Things to do in Ravenna
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Ravenna
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is best overall, mild walking weather, short queues and best birdwatching, late April and May peak.
Festival and beach season, hot and humid, combine morning mosaics with afternoon beach.
Italian holiday peak at the beach, some centro restaurants close, worst month for heat, crowds and price.
Autumn locals' favourite light and food season, September and early October arguably tied with May.
Winter is intimate, foggy and cheapest for art purists, with almost queue-free monuments and short daylight.
What's on
- Ravenna Festival late May to mid-July
Opera, ballet, classical and jazz in basilicas and courtyards, book everything early.
- Mosaico di Notte summer evenings
Monuments open at night on some summer evenings in some years, check the programme.
- Settembre Dantesco September
A month of Dante readings, talks and events across the city.
- Notte d'Oro October, one night
Concerts and late monument openings across the centro for one night.
- GiovinBacco late October
Romagna's biggest wine and food festival.
- Biennale di Mosaico Contemporaneo autumn, odd years
International mosaic artists in churches and cloisters across the city, add a full day.
Best things to do in Ravenna
Basilica di San Vitale
Octagonal basilica with Justinian and Theodora apse mosaics, the greatest interior in Ravenna.
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
Small dark chapel with a deep blue starry vault and Good Shepherd mosaic, the oldest mosaics in Ravenna.
Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
Long processions of saints and virgins plus the earliest image of Ravenna itself in one nave.
Neonian Baptistery
Ravenna's oldest monument, with a dome mosaic of the Baptism of Christ ringed by the Apostles.
Archiepiscopal Chapel
Tiny private chapel covered wall to vault in mosaics and mercifully uncrowded, inside the Archbishop's Palace.
Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe
Vast lonely basilica in flat fields with a green paradise apse and St Apollinaris in prayer.
Dante's Tomb
Small tomb in the quiet Zone of Silence where Ravenna has kept Dante's bones since 1321.
Basilica di San Francesco
Church beside Dante's Tomb with a sunken water-filled crypt where goldfish swim over a mosaic floor.
Where to stay in Ravenna
Centro Storico
first trip, all-round base
Everything is a 5 to 15 minute walk, restaurants are on the doorstep and evenings stay local.
San Vitale / Galla Placidia quarter
mosaic-first and repeat visitors
Quiet leafy residential streets right beside the two greatest monuments, five minutes from Piazza del Popolo.
Darsena / Station edge
younger travellers and repeat visitors
Regeneration district with street art and brewpubs, better value and 10 to 15 minutes to the mosaics.
Marina di Ravenna / Punta Marina
summer beach base with a car
Sea air and beach club life in July and August, but you lose Ravenna's evenings and commute 20 to 30 minutes.
Think twice about
- Porto Corsini / cruise terminal area
Industrial port far from the centre with no evening life. It is a transit point, not a neighbourhood.
- SS16 / Via Romea Sud hotel strip
Car-only commercial road with no walkable anything. Neither unsafe nor useful as a base.
- Immediate station block
Grittiest-feeling walk after dark with poorer lighting. Base in the centro 10 minutes away instead.
Best restaurants in Ravenna
L'Acciuga Osteria
Creative Adriatic seafood devoted to anchovies and the day's catch, Ravenna's destination dinner.
Alexander Ristorante
Fine dining tasting menus in a former Art Nouveau cinema inside the Mercato Coperto complex.
Antica Trattoria Al Gallo 1909
Historic family trattoria for cappelletti in brodo, passatelli and tagliatelle al ragù.
Osteria dei Battibecchi
Tiny hidden local favourite for homemade pasta and squacquerone with caramelised figs.
Ca' de Vèn
15th century wine house for piadina, boards and Sangiovese under vaulted ceilings.
Il Portolano
Refined neighbourhood seafood on a quiet side street, quieter and more classic than L'Acciuga.
Osteria del Tempo Perso
Seasonal book-lined osteria near San Vitale whose menu changes every two months.
Mercato Coperto di Ravenna
Rebuilt covered market to graze piadina, cheese, cured meats and fresh pasta under one roof.
Best bars in Ravenna
Darsenale Brewpub
Craft beer brewpub in converted industrial space with sunset over the Candiano canal.
Best coffee in Ravenna
Caffè Alighieri
Local caffè bar and a residents' favourite, where the owner sometimes plays guitar.
Caffè Corte Cavour
Caffè on the Cavour shopping street, a local favourite for coffee at the counter.
La Casa del Caffè
Caffè praised locally for must-taste coffee at the counter, the standing local ritual.
