Where to Stay in Bologna

The medieval core around Piazza Maggiore, the Two Towers and the Quadrilatero food market lanes. Everything you came to Bologna for is inside a ten-minute walk, mostly under porticoes, so rain barely matters. This is the default answer for a first visit and it earns it.

Good to know: The lanes around the Quadrilatero get noisy with late diners and delivery vans early in the morning. Ask for a courtyard-facing room and check whether the building has a lift - a lot of these palazzi do not.

The streets around the Seven Churches complex are the most elegant in Bologna: wide porticoes, antique shops, quiet piazzas and some of the city's best restaurants. You are still five minutes from Piazza Maggiore but the crowds thin dramatically the moment you turn off the main drag.

Good to know: Prices sit above the rest of the centre and there are fewer budget options. Worth it if you want the atmosphere without the university noise, and it is the area to pick for a special trip.

Bologna has Europe's oldest university and around 80,000 students, and this is where they drink. Via Zamboni and the surrounding streets are full of cheap bars, aperitivo deals and osterie, with the best prices in the city on food, drinks and rooms.

Good to know: It genuinely does not quiet down until the early hours, especially on Thursday to Saturday in term time. Brilliant value if you are here for the nightlife, a mistake if you need sleep. Note that university terms mean it is dead in August and packed in October.

The blocks around the main station hold most of the city's chain and business hotels, with lifts, air conditioning and reliable rooms - things the historic centre often lacks. It is about a 15-minute walk to Piazza Maggiore, or a few minutes on a bus.

Good to know: It has no charm at all and the immediate station surroundings feel scruffy at night, though the area is not unsafe. Right choice if you are doing Bologna as a rail base for Florence, Venice, Modena and Parma - all under an hour and a half away.

A long street of osterie, wine bars, jazz spots and old-left political clubs, west of the centre. It is where locals drink rather than students, so the crowd skews slightly older than Via Zamboni, and the food is excellent and cheap.

Good to know: Lively rather than raucous, but still a drinking street - expect noise on the street side until late. Ten to fifteen minutes' walk to Piazza Maggiore, and much better value than the historic core.

North of the railway, Bolognina is Bologna's most mixed and fastest-changing district: north African and Chinese groceries, low rents, street art and a rapidly improving food scene. The new tram and station works are pulling it closer to the centre.

Good to know: It is workaday rather than pretty and it is the area people mean when they warn about parts of Bologna at night, though the reality is far tamer than the reputation. Good value, but only pick it if you want a local neighbourhood rather than a view.

The wooded hills south of the centre hold agriturismi, villas and the long portico climbing to the San Luca sanctuary. Green, cool in summer and with the best views in Bologna looking back over the terracotta rooftops.

Good to know: You will need a car or the bus for everything, which undercuts what makes Bologna good - being able to walk everywhere. Best for a couple of nights at the end of a trip, or if you are driving through Emilia-Romagna anyway.