Bologna's scavenger hunt, explained
The Bologna scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk through the medieval centre, solve a riddle at each of 10 landmarks by looking closely at what is in front of you, and unlock the stories behind it. Two hours are plenty at a relaxed pace, because the 10 stops are packed into 2.5 km and the walking between them adds up to just 33 minutes; when you begin is entirely your call.
Highlights include the Asinelli and Garisenda towers, the glass floor of the Salaborsa library, the terracotta heads of Palazzo Bolognini on Piazza Santo Stefano, the church of Saints Vitale and Agricola and the tomb of Saint Dominic. Bologna's old centre is compact and lined with porticoes, so you walk in the shade or out of the rain almost all the way.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 33 min · 2.5 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
Riddles under the porticoes of Bologna
Read the red city
Every stop carries one riddle, and its answer is part of the street: a pope in bronze above a portal, a row of terracotta heads, a date carved into brick. Observation and a little logic do the work, and nothing needs studying beforehand.
Leaning towers and a Bologna pope
When a riddle is solved, the stop opens up: why the Garisenda leans and how Dante came to mention it, which Bologna-born pope gave his name to the Gregorian calendar, how the young Michelangelo came to carve statues for the tomb of Saint Dominic. Turn on the audio narration and the stories are read to you as you go.
A compact 2.5 km
Google Maps guides you between the stops, which are never far apart: 33 minutes of walking in all, from the Two Towers across Piazza Maggiore to Santo Stefano and San Domenico. Much of it runs under the porticoes that line Bologna's streets.
Tagliatelle can come first
The game pauses whenever you do, so a plate of tagliatelle or a glass of wine in the lanes of the Quadrilatero costs you nothing. Pick up again later that day or on another, and use the app to reorder the stops if Santo Stefano is closer to where you are staying.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who Bologna's riddles are for
A short stay in Bologna
The towers, the main square, the Seven Churches and the basilica of San Domenico all sit within 2.5 km, so even a stopover gives you the shape of the medieval city. The riddles give you a reason to look up at the terracotta and brick that most visitors hurry past.
Children with an eye for odd details
Bologna is full of them: a tower that visibly leans, a glass floor in Salaborsa over the remains of the Roman town, terracotta faces peering down from a palace, medieval tombs raised on columns. Every team needs a grown-up, yet the sharpest eyes in it often belong to the youngest.
Students, colleagues and friends
A team takes up to 5 players, each following the game on their own phone, so a class, a department or a group of friends can play as rival teams and compare answers at the end of the route. All of it happens in public streets and squares, so the only thing to organise is the tickets.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Austria –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Fun way to explore the city, but a little expensive for what it is.
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Leuke wandeling. Je hoeft niet per se naar binnen bij de bezienswaardigheden. Als je dat wil wel, heb je daar genoeg tijd voor. Je kunt de app op eigen tempo uitvoeren en tussendoor pauzeren.
Kurt– Austria –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Hat viel Spaß gemacht !! Die Rätsel waren z.T etwas sehr leicht )))
Greece –
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Netherlands –
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France –
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Canada –
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Netherlands –
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Spain –
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United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Fantastic experience. Sonia was a great host and was very helpful. We had plenty to eat and drink. We had 10 in our group from all over the world, so it was also very good to talk over dinner where people were travelling from and to whilst getting great tips for cooking and travelling
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Silke– Germany –
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Sehr schöne Aktivität um Bologna kennenzulernen 😊
Netherlands –
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Finland –
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Spain –
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Spain –
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Muy bien.
United Kingdom –
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Belgium –
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Laurent– Belgium –
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Leuke locaties ontdekt dankzij de speurtocht. Sommige opdrachten waren duidelijk, anderen gaven nul aanwijzingen.
Eduardo– Spain –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Ha sido una experiencia nueva. Hemos conocido Bolonia de un modo did?ctico, lo que no me ha gustado es que no tengan un enlace para ir oyendo la explicaciones, en vez de ir leyendo cada dos por tres parragrandes que a los ni?os termina aburrie??ndose! Pero hay que decir, que es una opci?n muy recomendada!!!.
Laura– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Durch die Schnitzeljagd ist man abseits der Touristenorte hingekommen und hat viele kleine Stra?en und Gassen entdeckt. Die R?tsel waren jeweils interessant gestaltet und zu jedem Ort hat man ausf?hrliche Informationen bekommen. Ebenso bekam man allgemeine Informationen zu Bologna, zur Geschichte hinter dem typischen Bolognese-Gericht oder auf bestimmte ber?hmte Pers?nlichkeiten. Die R?tsel h?tten manchmal etwas schwieriger sein k?nnen, aber es geht ja mehr um das Entdecken und den Spa? dahinter. Mit der Schnitzeljagd haben wir ein paar sch?ne Stunden verbracht.
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Les ?nigmes sont trop faciles
Clelia– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Very engaging way to discover the city and get off the main attractions. Focus was too much on churches to my liking. I would have loved the tour to take us to the food market or talk about the specialities of Bologna. The first question was impossible due to ongoing works on the 2 towers so the content would need a refresh.
Victoria– United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Great for exploring the city but had to use a 5g phone to get a connection – 4G iPhone would not work.
