The best hotels in Parma

Rates are for the cheapest double shown, non-refundable where both were offered, room only unless the table says breakfast is included. Grand Hotel de la Ville was sold out on October 14, so its figure is for October 15. Add the city tax per adult per night.

• Hotel Stendhal, Via Bodoni 3: the best-placed four-star for walking everything, including to the train (8 minutes). Book room only and have breakfast in a bar; the hotel's €15 breakfast turns a fair price into an ordinary one. Garage €20 a day, by reservation.
• Hotel Button, Borgo della Salina 7: the best-located cheap bed in Parma, 2 minutes from Piazza Garibaldi, €78 to €118. No garage; the car parks it recommends cost €13 to €16 per 24 hours.
• Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati, Strada al Duomo 7: no address beats it for the Duomo and Baptistery, and its apartments have kitchens, which makes it the pick for families and longer stays. On our busy October date the only unit left was a €339 suite: book early.
• Hotel Torino, Borgo Angelo Mazza 7: beside the Teatro Regio and 3 minutes from the Duomo, the best position for an opera night at a three-star price. Drivers may reach the door only from 1 p.m. (3 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturday market days), and valet parking is €25 a night.

The Duomo quarter is the calmest of these bases; Strada Farini is the liveliest, and the noisiest at night.

Sina Maria Luigia, Viale Mentana 140, is our pick: breakfast included, 8 minutes to the platforms and 8 to the Duomo, and €46 less than NH Parma on October 14. NH Parma is 2 minutes from the trains with breakfast included, which is exactly right if your plan is Modena, Bologna, Cremona or Busseto by rail; for a city-only stay, the same money buys a room 10 minutes closer to the sights. Its garage is €18 a day and cannot be reserved. The station area page covers the neighborhood plainly.

• Best Western Plus Hotel Farnese, Via Reggio 51/a: the best-value four-star for a Food Valley trip by car, with free outdoor parking, 3 minutes from ring-road exit 7 and a pool in summer. For a city break on foot it is a skip: every sight is 25 to 30 minutes' walk away.
• Hotel Daniel, Via Gramsci 16/A: free open-air parking and Ristorante Cocchi downstairs. On foot, the 24-minute walk to Piazza Garibaldi is too high a price for a three-star.
• Starhotels Du Parc, Viale Piacenza 12/C: good value on a quiet night (€106 on November 11) with a €15 garage outside the ZTL; at €192 room only on a busy date, the central hotels are the better buy.
• The Parma hills: doubles with breakfast from €79 in Langhirano to €150 at Torrechiara on October 14, minutes from the ham houses. Without a car, do not stay there.

Our Food Valley in 2 days plan is built around a base like these.

Parma's two five-star hotels are both outside the ZTL, which is their real advantage. Grand Hotel de la Ville, in the old Barilla factory by the Barilla Center, includes breakfast and was €202 on November 11; worth it if you arrive by car and want five-star service without ZTL stress. On foot, a central four-star puts you 10 minutes closer for less. Grand Hotel di Parma, the former Park Hotel Pacchiosi, is a handsome garden hotel with a garage, but €394 room only on a busy October night is a lot for a hotel 17 minutes from Piazza Garibaldi. Book it on a quieter date, around €250.

Antica Corte Pallavicina Relais at Polesine Parmense has 12 rooms at the culatello estate: €190 to €220 for a double with breakfast. If you are driving up for the €150 tasting menu at its starred restaurant, staying over is the sensible way to do it: no night drive through the Bassa fog. A room booking does not reserve a table, so book both. As a base for Parma city, 45 minutes away, skip it.

• Hotels inside the zone (Stendhal, Button, Torino, Dalla Rosa Prati) register your plate so you can drive in to unload; that permission does not cover bus lanes or pedestrian areas. Ask each hotel for its route before you arrive.
• Day passes: a BZ pass is €5 for 2 hours and a GZ pass €10 for a full day, both including parking in the zone, bought before you enter. Drove in by mistake? A €15 ROZ ticket by 11:59 p.m. the next day regularizes it. The fine amount is not published. See ZTL and parking.
• City tax: €5 per adult per night at five-star hotels and €4 at four-star (up to 5 consecutive nights), per the hotel chains; Booking.com charged €5 a night for two adults at the three-stars, about €2.50 each. Under-18s are exempt. We could not confirm the table with the city, whose site was unreachable.