Looking to book to go to do the factory tour in October. We will fly from gatwick to bologna which is quite cheap. How many days do we need to allow? Want to see a bit of normal sightseeing too? any pointers on a hotel to use? I asked on the old forum last year but lost the info when it closed down. thanks
Remember to go to the Ducati-outlet further down the road from the factory :smile: A lot of good deals there on Ducati riding gear and other accesories. Hotel Amadeus is a good hotel, just some 8-900m from the factory entrance. https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...qkstZ_RzGPEGyQf_g8Ww&oq=ducat&t=h&mra=ls&z=17 Bologna is also a nice, old Italian city. So if you have time, I vould spend a day in the town as well:smile:
Do the ducati tour first thing and make sure you go to the ducati outlet up the road. Then in the afternoon ride to Modena and do the ferrari museum. Both easily done in a day
We went last year and thoughly enjoyed our visit. You can do the factory/museum and outlet shop in a morning. Which as has been said, allows another half a day to visit Ferrari which is worth the trip just to see Enzo Ferrari's boat! Bologna is a fantastic city whith some stunning architecture and you can fill a day sight seeing and enjoying fine Italian food and drink. My advice would be to stay outside the city. As it is old the hotels are small and do not have parking, so security is an issue for bikes. I would recomend the following hotel, it has a fantastic resturant on site, secure parking for bikes and you should get a good deal at the weekend as in the week it caters for business.[TABLE="width: 190"] [TR] [TD="class: xl63, width: 253, bgcolor: yellow"][TABLE="width: 190"] [TR] [TD="class: xl65, width: 253, bgcolor: yellow"]Savoia Hotel Regency[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Via Pilastro 2[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Bologna, BO 40127 [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
We use bologna Hotel del Borgo, hotel 3 stelle bologna, alberghi centro storico bologna, hotel vicino aeroporto bologna which has fantastic rooms, is across the road from the factory and cheap too! They are more than familiar with visitors to the factory. A top tip is that you can get the bus to the factory from the airport, and it costs €1.50 each! You get the bus from the bus stop at the airport (just outside arrivals, up from the taxi rank) and get a ticket on the bus. They leave every 15 minutes and it takes about 5 minutes to get there. Again, the drivers are used to visitors so if you ask for Ducati they will let you know when they get there. For the factory visit you MUST book in advance (use this page Ducati) to ensure they have a tour guide who speaks English available. There are two tours per day, 11am and 2pm. They only take 30-45mins for the factory tour then they will take you round the Museum which is about 20-30mins and then leave you in the museum. NEVER GO ON A SATURDAY! The factory will be empty and it's very dull in comparison to seeing the factory "live". As others have said, go to the factory shop at the end of via Ducati where the factory entrance is (turn right out of the Ducati gates and walk to the end of the road) but beware that it is CLOSED all day Monday! Factory tour is €10 per person, I think, but if you are a member of one of the Clubs then it is free BUT you must be signed up on the Ducati website and have your nominated Club (and get your Club to authorise it) for this to work. You can also show membership cards to get discount in the shop BUT again they do check on the DOC system so you MUST be registered!
I stayed in the Hotel Amadeus when I stopped off at the way back from WDW in June. It's near the factory. Ask for the Ducati discount - the room was quite good value for money at 62 Euros including breakfast. At breakfast ask the waitress for coffee as the stuff from the machines in the breakfast room is lousy. The number 13 bus goes from more or less outside the hotel front door to the city centre of Bologna if you want to head into town for dinner and sightseeing. You can buy tickets on board but the machines are temperamental and might eat your change, so better to buy tickets from a tabbacaio.
Cheers for all the replies. I'm just waiting on Ducati emailing me back to confirm my tour date. We are going for 3 nights as my girlfriend would like to sightsee too. Flights are cheap with easyjet and loads of hotel choice too.
Oh I say didn't she do well. Remember stay out the black and in the red you get nothing in this game for two in a bed!!!!!! Pmsl
We went round the museum in about an hour, the shop across the roads worth going to, you can look round the back at the workshop too, they made us coffee, one of the guys spoke good english. We spent half a day there waiting for a tyre to arrive The factory was closed
keep in mind the outlet shop shuts on a monday! got caught out last month ...did the tour at factory then museum then to be told outlet shop shuts on a monday!!! so ducati never got my 300 euros id saved up!
