skips the minibus entirely.

Worth adding to your itinerary

Beyond the classic rail circuit, Emilia-Romagna sells a lot of its best days as bookable experiences: Parmigiano Reggiano dairy mornings near Parma, balsamic acetaia visits in Modena, Ferrari and Lamborghini factory-and-museum days in Maranello and Sant’Agata, Colli Bolognesi winery afternoons in the hills above the city, and Food Valley producer circuits that fit all three into one long, well-fed day.

Ferrara

Why go: a graceful, uncrowded Renaissance Este capital, UNESCO-listed in 1995, and Italy’s bicycle city.

See and eat: the moated Castello Estense; roughly 9 km of intact Renaissance walls you can cycle in a loop; cappellacci di zucca (IGP), salama da sugo, coppia ferrarese bread (IGP) and pampapato.

Getting there: direct regionale in 20–30 minutes.

How long: a full, unhurried day.

Ravenna

Why go: the finest early Christian and Byzantine mosaics in the world — eight UNESCO monuments in one small city.

See: the Basilica di San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, the Neonian Baptistery and the Archiepiscopal Chapel; further out, Sant’Apollinare in Classe, the Arian Baptistery and the Mausoleum of Theodoric. Dante’s tomb is here too.

Combined ticket: the five-monument itinerary is €14.50 (a four-monument version is €12.50), valid seven days. Timed-entry reservation is mandatory for Galla Placidia — where your visit is capped at five minutes — as well as the Neonian Baptistery and the Chapel of St Andrew.

Getting there: an hour to an hour and twenty with a change at Castel Bolognese or Faenza.

Worth a day trip? Emphatically yes. If you make only one non-food day trip from Bologna, make it this one.

Dozza

Why go: a tiny hill village painted like an open-air gallery — the Biennale del Muro Dipinto has been adding murals since 1960.

See and drink: the painted lanes, the Rocca Sforzesca, and the Enoteca Regionale dell’Emilia-Romagna in its cellars, with more than 800 labels.

Getting there: driving is simplest, about 40–45 minutes. By public transport it’s a train to Imola, then the 101 bus and the on-demand 147 bus, which must be booked a day ahead, or a taxi.

How long: half a day.

Motor Valley

Why go: the most concentrated cluster of supercar makers on the planet.

See: the Ducati Museum and factory at Borgo Panigale, inside Bologna itself; the Lamborghini Museum (MUDETEC) and factory at Sant’Agata; the Ferrari Museum at Maranello; and the Enzo Ferrari Museum (MEF) in Modena. Factory tours require advance booking and Lamborghini’s regularly sell out. A shuttle bus runs from Modena station to the two Ferrari museums for around €10 round trip.

How long: a full day for two or three sites.

Our pick: Ferrari Museum, Lamborghini and Pagani Museums and Factories with Lunch — from €460, rated 4.88/5 from 65 reviews. Three marques and lunch in one day, and priced accordingly.

Cheaper alternative: From Bologna: Lamborghini & Ferrari Museums Private Day Tour — from €365, rated 4.40/5 from 54 reviews. Two marques rather than three, and the lowest-rated tour we link on this page.

Florence

Why go: the Renaissance, roughly 37 minutes away on the fastest Frecciarossa and Italo services.

Realistically doable in a day: the Duomo and Baptistery from outside, the Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, and one pre-booked major museum — the Uffizi or the Accademia, not both.

Honest take: it works as a highlights day if you book tickets in advance, but Florence deserves its own stay. If your trip has room for only one long-distance day trip, Ravenna gives you more that you cannot see anywhere else.

Venice

Why go: about an hour and a quarter by high-speed train, and unlike anywhere.

The 2026 access fee: it applies on 60 days between 3 April and 26 July, from 8:30am to 4:00pm. It costs €5 if booked by the fourth-last day before your visit and €10 otherwise, per person aged 14 and over. Under-14s are exempt but must still register. It covers only the historic centre, and overnight guests are exempt.

Getting there: alight at Venezia Santa Lucia, not Mestre — Mestre is on the mainland and costs you another 10 minutes and a change.

How long: a long full day. Leave early.

Rimini and the Adriatic coast (plus San Marino)

Why go: Emilia-Romagna’s beach capital, and Federico Fellini’s hometown.

See: the Tempio Malatestiano, the Roman Arch of Augustus, the Tiberius Bridge and the Fellini Museum.

Getting there: Frecciarossa in about 53 minutes, regionale in an hour to an hour and a quarter.

San Marino: a Bonelli or Benedettini bus from outside Rimini station climbs to San Marino City in about 50 minutes — a second country on the same day trip.

