Bologna City Walking Tour
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Bologna, Italy
- 2 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Get more out of your visit to historic Bologna when you explore with a guide, all thanks to this time-maximizing highlights tour. Choose an English- or Italian-language tour, and set off with your guide to explore key city attractions, from the Quadrilatero market district to the Basilica of San Petronio. If you wish, upgrade to include three food vouchers, or add on a visit to the Archiginnasio building.
- This tour is a great choice for first-time or time-pressed Bologna visitors
- View many of the city's top historical landmarks, all in one trip
- Discover sights and stories you'd miss if exploring on your own
- Opt to extend your sightseeing with two different upgrade options
What's Included
- Welcome by the Bologna Tour staff
- Certified tour guide
- For those who buy option with Tour Archiginnasio, the visit to the palace will be at 14:10 or 17:00
- Gratuities
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Piazza del Nettuno, 40124 Bologna BO, Italy
Meeting point at the Fountain of Neptune, in front of the statue and near the stairs of the Vittorio Emanuele bar.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
1
Basilica Di San Petronio
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Piazza Santo Stefano
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Quadrilatero
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
4
Le Due Torri Torre degli Asinell
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
5
Archiginnasio Di Bologna
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- The tour may be in Italian-English dual language on some days
- On Sundays there is no entry to the Archiginnasio
- To access the Basilica of San Petronio you must have adequate clothing (covered shoulders and trousers / skirts at least up to the knee)
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 30 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.5
based on 836 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
The group was large and it lost the connection I was hoping for. I lost interest but not because of guide, because of size. I had so many questions but didn’t feel comfortable asking with a group that size. We were 16!
Very informative! Our guide knew and conveyed the history of Bologna as well as current events. Not too long, not too short.
Brilliant guide with a great style of expression. Terrific highlights of Bologna offered with good knowledge offered
Great orientation for the historic center of Bologna. Our guide was great—super knowledgeable and funny.
Great way to understand the city and surrounds. Great tips for restaurants and areas of interest.
Hidden gems and local knowledge.
Guide must be a professor, the level of knowledge and information was amazing we learned A LOT.
Thank you!
Our tour guide was very friendly, knowledgeable and committed. We really enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about the city.
A little history, a little food, a little wine and topped it off with gelato. A good combination.
Due to the high number of participants, it was broken into 2 groups, each with their own guide ... that was a very good decision by the tour company
This is a great and simplistic tour to explore the city centre of Bologna. We have had a very nice and knowledgable guide, who explained us the rich history around. If you are in the centre of Bologna with limited time and not sure what to do, this tour should be your pick.
Great and informative trip. Would highly recommend. Guide was amazing and very funny.
5pm was perfect time to be mostly in the shade.
Very informative tour, led by an experienced and knowledgeable guide, we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know this fascinating city more.
We took this tour on our first day in Bologna. It was the perfect way to learn about the city and orient ourselves to the main landmarks in the medieval city center.
Our tour guide was awesome. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy the topics he talked about and was a wealth of information. I would highly recommend!
Very interesting information about the history of the city delivered in a relaxed manner by Matteo. We covered a lot of ground in the two hours - building design and street development with anecdotes related to all.
Our tour guide, Tamara was informative yet whimsical. Her enthusiasm for the city was clearly evident. The two hour tour covered many different parts of the city.
The 2 hour walking tour of the city in the morning was very enjoyable and very educational. Bologna is a fascinating city with a rich (and old) history and our tour guide was excellent in presenting a wealth of information in a very engaging manner. Really new her stuff and was pleasant and funny as well. Also recommend the additional hour in the afternoon which visited the Archiginnassio (old seat of the University). Again, the guide was extremely knowledgeable and professional and the buildings provided a fascinating look at the first university in the world.
We booked the English walking tour of Bologna and both really enjoyed it!
Our guide was very good and we learnt lots about the history of Bologna.
She was very good at relaying the information and a plus the whispers used were very good and we could hear everything.
Another thing I liked was we moved place to place and she gathered us around her and spoke to us. A lot of the tours we have been on in Europe the guide talks to you as you walk and you lose so much information so thank you for this.
Would definately recommend the walking tour.
I had added the food tastings which I could take or leave.
We had a wonderful walking tour around Bologna. Our guide was superb. Clearly very passionate about the city and so knowledgeable. Thank you. We definitely recommend to others
Very informative, historical and interesting. Bologna’s history is rich in commercial and scientific enterprise.
