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Bologna · Hotel shortlist

3 star hotels in Centro Storico, Bologna

Sofia Marchetti

Sofia Marchetti Italy

Updated 1 August 2026 · 20 Bologna hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in Bologna, out of the 20 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.8 down to 4.4.

Corte Sant'Orsola 4 is the one I would book myself.

Corte Sant'Orsola 4

Highest rated of the five

Corte Sant'Orsola 4

★★★★★4.8 from 189 reviews

Corte Sant'Orsola 4 comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.8 from 189 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.

It is a 3 star property, found under Centro Storico and around $99 a night on the dates we checked.

20 hotels in Bologna qualified for this list and five made it. Cosmopolitan Central Rooms is the one I would book if the first is full.

Why it works for this trip

  • Spatreatment rooms on site, no booking a taxi for it
  • Air conditioningthe one that decides a summer trip
  • Bara drink without going back out

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All five, ranked

  1. Corte Sant'Orsola 41

    Corte Sant'Orsola 4

    ★★★★★4.8 from 189 reviews

    • Spa
    • Bar
    • Air conditioning

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  2. Cosmopolitan Central Rooms2

    Cosmopolitan Central Rooms

    ★★★★★4.6 from 317 reviews

    • Pet friendly
    • Kid friendly
    • Air conditioning

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  3. Albergo delle Drapperie3

    Albergo delle Drapperie

    ★★★★★4.5 from 495 reviews

    • Bar
    • Pet friendly
    • Kid friendly
    • Air conditioning
    • Airport shuttle

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  4. Ostello Bello Bologna4

    Ostello Bello Bologna

    ★★★★★4.5 from 254 reviews

    • Spa
    • Restaurant
    • Bar
    • Parking
    • Pet friendly
    • Air conditioning

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  5. Hotel Cavour5

    Hotel Cavour

    ★★★★★4.4 from 799 reviews

    • Restaurant
    • Parking
    • Pet friendly
    • Kid friendly
    • Air conditioning
    • Accessible

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How this list was put together

20 Bologna hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating, then on class, and took the top five.

Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.

The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.

What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.

Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.

Sofia Marchetti

Sofia Marchetti Italy

Refuses to fly anywhere reachable by rail. Four sleeper-train crossings of Europe, a collection of old transit maps, and building sketches drawn from carriage windows.

Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.