The Apennines and countryside

Brisighella is a medieval village with the covered Via degli Asini and a DOP olive oil. Bertinoro, the “Balcony of Romagna,” is Albana wine country. Marzabotto holds both the Monte Sole WWII memorial and the Etruscan city of Kainua. The Colli Bolognesi wine hills produce Pignoletto DOCG — covered in full in our guide to wine tasting in Bologna and the Colli Bolognesi — and Savigno hosts the Tartòfla white-truffle festival each autumn.

For the wine hills specifically: Tenuta Bonzara: Tour and Wine Tasting in the Hills of Bologna — from €49, rated 4.83/5 but from only 24 reviews. It is a single estate at Monte San Pietro, in the Colli Bolognesi themselves. If you’d rather see more than one producer, Bologna Wine Tasting & Winery Tour in the Colli Bolognesi — from €49, rated 4.56/5 from 30 reviews — covers two, though it is the lower-rated of the pair.

Food Valley producer tours as day trips

For many visitors the single best day trip is a guided producer tour — a dairy at dawn, a balsamic acetaia, a prosciuttificio, and a long lunch, roughly 7am to 5pm. The established operators are Italian Days, Emilia Delizia, Bluone and Food Valley Travel.

A tour wins when you want cheese, balsamic and ham in a single day. Doing it yourself wins on cost and on not being on somebody else’s clock at 7am.

Our pick: Bologna Food Experience Factory & Lunch By Italian Days — from €159, rated 4.96/5 from 50 reviews. This is the Italian Days itinerary named above, sold directly.

Runner-up: Bologna Food Valley Experience: Factories, Winery & Lunch — from €153, rated 4.94/5 from 73 reviews, swapping the third producer for a winery.

If you’d rather stay in the city, a Bologna: Walking Food Tour with a Local Expert (from €78, 4.83/5 from 1,870 reviews) covers the same products without the 7am start. See Bologna food tours and Bologna cooking classes; the Quadrilatero is a free self-guided feast in its own right.

Practicalities

Trenitalia vs Italo. Trenitalia runs Frecciarossa, Intercity and the cheap Regionale services; Italo is a private high-speed competitor on the same corridors. Compare both — the price gap on Florence and Venice can be substantial.

Validate paper regional tickets in the platform machines before boarding. Regionale tickets are not seat-specific and gain nothing from advance booking; high-speed tickets get cheaper the earlier you buy.

Bologna Centrale is on two levels. Regional services use platforms 1–15 at ground level; high-speed services use the underground AV platforms 16–19. Allow 10–20 minutes to move between them — it is a genuinely long walk down. Left luggage (KiPoint) is on the ground floor.

Closures. Many museums close Mondays. August, and Ferragosto in particular, closes a large share of producers and restaurants across the region.

Driving. Beware the ZTL in every historic centre, Bologna’s included.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best day trip from Bologna?

Modena for most first-timers — food, a UNESCO cathedral and Ferrari, all under 20 minutes away. For sheer wow factor, Ravenna’s mosaics. For food specifically, a Food Valley producer tour.

How far is Florence from Bologna by train?

About 37 minutes on the fastest high-speed services.

Can you do Venice as a day trip from Bologna?

Yes — roughly an hour and a quarter each way. Note the 2026 access fee of €5 or €10 on 60 dates between 3 April and 26 July, 8:30am–4pm.

Do you need a car for day trips from Bologna?

No, for almost everything. The exceptions are Dozza and some of the smaller countryside spots, where the bus connections are awkward.

How much do train tickets cost?

Regionale services to the nearby cities cost a few euros each way. High-speed to Florence or Venice costs considerably more and varies with demand, so book early.

Which day trip is best for food?

Parma and Modena, or a guided producer tour that visits both regions in a day.

Which is best for families?

Modena and Maranello for car-mad children, Rimini for a summer beach day, Ferrara for cycling the walls.

Do you need to book trains in advance?

Only the high-speed services to Florence and Venice. Regionale fares are fixed, so there is no benefit to booking ahead.

Is Ravenna worth a day trip?

Yes — the eight UNESCO mosaic monuments are among Italy’s greatest sights, and there is nothing comparable elsewhere in the country. Reserve Galla Placidia ahead of time.

Can you visit a Parmigiano Reggiano dairy in a day?

Absolutely, but the visits run early morning because that is when the cheese is made. Join a guided departure or book directly with a caseificio, and expect to leave Bologna around 7am. Our Parmigiano Reggiano factory tours guide walks through the whole day.

What’s the best day trip in winter?

Ravenna, because the mosaics are all indoors, and Venice, which is atmospheric and far quieter out of season. Food Valley tours run year-round.

Ready to explore beyond the city?

Start with Bologna food tours, compare every format in our Bologna tours guide, or check what the free walking tours in Bologna actually cover before you commit a morning to one.