Moderate-to-challenging walking on more rugged terrain with significant ascents / descents on most days. Compass skills may be required (check the individual holiday).
The season for this holiday is:
14 April 2020 - 30 June 2020
18 August 2020 - 13 October 2020
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| °C | 9 | 11 | 14 | 18 | 23 | 26 | 30 | 29 | 26 | 20 | 14 | 10 |
| mm | 69 | 67 | 71 | 69 | 67 | 51 | 35 | 60 | 73 | 77 | 114 | 76 |
We can only accept payment in GBP, but you can use this converter to find out how much the holiday equates to in your own currency.
10 nights: 14 April 2020 - 30 June 2020 & 18 August 2020 - 13 October 2020
Start any day except Thursday | End by latest date(s) shown above
| Starting | Price | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 14 - 30 Apr 2020 | £1495 | £295 |
| 1 - 21 May 2020 | £1545 | £310 |
| 22 May - 20 Jun 2020 | £1595 | £315 |
| 18 - 28 Aug 2020 | £1435 | £350 |
| 29 Aug - 3 Oct 2020 | £1595 | £315 |
| 3rd & 4th person discount | -£185 | |
| Single traveller supplement | £185 |
Includes accommodation, meals and services integral to the holiday as described, plus walking notes and maps, but no travel from the UK, nor any connecting travel from the airport unless stated below.
Book your flights through us and we'll find the best route and times to suit you. Please contact us to find out more about our flight booking service. We can also book connecting travel - see below.
Room upgrades (£ per person per night)
| Hotel Porta San Mamolo, Bologna | ||
|---|---|---|
| Superior: 14 Apr - 30 Jun 2020 | £38 | |
| Superior: 18 Aug - 13 Oct 2020 | £38 |
| Hotel Il Guelfo Bianco, Florence | ||
|---|---|---|
| Junior suite: 14 Apr - 30 Jun 2020 | £15 | |
| Junior suite: 18 Aug - 13 Oct 2020 | £15 | |
| Larger deluxe: 14 Apr - 30 Jun 2020 | £15 | |
| Larger deluxe: 18 Aug - 13 Oct 2020 | £15 |
Extra nights (£ per person per night) in a double or single room
| Hotel Porta San Mamolo, Bologna (B&B) | Double room | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Apr - 30 Jun 2020 | £64 | £112 |
| 18 Aug - 13 Oct 2020 | £64 | £112 |
| Hotel Il Guelfo Bianco, Florence (B&B) | Double room | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Apr - 30 Jun 2020 | £125 | £155 |
| 18 Aug - 05 Sep 2020 | £64 | £108 |
| 06 Sep - 13 Oct 2020 | £125 | £155 |
Travelling from the UK
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Aberdeen - Bologna (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Aberdeen - Bologna (via Paris) | Air France |
| Aberdeen - Florence (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Aberdeen - Pisa (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Birmingham - Bologna (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Birmingham - Bologna (via Frankfurt) | Lufthansa |
| Birmingham - Florence | Flybe |
| Birmingham - Pisa | jet2 |
| Birmingham - Pisa (via Munich) | Lufthansa |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Bristol - Bologna | Ryanair |
| Bristol - Florence | British Airways |
| Bristol - Pisa | easyJet |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Durham Tees Valley - Pisa (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Edinburgh - Bologna | Ryanair |
| Edinburgh - Florence | British Airways |
| Edinburgh - Pisa | Ryanair |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Glasgow Prestwick - Pisa | Ryanair |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Humberside - Bologna (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Humberside - Pisa (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Leeds Bradford - Bologna (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Leeds Bradford - Pisa | Ryanair |
| Leeds Bradford - Pisa | jet2 |
| Leeds Bradford - Pisa (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Liverpool - Pisa | Ryanair |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| London City - Florence | Air France, British Airways |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Gatwick - Bologna | easyJet |
| Gatwick - Florence | British Airways, Vueling |
| Gatwick - Pisa | British Airways, easyJet |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Heathrow - Bologna | British Airways |
| Heathrow - Pisa | British Airways |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Manchester - Bologna | Ryanair |
| Manchester - Florence | British Airways |
| Manchester - Pisa | easyJet, jet2, Ryanair |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Newcastle - Pisa | jet2 |
This list of flight options should be used as a guide only, and you should check each airline’s website for current routes, frequency and schedules. Not all flights operate daily, and may not run for the entire season. You should also heed the latest flight arrival time and earliest flight departure time stated in the connecting travel section, as it may not be possible to arrange connecting travel outside these times. Please do not book your flights until we have confirmed your accommodation to you. Alternatively, our expert reservations team will be happy to offer advice and to make flight bookings for you. We charge £35 per person for our flight booking service (£60 for India and Nepal). Your flights are then covered by our package-booking conditions, which give you greater protection in the event of delay or cancellation, as well as providing ATOL cover.
