January city break, Bologna ?

[Georgyporky]

I want to take DH away for his birthday next month. Must have good restaurants, preferably a Michelin *.
I looked at Bologna, but it seems to be cold.

I saw a one-word post saying that it was not recommended, I'd like to know why.
Any ideas, please? Doesn't have to be brilliant weather, but certainly warmer & sunnier than UK in January.

What about Seville? It should definitely be warmer there. For food - Lyon, but probably similar in temperature to Bologna.

Seville is lovely as is Malaga. I have had excellent food in both and there's loads to see too.

Bologna will be cold and possibly foggy in January (maybe slightly milder than the UK). It is quite small in size so a weekend break will be more than enough to see and experience what it has to offer. I don't know about Michelin star restaurants but in general you can't go wrong food-wise in Emilia Romagna. If you want to go to Italy and you are looking for warmer weather you have to look from Rome down to the South . For somewhere a bit warmer with good food I can recommend Porto or Lisbon.

I used to live in Bologna and loved it very much, However, it's freezing in January. Colder than in the UK. It might be slightly sunnier, as there are less clouds in the sky, but January is at high risk for fog.
Aside from the weather I think January would be a good month to visit it if you are aiming at food, shopping and art. But bear in mind there will be no alfresco dinners, no outdoor concerts etc.

Palermo? Much further south so chance of more reasonable weather

My daughter lived in Bologna so have been at various times of year. It was roasting in September ( sticky hot), but when I went back in November and then January it was freezing and very foggy. Couldn't believe the difference in 8 weeks
It's a lovely very walkable city and loads of nice places to eat. They shut off the city centre within the walls to most traffic at weekends.
To get pleasant not totally Baltic weather in Europe, you need to go further south.

We went in June and nearly boiled to death so January sounds appealing to me 😂. We found Bologna to be a very arty city and we're not that into art so it wasn't a great fit for us BUT we used it as a base city to explore the rest of Emilia Romagna and that was a lot of fun. I liked Ravenna a lot :D

Bologna is a great city break and the food is amazing.

I went in August and nearly boiled alive. January would be much better.

I think I have a food tour recommendation, I'll check when I get home.

Bologna is fantastic! It's lovely to walk around. Loads of amazing food and a wonderful market, but I wouldn't go in January. Wait until the spring / summer to go and eat to your hearts content!

I've only been in the summer so can't comment on the weather but it's a beautiful city and I had one of the best meals of my life in a tiny little bistro there (20 years ago now!).

I went to Madrid in December once and it was cold but bright blue skies. Very quiet in the Prado which was wonderful.

Seville would be a better choice. But don't be fooled. Most places are cold in January

I used to live there. It's a wonderful place but brutally cold in winter and baking hot in summer. I would definitely swerve January and go in the spring.

Also just a note to say if you do decide to go to Bologna in the spring / summer, try and add on a few extra days and head up to Modena and Parma. The home of Parmesan cheese, Parma ham and Balsamic Vinegar. Also make sure to try the mortadella in Bologna. There's so many wonderful foods that were founded and are produced in the Emilia Romana region. You can also arrange tours if you've got the time.

I went to Florence in January, not far from Bologna. It was absolutely freezing. And none of the indoor things (museums art galleries) were heated so there was very little respite from the cold.

Try Marrakech

Thanks everyone, very helpful.
The Stanley Tucci programme gave me the idea, but I'll save Bologna for later.

We've been to all the places (bar 1) you lovely people suggested, & I wanted to go somewhere new.
Palermo is looking good. We've been to Sicily twice, but not there.
Thanks again.

We loved both series,so good!

Dh and I went for a day trip in October. He loved the place. I didn't. I found it dirty and grubby and failed to see the appeal. I can see how it is a arty city but unfortunately the amount of rubbish really put me off. I could cope with graffiti (dh described the places as grungy) but it just didn't feel clean. Sorry!
I remember my mum saying the same about Venice and I've always wanted to visit there, but if it's like Bologna then I'm no longer bothered.

@NCTDN Venice is so fantastically different from Bologna you can't compare the two as they are not remotely similar. I adore Venice and have been three times now. I'd definitely go back to Venice but wouldn't revisit Bologna.

When we arrived in Bologna, all I could see was the graffiti and I was thinking 'why have we come to this shithole on our honeymoon?'

But actually the centre is amazing, there is loads to see and the food is incredible.

If I had a criticism of the Stanley programme, it would be that he spends too much time in Michelin star places. I remember going somewhere in Bologna where the wife was in the kitchen, husband front of house. We were somewhat pointlessly given menus as he announced that we didn't want our choices, and served us up a whole meal that wasn't even on the menu - and he was right, best meal of the holiday.

For anyone who is considering Bologna (or Florence), DH and I did a food tour in Florence with these people, plus a wine tour, and it was brilliant. Am sure the Bologna one is too:

curiousappetitetravel.com/

Bologna has a long history of graffiti. It used to have a Communist administration. It’s not a twee tourist destination. It’s feisty Italy. The university is the oldest in Europe snd there’s enough to see and do for a couple of days.

My DD was a student there for 6 months. We visited in April. I would definitely recommend waiting for Spring. Bologna, surprisingly, has a single 1 star Michelin Restaurant but lots of Michelin recommended ones. You cannot go wrong for food!

I would go for longer than a weekend though. It has decent rail links to Ferrara, Ravenna (a must see) Modena and Parma. You can go to the Enzo Ferrari museum at Modena and the Ferrari Museum at Maranello for F1 fans.

We were possibly lucky but had a wonderful weekend in Barcelona one January. Weather was well into the teens and sunny and we were sat outside having tapas

Or even aperitivo!

I went in January, blue skies and cold, but the narrow streets meant cafés were sheltered enough for us to eat outside!