Bulgaria –
Collected on GetYourGuide
I booked this tour as an alternative to a guided tour of the city centre. It was a fun idea. What I didn’t like is that the instructions sometimes weren’t very clear as what you are trying to solve. I would recommend it as I enjoy this format and it is great to see some less touristy places and learn more about them.
Francesco – Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Discreta Da migliorare sulla parte interattiva
Italy –
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…per un gruppo di ragazzi delle superiori una modalit? coinvolgente!!!!
Amber– Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
The route of the tour was nice, and you end up walking places you wouldn’t have seen otherwise! It’s great you can take your own time, as it’s self guided. The game aspect of the tour however was a little confusing so I ended up skipping those questions. At each point you get lots of historical information 🙂
Melissa– United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
We enjoyed the route and the interesting facts that came at the stops. The places chosen were a little of the beaten track which was enjoyable. The clues were good fun although 2 didnt really make much sense to us. If the app could read the info at each stop this would have enhanced the game. Some of the stops felt a little out of sequence.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
better Translation would be great
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
De app met de vragen waren niet zo boeiend. En de app zelf werkt niet heel goed
Franziska– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Mir hat die Tour sehr gut gefallen! Es war eine sch?ne M?glichkeit die Stadt zu erkunden. Ein bisschen schade war, dass man die Stationen nicht nach Belieben tauschen und die Route ab?ndern konnte. Ich w?rde immer wieder eine Tour in anderen St?dten buchen.
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Bellissima. Divertente. Vedere la citt? in altro modo, senza annoiarsi. Gli enigmi non sono complicati e poi c’? l’aiuto. Consiglio ??
Alessia– Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
L’idea ? carina e le informazioni via via fornite interessanti con qualche curiosit? sfiziosa. Tuttavia le prove da affrontare ad ogni tappa non erano sempre spiegate in modo chiaro oppure fattibili (come cercare i particolari di una statuata situata in alto). Comunque l’attivit? ha abbastanza coinvolto ma nostra bambina di 8 anni e l’ha motivata a girare per la citt?; qualche prova ha anche potuto farla senza il nostro aiuto, e questo le ha dato soddisfazione. Forse potrebbe essere utile fare domande diverse in base alla fascia d’et? dei partecipanti.
Lilly– Austria –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Gut
Tom – United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Shame the towers are closed off as there was a clue there which we couldn’t solve due to the area being behind barriers. Otherwise, a great way to explore the city and learn on the way (also keeps little people entertained!).
United States –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Activity was good but translation was poor and hard to understand app.
Ellie– United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
It was informative but not the most engaging information and the challenges at each site were minimal and not the most interesting (compared to others I’ve done)
Marcello– Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Come idea non ? male, ma i quiz a volte sono incomprensibili e non si capisce veramente quale sia la domanda… altri invece sono molto banali, ma ci sta, la scusa ? quella di vistare la citt? seguendo un circuito che sia stimolante e che ti porti anche fuori dai percorsi classici. Noi lo abbiamo fatto con il ns ufficio, ma poi lo abbiamo abbandonato perch? poco entusiasmante.
Francesca– Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
La facciamo con mia figlia in quasi tutte le citt?’ dove ci rechiamo . E’ un modo divertente per visitare il luogo e passare qualche ora.
Alain– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Utile pour d?couvrir la ville. Des ?nigmes pas toujours ?videntes mais le jeu est bien fait, je recommande.
Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
? stato molto divertente, abbiamo notato dettagli che altrimenti non avremmo visto.
Karen – Armenia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Sehr abwechslungsreich und informativ! Wirklich eine gute M?glichkeit, die Stadt auf eigene Faust im eigenen Tempo zu erkunden. Die R?tsel h?tten f?r uns etwas schwieriger sein k?nnen, trotzdem hat‘s Spa? gemacht! Sehr zu empfehlen!
Jenny – Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Esperienza molto valida, Sopratutto se si ha un solo giorno per visitare la citt?. Carine le curiosit? raccontate su Bologna. I ragazzi (10 e 13 anni) si sono divertiti. I quiz tutti fattibili!
Tracy– Canada –
Collected on GetYourGuide
It was great to see all of the destinations l spots and to read about the history
Gina– United States –
Collected on GetYourGuide
The hunt provided us an opportunity to see the city, we walked our way around. One of the clues mentioned the “little window” but then we didn’t get to see that, so we had to search it out on our own. Other than that I’m glad there were two of us to figure out clues. would do it again.
Lisa– United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Off to a rocky start as I didn’t realise I had to download the World City Trail app as well as the Get Your Guide app – this was my fault, but it was really frustrating to begin with. However the assistant in the online chat helped me, and once we got going it was good fun and we got to see parts of the city we might’ve missed otherwise.
James– United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Pretty challenging at times, but it guided you through the city to places you would never think to go, and telling the stories of these places, which is great!
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Wir fanden es schade, dass der L?sungsweg nicht gezeigt wurde, wenn das R?tsel nicht gel?st werden konnte. Die Kinder 10 und 9 hatten irgendwann nicht mehr so viel Lust, da wir relativ lange gebraucht haben. Zum Ende waren wir happy es geschafft zu haben und ko von der Sonne und der Lauferei. Es ist auf alle F?lle etwas anderes, die Infos ?ber Bologna waren gut h?tten allerdings kindgerechten geschrieben sein k?nnen.