Ironman Italy

Triathlon Forum
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Just signed up for 2026. Anyone have recommendations for lodging. There will be about 7 of us, all family. Not opposed to an airbnb or multiple hotels rooms. Parents are 80, but are very active, so something walking distance to the start/finish would be better.
Also, any particular airport to fly into. Would be coming from the US.

Thanks

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Bologna is the closest airport (50 miles); Venice is also covenient (80 miles). Possibly overseas flights would get you to Milan (200 miles)

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Thanks. Figured we wouldn’t be able to fly direct but Bologna, at only 50 miles, sounds like a good plan.

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Cervia is very walkable, and so is neighbouring Milano Marittima. Finding something walking distance shouldn’t be hard at all. Keep in mind IM Italy is a huge event, possibly the biggest IM weekend in the world and the transition is very very long.

The bike course is mostly out of town and on a highway so it’s hard to follow for supporters. (Btw, the highway part is prohibited to bikes except on race day so you won’t be able to practice on it - not that it matters, the highway part is straight and pancake flat).

Cervia has plenty of accomodation, a lot of which isn’t expensive at all. You should be able to find plenty of options on booking.com. If you see something you like, you might want to contact the hotel directly to see if you can get a better deal.

Finding an apartment to rent walking distance will be a lot harder because the coast line is mostly hotels. Most of these businesses are small-medium family run hotels rather than massive developments or famous hotel chains. There’s just a lot of them.

If you want to be reasonably sure that the hotel will let you keep your bike in the apartment, one option is to look up which are the Nirvana package hotels but book directly with the hotels. Plenty of hotels in the area are bike friendly. Cycling is very popular in the region and many hotel owners are cyclists themselves. Nove Colli, one of the most popular gran fondos, starts from neighboring Cesenatico (the same town Marco Pantani was from).

When I raced Cervia I stayed at Club Hotel Dante. It’s a very nice hotel but a little dated. At that time it was one of the Nirvana hotels but I got a much much better deal (either through Expedia or with the hotel directly, I’m not sure). It was one of the hotels closest to transition and start area.

For the flight, Bologna is a reasonable choice. Just wanted to add that tiny Rimini airport has some international flights. I don’t think it has flights to the USA but it might have flights via London.

Otherwise, most airports in northern Italy will be 2-3 hours driving away.

1 Like
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Thanks for the insight. Looking quickly, there seem to be more flight options to Bologna from the US. Any thoughts on day trips. Usually fly in on Thursday. Then Friday we’ll probably get a driver to Bologna to explore the city. Saturday, while I’m getting things ready for the race, the rest of the family will probably do another day trip. Not sure if you have any recommendations.

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If you are doing the full distance, then the race is on saturday; sunday is 70.3 and olympic distance

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Somebody has already replied about the IM being on Saturday and the 70.3 on the Sunday.

Anyhow about day trip, would that be out of Cervia or Bologna? It also depends on what you like, how much you’ve seen in Italy before and how much transport time you’re willing to accept.

Venice and Florence are reasonable day trips from Bologna by train. By high speed train Florence is only 35 minutes. From Cervia you’ll more likely have to move by car.

Bologna itself is very pretty and plenty to see. Some ideas, which all happen to be recognised by UNESCO:

  • Bologna, it’s porticoes and towers
  • Ravenna is very close to cervia. Famous for early Christian churches and ancient mosaics
  • San Marino
  • Modena and Romanesque art
  • Ferrara reinassance city
  • The po river delta
  • Gypsum caves

Smaller destinations:

  • Saline di Cervia, a lake and Natural park where they used to produce salt. IM bike course passes near them
  • Comacchio (like a little Venice)
  • Cesena
  • Faenza
  • Gradara Castle (might add it to a San Marino trip)
  • Forlimpopoli and Bertinoro. The IM bike course actually goes through them and Bertinoro Is the only climb of the course (although more like a short wall than a climb). It might be an interesting idea if you wanted to see/ride parts of the bike course and spend time with family at the same time.

Amusement parks. Nothing like what you can find in the US, but there’s a couple of amusement parks in the area that are famous within in italy

  • Mirabilandia
  • Italia in miniatura
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Thanks for that. At some point I would have realized that, but I probably would have already had my flight and hotel booked. Then I’d be scrambling to change everything.

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Thank you for the info on the sights. Would be doing day trips from Cervia. Was in Florence in March, daughter was studying for a semester there. Went to Venice for a day trip. Thinking Bologna for a day. Will look up some information for the other spots you recommended. We had a driver for a couple days in Florence, to take us to some different towns, so may give him a call and see if he knows another driver near Cervia he could recommend. Our driver in Florence took us to a tiny vineyard outside of Florence for lunch. Just the 7 of us and the two cousins who owned the vineyard. Great experience and one of the best meals we had all week.