Really inciteful walking tour around the city. Excellent, knowledgeable guide who shared lots of history and facts. Small group so plenty of opportunity to ask questions. Highly recommended.
Do it! We learned a ton about the city and saw the major sites and monuments that my guidebook had recommended.
The walking tour is a nice way to learn about the history of Bologna and see some of the main landmarks. To enter the cathedral, you need to cover your shoulders and not be wearing shorts/dresses that are too short. Plan accordingly. It was our guide's first time doing this particular tour so it was a little less interactive that I had hoped but still very interesting.
Very interesting tour; learned a lot about Bologna and its history and culture. Our guide was not only quite knowledgeable but also very articulate and enthusiastic. She knew so much detail!
This is not really a walking tour as for the first 45 minutes you have to stand still in the middle of square listen to somebody rehearse you 2000 years of medieval history twice as fast the speed of a normal speech. The events he described were uninteresting, unrelated and the level of details irrelevant. You could not understand 80% of what he said as he spoke with a strong accent. You could see people getting bored stiff and wondering when this is going to end.
The tour was limited. It did not get close to the leaning towers, it did not go to the anatomical theater and did not go to the canal window. Also, our guide struggled with English so it was difficult to know her command of Bologna history
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback.
We are sorry to hear that the tour did not fully meet your expectations. We would, however, like to clarify a few points for future readers.
All of our guides are fully licensed and certified professionals with extensive knowledge of Bologna’s history, culture, and landmarks. We take comments regarding language skills seriously and will certainly share your feedback with the guide involved as part of our ongoing quality improvement process.
Regarding the itinerary, the tour was conducted as described on the booking platform. The Anatomical Theatre is not included in this experience, and the Canal Window is likewise not listed among the sites visited during the tour. We always encourage guests to carefully review the itinerary details before booking to ensure the experience matches their expectations.
As for the Two Towers area, the tour includes a visit to the historic city center and the main highlights of Bologna, although the exact route may vary slightly depending on operational conditions, crowd levels, and the guide’s management of the group.
We appreciate your feedback and thank you for joining us in Bologna.
Tamara was an exceptional guide. She is personable and made learning about Bologna a fun experience. Our entire group took away the “5 words” so we will always remember our time in Bologna: red, puffy, learned, porticos, and towers. She also engaged the group and kept everyone interested and compelled. One of the best tours I have been on!
Very informative tour about church history and plenty of stops on the walking tour. Very knowledgeable tour guide.
Fabulous . We enjoyed learning about the city, its history and foods. Bologna is interesting. A great place to visit for 3-5 days.
The tour itself was okay, it covered the main bits to see but the guide wasn't local and seemed ill-informed about the facts of the city. There were more than a couple things (including some very key facts) that she said that we fact-checked that were slightly wrong or straight up false, and she didn't know how/want to answer any questions. And since the groups are large (~20 ppl), the guide kept walking too far ahead and leaving parts of the group out of mic/earbud range. Additionally, some of the stops were odd... like using a merch window display or a museum model with unrelated narration going on. Overall the tour felt a bit dry, impersonal, and the knowledge shallow but the city was beautiful (even though the tour only cover a very small area of it) and the tour is otherwise good for a broad overview of Bologna I guess...
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We’re sorry to hear that the guide didn’t meet your expectations, and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention. All our guides are certified professionals. Your comments help us better monitor the quality of our tours and improve the experience for future guests.
It was very informative and an easy walk. Our tour guide Victoria was friendly. She went above and beyond for us because Air France lost our luggage and we had to call the Italian airport again. We were very grateful for her kindness
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per personWas $32.46(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Attractions in Bologna, Italy
- Ferrari Museum (Museo Ferrari) Tours & Tickets
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- Mercato delle Erbe Tours & Tickets
- Palazzo della Mercanzia Tours & Tickets
- National Gallery of Bologna (Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna) Tours & Tickets
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- Fountain of Neptune (Fontana del Nettuno) Tours & Tickets
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- Palazzo Poggi Museums (Musei di Palazzo Poggi) Tours & Tickets
- Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio (Teatro Anatomico dell'Archiginnasio) Tours & Tickets
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More attractions near Bologna, Italy
- Ferrari Museum (Museo Ferrari) Tours & Tickets
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- Bologna Piazza Maggiore Tours & Tickets
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