Italian Getaway Vacation

Italy | Nov 8 - Nov 13, 2025

Beautiful hotel located right in the center of the central district of Bologna. We were located adjacent to the Basilica and town square and everything including shopping and dining was within a few square blocks. Couldn't have asked for a better location. While the room was a bit small, it wasn't unexpected given the older, historical nature of the hotel. The breakfast buffet was incredible, both in quantity and quality of food and the diversity of offerings.

We loved this hotel and the staff. Perfectly located just a couple of blocks from San Marco square and the Basilica and along the primary shopping district. The hotel had a canal entrance which was great for water taxis and the staff was incredibly friendly - the front desk and concierge team were amazing, helpful and extremely friendly. The room was excellent, very large and spacious and the breakfast buffet was great. We had drinks and dinner at the hotel one night and it was a great decision.

The hotel was fine - nothing exceptional or bad. It was located right by the train station which we wanted due to our travel so a little bit away from the key areas but that was our choice to be close to the train. The hotel was modern, clean, no issues.

We were a little disappointed with the tour. We enjoyed the initial walk through of the city hall and square and some of the historical information but the tour of the food and restaurants didn't really get into a lot of detail on the various foods, history, why the popularity in Bologna, etc. The oil/balsamic stop was very nice but the visits to the mortadella restaurant and pasta restaurant were just volume fast food type of restaurants. We were hoping for something more quaint and local. And we finished before the gelato store was open so were given a voucher and came back on our own. The guide was friendly but just not a lot of depth into the food and wine history and specialty of Bologna.

Extremely disappointed. 20 minutes, one quick loop through a canal and back to drop off. We were refunded our money but still unhappy as we were looking forward to a nice gondola ride through Venice.

We had a nice tour of a cathedral and the canals and some back streets of the area. It was fine, just not that much to show or discuss. We finished with a glass of wine together with the tour guide.

We had a great experience in the Murano glass factory. In fact, we spent so much time there (and money LOL), we missed our time for Burano. But the glass factory made arrangements for us to still go to Burano and get a tour so it worked out well.

The guide was very knowledgeable and had a nice, self-deprecating sense of humor. We enjoyed our time in Verona for the day and the tour.