Recommendations for Lucca and Bologna
 

I am looking for restaurants and walking tour recommendations for both Lucca and Bologna. Thanks in Advance. We are leaving next week.

In Bologna we booked a Rickshaw Towers Tour
Piazza Maggiore 1/e - 40124
tel: +39 051 6583111
email: [email protected]

Rickshaw Towers Tour - fun tour
Bologna Welcome

Piazza Maggiore 1/e - 40124
tel: +39 051 6583111
email: [email protected]

Do you want self-guided tours, or are you looking to hire a guide? If you want a guide, do you prefer a group tour or a private guide?

Luca is a small city, and easy to find your way around.One thing you should do is make a circuit of the massive walls, which have a park on top.

Bologna is a much bigger city, where a guided tour might make sense.

We go to Bologna often, mostly to visit relatives and friends. Really, it's almost impossible to get a bad meal in Bologna. We just follow our nose. One restaurant we like is Trattoria Fantoni: https://g.co/kgs/rSy4jNJ

We went sometimes in the past to Osteria Broccaindosso. They have a Facebook page, but I don't see a website.
It was an unusual restaurant, where you ate family style and they just kept bringing food to the table. I heard that it's become more like a real restaurant, also more touristy.

There are also popular places to eat in the covered market, but it can get crowded.

We did a city center walking tour in Bologna through Bologna Welcome -- about 2.5 hours and a good overview.

But then we also did a hop on and off bus tour after that (only do if you can go on upper deck; otherwise not much to see).

It's not exactly a tour but in Bologna we took the tourist bus to Basilica di San Luca (San Luca Express). The views are breathtaking and the place is very interesting. Highly recommended!

Our two favorite restaurants in Bologna were dinner at Da Cesari (Via de' Carbonesi, 8) and lunch at Sfoglia Rina (Via Castiglione 5/a). They still get great reviews. We spent five nights in Bologna with day trips to Padua and Ravenna. Wonderful experience. Check out Chapters 5-9 of our Italy trip report (lots of photos). Hopefully will give you good ideas. I think it would be difficult to have a bad meal in Bologna.

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/italy-2018/

We also enjoyed Da Cesari!

Another fodorite recimmended Sandre for gelato and it was wonderful! Get the chocolate--the owner/purveyr is expert in chocolate--grinds the beans, makes from scratch. Other unique flavors also available.

Thanks