Connecting travel options - flying via Bologna
| Outward route | Price per person |
Latest flight arrival time |
|---|---|---|
| own transfer from Bologna airport | pay locally | flexible |
| Homeward route | Price per person |
Earliest flight departure time |
|---|---|---|
| taxi hotel to Florence SMN (0h10, pay locally), rail Florence SMN to Bologna Centrale (0h40) | £32 | 1100 |
Connecting travel options - flying via Pisa
| Outward route | Price per person |
Latest flight arrival time |
|---|---|---|
| rail Pisa Centrale to Bologna Centrale (2h/2h15), taxi Bologna Centrale to hotel (0h10, pay locally) | £43 | 1700 |
| Homeward route | Price per person |
Earliest flight departure time |
|---|---|---|
| taxi hotel to Florence SMN (0h10, pay locally), rail Florence SMN to Pisa Centrale (1h15) | £10 | 1100 |
Connecting travel options - flying via Florence
| Outward route | Price per person |
Latest flight arrival time |
|---|---|---|
| rail Florence SMN to Bologna Centrale (0h40), taxi Bologna Centrale to hotel (0h10, pay locally) | £32 | 1800 |
| Homeward route | Price per person |
Earliest flight departure time |
|---|---|---|
| own transfer | pay locally | flexible |
If you've experienced this holiday first hand, why not write a review?
We are keen for as many customers as possible to review their holiday. To make it easier to do so, we include a specific review section on our post-holiday questionnaire, and this is what we publish here, unedited. Read our full review policy >
Already mentioned the specific stand out hotels! Might help to notify that if you don't have any Italian language, sometimes that can be problematic. When I was lost and called Yolanda, we struggled to understand each other!
We're pleased that you enjoyed the holiday overall, and that our 24-hour duty officer was able to provide assistance when you realised you had gone astray.
The whole walk is a highlight challenging at times .We would recommend the wearing of good boots rather than shoes as the ground is uneven at times, and if you can't speak any Italian then learn some basics before you go as it will enhance your experience in the main part of the walk away from the cities.
Bologna was an unexpectedly wonderful city. The walk to San Luca was an atmospheric start, the variety of terrain & scenery coupled with the variety of accommodation & hosts made a memorable special holiday. It was great to meet & chat to others along the way from different parts of the world.
Already mentioned the specific stand out hotels! Might help to notify that if you don't have any Italian language, sometimes that can be problematic. When I was lost and called Yolanda, we struggled to understand each other!
We're pleased that you enjoyed the holiday overall, and that our 24-hour duty officer was able to provide assistance when you realised you had gone astray.
The whole walk is a highlight challenging at times .We would recommend the wearing of good boots rather than shoes as the ground is uneven at times, and if you can't speak any Italian then learn some basics before you go as it will enhance your experience in the main part of the walk away from the cities.
Bologna was an unexpectedly wonderful city. The walk to San Luca was an atmospheric start, the variety of terrain & scenery coupled with the variety of accommodation & hosts made a memorable special holiday. It was great to meet & chat to others along the way from different parts of the world.
Walking along the arcades of Bologna to the San Luca Sanctuary on a glorious sunny morning with the young, old, fit and not-so-fit residents of the city was a great start to the walk. Although the main walking route goes along Via Saragozza, we had explored its arcades the morning before and really enjoyed walking along the arcades and having a coffee as many of the locals were also doing.
Highlights:
Monte Adone
Flower filled meadows
Nice woodland
Great views
Every stopover was individual and quirky in its own way
Dancing at the village festival in Madonna dei Fornelli
Great to meet so many walkers from so many different countries - didn't realise what a busy route it would be
Bologna and Florence create fantastic book-ends to the holiday. Two city breaks back to back would be exhausting, but with a weeks walking inbetween it is the perfect balance
Another very enjoyable Inn Travel holiday. Excellent walking notes and immaculate arrangements for transfer of luggage.
