Bologna

Fantastic position of hotel in Rome, our excellent room was just 100metres from the mighty Pantheon, roof terrace lovely and peaceful after a full day. Thoroughly enjoyed our walking tours in Bologna and Rome.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our city add-ons in Bologna and Rome

We thoroughly enjoyed this holiday. The walks were generally as we had expected with some challenging parts but worth it for the wonderful views from the top and the lovely meanderings through chestnut forests! All the hoteliers were very friendly but the rooms varied greatly between being quite palatial to monastic! The food was generally very good although sometimes the picnics were dissappointing, however we were able to supplement with our own supply of fruit, tomatoes and pama ham. I appreciated the trouble all the hotels took to provide me with dairy free alternatives whenever possible. We particularly loved our vist to Bologna, soaking in the magic of the medieval architecture and culture which provided the perfect counter-balance to all the walking in beautiful scenery.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our walk The Secret Apennines with a Bolgna City add-on

A wonderful insight into a little known region of Italy. Strongly recommend the stay at either end of the [Secret Apennines] walk in Bologna and Lucca. We enjoyed the whole experience and the mountain villages are delightful with wonderful hotels serving exceptional local food.

Combination of 3 cities and variety of walks appealed to us.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers enjoyed two walking itineraries From Bologna to Florence, and From Florence to Siena, followed by a return short stay again in Bologna at the Hotel Porta San Mamolo.

What a fantastic holiday and so well organized by Inntravel - I never had a moments worry re travel arrangements nor with the walking notes.   The walking notes were just great - I was walking on my own and did keep a note of where I was but found that if you read them word for word you didn't make a mistake and the timing was just about spot on for my speed of walking.   Actually found that I only used the map to see where I was in the bigger picture.

All the Hotels were so welcoming.   I found a couple of really good restaurants - in Florence - Restaurante Natalino,Borgo degli Albizi, 17r.   Their tortellini  pasta stuffed with ground pears and a gorgonzola sauce was simply wonderful.   In Radda In Chianti - La Botte di Bacco, was once again just wonderful - the steak that I had was the best ever and the service was excellent.   On the walk from Greve in Chianti to Radda in ChiantiI had a lovely lunch at Volpaia at La Bottega sitting on the terrace below a fig tree - Volpaia is a beautiful village.

I bought online a skip the queue ticket to climb to the top of the Brunelleschi's Dome at the Florence Duomo, which was well worth the money and the climb, although very steep towards the top it is very well worth while - the view is simply stunning.   I found Florence very busy but am very pleased that I've seen it but was so glad to get out into the country and start walking.  

I found all the walks different and enjoyed them all in their own way.   Although Breve in Chianti to Radda in Chianti was a long walk I found that I was enjoying the scenery so much that the miles just seemed to melt away!

All in all just a great holiday and so well organised - thank you Inntravel for another fantastic holiday.

One area we think it would be helpful to provide more information about is boarding the OEBB intercity bus. The bus itself was fabulous and we left our booked seats to go upstairs where the view was superb. However, we had a tense time once we got out of the train at Udine, tiring to work out where to catch the bus. The station staff were unusually unhelpful and it was as if they had never heard of the bus. There was no helpful signage and there were other bus depots over the road from the station. However, it did just show up at the station (on time) and we just got on it and it just went, so all ended well. But it would have been good to have a specific instruction like, 'stand in front of the station on the left hand end looking out from inside the station and just wait, it will come!' Or something similar. But this was a minor issue compared to the very good bookings we had and they way it all worked out. Thank you so much for this!

Meissen was wonderful as were the Zwinger and the Augartenmuseum in terms of the story of the development of porcelain in Europe, and I believe there is also a porcelain manufacturing works with tours in Berlin.

The Hotel Weisenhof is the best place we have ever stayed and no one should go for less than a week!

We loved this holiday.  The scenery was breathtaking and the walks through the forests and in the mountains were magical.  Highlights included visiting the charming villages nestled into the hillsides, meeting only locals (hardly any other tourists in sight!) and receiving such wonderful welcomes at the hotels, to say nothing of the food!  The add-on of a couple of nights in Bologna was well-worth doing as this is such a fascinating city.  Can't recommend this holiday highly enough (but don't all go at once - keep it to yourselves!)

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers enjoyed our The Secret Apennines - A Self-Guided Walking Holiday followed by our Hotel Porta San Mamolo, Bologna City add-on.

Another great holiday with Inntravel. We were lucky with the weather and enjoyed walking in the shade of the woods on several days but the most stunning walks were on the mountain tops where the Alpine flowers were in bloom and the views magnificent (we even saw the sea!). Most days we didn't see a soul. The hotels were very friendly and the food was delicious - so nice to discover there is more to Italian food than pasta and pizza (though these were good too!). Two days in Bologna made a relaxing end - it is a fascinating city and the churches and museums (largely deserted) were splendid.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined The Secret Apennines with our Bologna City add-on

Fiona and I would like to thank you for a wonderful holiday in Italy. Your attention to detail from the Ryanair flight to the walking notes for Bologna was remarkable (as experienced). All the material was relevant, accurate and easy to understand. The accommodation was very comfortable and all the on route service providers were friendly and helpful. We are actually still on holidays and will be home next week. I do have a few observations to make in regard to the notes on the walks, but I will leave that until I am in front of a proper keyboard. In the meantime thanks again, Inntravel is a great holiday provider. We will have no hesitation in recommending you to our like minded independent traveller friends and families. And we hope to be in contact again when next we are in the neighbourhood.

[INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our Cinque Terre walk with a city break in Bologna.]