Bologna: Getting there & around

Bologna's Guglielmo Marconi airport, northwest of the city at Borgo Panigale, is serviced mainly by European airlines. You can fly in from Rome, Venice, Pisa, Frankfurt, Paris and London, among others. ATC Aerobus connects the city with the airport and leaves from in front of the train station roughly every 15 or 20 minutes until midnight. Budget carrier Ryanair flies into Forli, 70km southeast of Bologna. The airport is serviced by local buses that coincide with flights.

Bologna is a major railway junction for regional centres and northern Italy, with frequent services from Rome and Milan, many of them Eurostar trains.

Bus services to regional centres such as Ravenna, Ferrara and Modena leave from the depot opposite Piazza XX Settembre, around the corner from the train station. There are also buses to Ancona and Milan, and international buses to Amsterdam, Paris, London, Brussels, Prague and Warsaw. If travelling by car, you can reach Bologna on the A1 Autostrada del Sole, which also links Milan, Florence and Rome. The A13 heads directly for Ferrara, Padova and Venezia, the A14 for Rimini and Ravenna, and the Via Emilia (S9), goes on to connect Milan with the Adriatic coast. The S64 leads to Ferrara.

If you want to hire a car, you'll find all of the major hire companies have offices in the city, most also have outlets at the airport.

Bologna has an efficient bus system, run by ATC; you'll find information booths at the train station and on Via Marconi at the junction with Via Ugo Bassi and Via Lame. There are frequent buses from the train station to the city centre. Not all bus routes operate on Sunday. Taxis are also freely available.