A great and challenging walk, pretty hilly in places and there is a lot of walking through woodland. When you're not in the woods, the views are wonderful! We combined the last two days of your walk so we did Olmo to Florence in one go and this is manageable for people with less time. (If you take this option, and get up at a reasonable time for Day 6 you can easily get to Olmo in time to take a bus or taxi to go and wander around Fiesole - so you dont miss it)
Itinerary well planned and thought through - thoroughly enjoyable
Stunning walking, with wonderful views and great regional cuisine each night which was always well deserved.
Take some zinc oxide tape for your toes and voltarol for your knees.....There a quite a few climbs and descents!
Lovely holiday, well organised, great selection of hotels and accommodation. Wonderful experience, tranquil countryside with good paths and just the right level of challenge.
Beautiful walk, not too stressful as we have done several grade 3s. Accommodation and food was a real mixed bag on this walk. A couple of very dissappointing properties which surprised me to still be used. One property that we all really enjoyed was Hotel La Felicina, host family were amazing and we had the best home cooked meal!! We were even allowed to use the washing machine , which is a bonus on a a 10 day walk. Countryside and small towns were all delightful, you really do get to see the real Italy (Tuscany). Weather was great with just one day of rain. Florence was a real treat, especially the last 2 days of walking with Florence in your sights. Thank you Inntravel for yet another beautiful walk .
Walking was lovely but fitness beforehand is essential. The route is marked superbly and makes life very easy to enjoy the beautiful countryside.
Bologna was a real delight and the walk out of Bologna was stunning. Overall I really enjoyed the walk but found it very long days - on two occasions I took over 40,000 steps and my feet and knees hurt! (Although recovered overnight). Being picky, there was a lot more woodland walking that I was expecting. I went with the misconception (my fault) that the walk was an ancient way walked by religious people or for trade but now see it’s a series of walks that have been put together to create the Way of the Gods in recent years (as one of the hoteliers told me).
The food was outstanding!
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.
You need to book the restuarants in Bologna, they all seeemed pretty full.
We did a day trip to Modena which was most worthwhile and very easy.
The spring flowers in the verges and meadows at the beginning of May were spectacular. The food in all the hotels and restaurants was outstanding. The Hotel 'La Felicina' was memorable for so many reasons not least the welcome from Carlo and Bruno.
We felt that walking poles were essential on certain parts of the route as it is used by both mountain bikes and all terrain motorcycles which meant that the paths were muddy, rutted and flooded in places.
The highlight was, I suppose, getting to Florence without incident! However, the walking along the way was extremely beautiful and it would be hard to find any part of it disappointing. The weather was very warm for October, perhaps too warm when trudging up the big hills at the beginning of the day! Probably the best walking holiday we have ever done.
We were pleased with the variety of accommodation and welcome received throughout this trip and some hotels were truly exceptional. Standards of food and wine were consistently high. Do not be put off by bad weather as the established 'via degli dei' trail is very well sign-posted and easy to find your way. Suggest take a hi-viz vest to use for short sections when busy road walking is involved. If a rest day is required then San Piero would be a nice place for an extra night. The final two days from L'Olmo to Florence could really be walked in one.
The vistas and peace for most of the time walking in the woods was much enjoyed. It would be useful if somehow you could underline to accomodation suppliers that when a client requests a quiet room, that's what they get! The walk up to Leonardo's point is not worth it.
Florence is probably very busy most of the year and we would suggest planning what you are going to do before you get there. Get a good map with street name reference grid. When visiting Uffice gallery, consider planning to see selected paintings, as otherwise it will consume a whole day and be just too much to take in. Look at buying a Firenza card, although expensive, saves queueing time for tickets and can be cost effective in its own right.
We're sorry that your request for quiet rooms wasn't fulfilled at some of the hotels. The walk via Piazzale Leonardo - where Leonardo da Vinci experimented with his flying machines - is included as it is a site of historical interest.
Great holiday. A real adventure.
Highlights: - Ristorante Sangiovese in Bologna. Great meal and service. Wonderful start to the holiday.
- Pensione Bencista. Great hotel. Wonderful setting. Enjoy a drink on the terrace, chill out and take in the views over Florence.
- Hotel La Felicina: admire the collectables of the owner, especially the planes. Great service. A real gem.
Tip: Do not purchase picnics from Hotel Porta San Mamolo. Expensive. poor. plenty of places en route to buy better as you leave Bologna, without losing time.