Caffè Pasticceria Palumbo
Portico caffè on Piazza San Francesco used by local regulars beside the Dante quarter.
Outdoor things to do in Ravenna
Pineta di San Vitale
Maritime pine forest and lagoons just north of the centre, part of the Po Delta Park.
Pialassa della Baiona
Lagoon visited by small birdwatching boats for herons, egrets, avocets and seasonal flamingos.
Pineta di Classe
900 hectares of pinewood behind the beach with sandy paths, deer at dawn and dusk and picnic areas.
Lido di Classe
Quiet beach framed by the Pineta di Classe, the most nature-framed of Ravenna's lidi.
Marina di Ravenna
Most complete lido with a long beach, beach clubs, sailing and seafood restaurants by the port mouth.
Punta Marina Terme
Quieter thermal spa beach town with a broad beach, good for families and a slower pace.
Marina Romea
Greener pine-backed lido with sailing and horse riding country along the coast.
Adriatic Golf Club Cervia
27 holes through pinewoods and salt lakes near the sea, the serious golf option on this coast.
Best hotels in Ravenna
Palazzo Bezzi Hotel
Polished luxury palazzo hotel near the mosaics with spa facilities unusual for a city this size.
Grand Hotel Mattei
Large full service luxury hotel with parking, best if driving or travelling as a group.
NH Ravenna
Reliable modern chain hotel by the station edge, excellent if arriving late by train.
Hotel Diana
Comfortable family hotel two minutes from Piazza del Popolo, Dante's Tomb and San Vitale.
Palazzo Galletti Abbiosi
18th century noble residence opposite Sant'Apollinare Nuovo with hotel rooms and hostel dorms.
B&B Galla Placidia
Small B&B in a quiet lane steps from Galla Placidia and San Vitale, unimprovable for mosaic-first stays.
Hotel Italia
Simple central hotel, often among the cheapest private rooms with bathroom in the centre.
Hotel Mosaico
Simple station road hotel, handiest for an early train out of Ravenna.
Is Ravenna expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €85 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €155 a person |
| Splurge | €300 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Mausoleum of Galla Placidia: a few days ahead
- Koko Mosaico: a few days ahead
- Teatro Alighieri: weeks ahead
- Pialassa della Baiona: a few days ahead
- Adriatic Golf Club Cervia: a few days ahead
- Mirabilandia: a few days ahead
- B&B Galla Placidia: a few days ahead
- Albergo Cappello: weeks ahead
- Book the combined ticket plus Galla Placidia timed supplement online as soon as dates are fixed.
- In Ravenna Festival season book bed, top restaurants and festival tickets weeks ahead in that order.
- Book L'Acciuga and Alexander days ahead, and Battibecchi because it is small.
- Koko Mosaico and Pialassa bird boats need advance booking, not walk-up optimism.
- Book Mirabilandia and golf tee times online in July and August, weekday if possible.
Is Ravenna safe?
- Ravenna is a safe calm city by Italian standards, the centro is well lit and populated late.
- Be aware around the station forecourt and Darsena underpass at night, use the lit main route or a taxi.
- Pickpocketing is low but real in crowded mosaic sites and festival crowds, use normal precautions.
- Buy mosaic tickets only via Ravenna Mosaici or official Visit Ravenna channels, not touts.
- Look for bikes as well as cars at crossings, and carry water and a hat on summer rides.
- Respect heavy rain alerts in autumn and winter, especially for pineta and delta excursions.
Ravenna travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Doing Ravenna in 3 hours from a cruise bus and missing Galla Placidia's slot.
- The station road souvenir and fast food strip as a first impression or a meal.
- Venice as a Ravenna day trip, 5 hours of transit for a rushed glimpse.
- Mirabilandia for adults travelling without kids.
- Expecting a beach in the city centre, the lidi are a bus or bike ride away.
- Darsena street art as a headline sight, go for aperitivo not art.
- Over-ordering piadina fillings instead of the classic squacquerone, prosciutto and rocket.
Getting around Ravenna: public transport and more
- Walk and cycle in the flat centro, sites cluster within 15 minutes except Classe.
- Classe is bus 4, local train or bike from the station.
- Do not drive into the ZTL centro, park outside the walls and walk.
- Trains run from Bologna Centrale in about 1 hour 15, and to Faenza, Ferrara and Rimini.
- Porto Corsini cruise terminal is 20 to 30 minutes by shuttle or taxi, the ship is not in town.
Who Ravenna suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Ravenna your trip
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