The hotel is in a good location. It is only a few minutes walk from the train station and a ten minute walk from the town centre which has a good variety of different cafes and restaurants.
The hotel itself is rated as a 4 star but it is more like a very good 3 star hotel. It does not have car parking but it does overlook a fairly large municipal surface car park.
Rooms at the front of the hotel overlook the car park across to the local police station. Our room overlooked a side street which did not offer a great view but was extremely quiet.
Our bathroom had a bath as well as a shower and was generally of a good size. The room was well insulated against internal and external noise and the air conditioning was quiet and efficient. The room also had a mini-bar; safe and TV which only offered two English speaking Channels. The biggest drawback with our room was its lack of accessible wardrobe and drawer storage space. This could be a real problem for stays longer than 4 days.
The very large double bed was firm but generally comfortable and the duvet was warm without being too hot
The room was kept clean and tidy on a daily basis. The hotel always seemed clean. All the staff we met were always friendly, polite and helpful.
We did not have any lunches or dinners at the hotel but the breakfasts were very good. There was a good range of fruit, yoghurts, cold buffets, bread, toast and pastries and an adequate but limited choice of a hot buffet. The hotel had a small but quite adequate bar
Most of the town is accessible by foot along the semi-pedestrianised roads. However you would need at least two days to explore most of what the town has to offer. But as usual beware of museums being closed on Mondays and shops and other attractions being closed between 13:00 and 16:00 every day. The town is a bit off the usual tourist track and so it is a bit limited in terms of availability of English language newspapers but Internet access is no problem.
Beware the bicycles! In many repects Ravenna is worse than Amsterdam for the number of cyclists in the pedestrian zone!
The hotel would also provide a good base to visit, either by train or car, the city of Bologna but again two days are probably needed for this and the town of Ferrara.
- Ravenna Jolly Hotel