This was a great walk through some amazing countryside. We really enjoyed the walk, and Inntravel made it easy with all accommodation and luggage transfers. We found the company went out of its way to assist (for example, we were very pleasantly surprised to find rail tickets all purchased, booked and printed out). Some of the places we stayed in were simply amazing, and greatly added to the whole experience (top marks to Hotel Porta San Mamolo, Hotel La Felicina, Pensione Bencistà and Hotel Il Guelfo Bianco). We would love to do another walk with Inntravel and can recommend them highly.
This an excellent, correctly graded trek bookended by a couple of days in two wonderful cities. Walking the Via Degli Dei is a privilege shared with other walkers, farmers and hunters on the way and with your hoteliers as you are welcomed at the end of the day. The hotels vary, but the food is consistently excellent and there was a generosity of spirit at all the hotels en route. An upgraded room in Il Guelfo Bianco in Florence was a deserved bit of luxury at the end of the memorable walk to the Duomo.
Highlights are hard to identify on such an interesting and varied experience. The landscape was continually changing from rocky terrain, sun-lit woodland, pastures and olive groves. Every day was different and each accommodation provided something new. The walk out of Bologna along the porticoed way is especially memorable, and descending into San Piero a Sieve. Meeting truffle hounds, with bells on their collars and seeing wild boar were real highlights too. Walking poles are absolutely essential.
We booked the holiday partly because we could walk straight out of Bologna and at the end straight into Florence. This experience did not disappoint! The route is the old Via degli Dei between the two cities and has some lovely views. The first glimpses of Florence in the distance were very exciting!
It was unusually hot for June, 33 + degrees in the shade, so I was pleased with all the woodland walking. There was more tarmac/strada bianca that I had anticipated and this can be very hard work. The best bits were the wild flower meadows with so many butterflies they were flying into my face! Staff at San Piero and l'Olmo were particularly kind in picking me up when the heat got too much. A lovely last meal at Fiesole sitting on the terrace overlooking Florence. At Cinque Cerri I was the only 'standard' guest as they had two big groups in, but nothing was too much trouble and I was still allowed to choose from the whole menu.
Whilst the weather was hot, mid 30s in mid June (and we drank a lot of water), the walking was very pleasant in dappled shade and woodlands. The views on approaching Florence were spectacular with the sunlight on the Duomo. Very peaceful inns between two bustling cities.
I was not particularly struck with the Pensione Bencista. My room - for which I had to pay an additional supplement for some reason - was entirely unremarkable. I would discourage dining on the terrace overlooking Florence. Whilst the view is good the metal dining chairs are extremely uncomfortable and the tables wobble. Given the energy for the additional walking involved a visit to an alternative restaurant in Fiesole might have been a better option. I was also very disappointed with the Bistro 'Il Desco' attched to the hotel in Florence. Hot dishes are reheated in a microwave before serving - and in my case not heated thoroughly. Lasagna does not take kindly to this treatment however good the ingredients.
The difficulty of this route was probably a bit over emphasised by Inntravel. If one and three quarter OAPs can do it without undue strain then there really shouldn't be much of a problem for anybody else. It would have been more difficult with more rain, but in dry/damp conditions it was easy.
Wildflower meadows were a real surprise and so beautiful. Italians were pleasantly surprised that english people were walking this path. We timed it perfectly with the weather as the previous week had been rainy and after the storm on the 20th the weather broke and it was sunshine all the way.
Felicina won our hotel of the week, lovely people and terrific communal dinner in the evening.
Glorious countryside to walk through in the late spring sunshine. Mixed days of hiking through fields, woodlands, olive groves and meadows with steep climbs up to high ridges with spectacular views. Walking to Fiesole and catching the first glimpses of the Duomo shimmering in the distance in Florence was wonderful. The meadow flowers were beautiful and the air filled with birdsong. Long days of walking on solitary paths and trails. Altogether the right balance of challenging walking and delightful scenery making this a very rewarding trip.
Lake Iseo is a wonderful holiday. All of the participants were terrific. Bologna to Florence was excellent but the Traversa accomodation and the notes required improvement. Cycling not well conceived.
INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined the walking holidays Secret Lake Iseo and From Bologna to Florence with the cycling holiday Sassi & Trulli.
Overall, this trip was more challenging than expected but we enjoyed it very much. We had perfect weather the entire trip. Would recommend bringing hiking poles for safe walking on rough trails. Our fondest stay was the Pensione Bencista above Florence. We still talk about a black dog that joined us at our start one day. He had obviously learned the route from others and led us for several miles, once correcting a wrong turn with a long stare.