Fun Things to Do in Ferrara with friends or family (That Aren't Sightseeing)
You've done the Castello Estense. You've walked Corso Ercole I d'Este and looked up at the diamond-cut stone on Palazzo dei Diamanti. Maybe it was a school trip, maybe a weekend a few years back, maybe you live an hour away in Bologna and Ferrara has become the place you visit without ever really doing anything there.
This isn't a list of monuments. It's a list of things you book, show up to, and actually take part in — with friends, a partner, or family who are past the age of needing a stroller. Some need booking a few days ahead, some you can walk into. All of them are things you do, not things you look at.
Game-Based and Puzzle-Style Experiences
Ferrara has two working escape rooms and one self-guided outdoor puzzle trail, which between them cover most weather conditions and most group sizes.
In Fuga Escape Room: Three Rooms in a 300m² Space Near the Station Side of Town
In Fuga runs three separate 60-minute rooms out of a single 300m² location on Via Bologna 68: La Casa del Killer (a detective-style hunt for a killer's identity), La Prigione dei Pirati (a pirate-treasure race), and La Soffitta (an attic full of a gifted child's puzzles). Each room takes 2 to 9 players, which makes this one of the few Ferrara activities that scales up to a full birthday party or a work outing without splitting the group.
Current pricing runs per person and drops as the group grows: €35pp for two players down to €20pp for eight or nine, according to the venue's own booking system. Rooms run in Italian and English, and kids are allowed in La Casa del Killer up to age 14 if accompanied by an adult. Book ahead through their site — walk-ins aren't guaranteed a slot.
ClueGo Ferrara: A Self-Guided Puzzle Trail Through the Real Streets
Where the two rooms above lock you in a fixed space, ClueGo Ferrara moves you through the actual historic centre — nine stops over about 3km, starting on Via delle Volte and finishing on Via Mazzini, taking you past the Estense Castle, the Ducal Palace, Palazzo dei Diamanti and Parco Massari along the way. It's a Web App, so there's nothing to download: you buy a code online, open a browser link on your phone at the starting point, and solve one location-based riddle at a time.
The whole thing runs €19.99 per group of up to 5 people, takes 2 to 3 hours at a normal walking pace, and is available in English and Italian. There's no fixed start time — you begin whenever you're ready, and you can pause and pick it up again later, even across a couple of days, since the code stays valid for 6 months and, once activated, gives you 10 days to finish. The site recommends a minimum age of 7, and notes the route isn't well suited to strollers or wheelchairs, since it follows uneven historic paving in places. Puzzles come with built-in hints, so getting stuck doesn't mean getting stranded — and since the whole route is outdoors, none of it includes entry to the monuments themselves; if you want to go inside the Castello Estense or Palazzo dei Diamanti, that's a separate ticket.
It works for a couple as much as for six friends or a family with two teenagers — the code price doesn't change with group size within that 1–5 range, so a larger family group is the cheapest per-head option on this list.
A Food Experience You Actually Make Yourself
Con le Mani ImPasta!: Shape Cappellacci di Zucca Every Saturday Morning
This isn't a restaurant recommendation — it's a hands-on pasta class, run by Ferrara's Strada dei Vini e dei Sapori (the region's official wine-and-food consortium) and also listed on the city's own tourism site. Every Saturday at 10:30, a chef from the local hospitality school walks a small group through shaping cappellacci di zucca, the pumpkin-and-parmesan stuffed pasta that carries Protected Geographical Indication status and is Ferrara's defining dish — along with a couple of other local specialties, including the star-shaped local bread known as coppia ferrarese and torta tenerina, a flourless chocolate cake. The two-hour class ends with a tasting of what you made.
It meets at Palazzo Pendaglia, Via Sogari 3, inside the historic centre, and costs €30 per person, with a reduced €13 rate for ages 4–14 and free entry under 3 — so it's one of the few group activities here that's genuinely priced for a family with kids rather than just tolerant of them. One thing to confirm before booking: the official listing doesn't specify whether the class runs in English, so if you don't speak Italian, it's worth checking that directly with the organizers ahead of time.
A Hands-On Creative Workshop
Centro Ceramico Ferrarese: Throw a Pot on the Wheel in a Small Group
At Via Bentivoglio 195, a short ride from the centre, Centro Ceramico Ferrarese runs small ceramics classes — wheel-throwing, hand-building, and glazing — in groups that typically run 4 to 5 people per session, guided by professional ceramicists. A single 2-hour lesson runs from €40, and there's a five-lesson package for €180 if you want to come back. Everything — clay, glazes, tools, wheel time — is included in the price; you don't need to bring anything.
This one needs booking ahead rather than walking in, since class times are fixed on their weekly schedule and slots are limited to the small group size. It works better for a couple or a pair of friends than for a large group, given the room only fits a handful of wheels at once.
Getting Active on Two Wheels
Ride the 9km Ring of Renaissance Walls, Rental Included
Ferrara is flat, and its city walls — nearly 9km of tree-lined path circling the entire historic centre — are one of the best-preserved urban wall systems in Italy, closed to cars and used daily by locals for jogging, dog-walking and commuting as much as by visitors. Riding the full loop takes most people around an hour, passing gates like Porta degli Angeli along the way.
Todisco Bike, open daily including holidays, rents bikes at €8 for a full day (9:00–20:00), with pickup possible at multiple points around the city through their app rather than one fixed shop — a review from April 2026 confirms both the price and that the service is still running, with kids' bikes and child seats available too. If you'd rather have a guide, E-Bike Travel Ferrara on Via Armari runs organized e-bike tours starting at €80 per person, or a fully custom private route booked at least two days ahead. A separate, more occasional option — a guided ride along the walls paired with a local food tasting, run periodically by Strada dei Vini e dei Sapori — pops up on select Saturdays through the year rather than being available on demand; worth watching their calendar if the timing lines up with your visit.
Nightlife and Evening Spots With Something Specific to Offer
Double Sip Bar: Vintage Cocktails on a Corner Near the Castle
Tucked into the corner of Via Garibaldi and Via degli Spadari, a couple of minutes from the Castello Estense, Double Sip runs a retro-styled space with a cocktail list built around original creations rather than a standard menu of classics. It's open for both lunch and evening service most days, though hours shift by day of the week — Thursday is a full closing day, and weekend evenings run latest, past midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Worth checking their current hours before heading over, since the schedule isn't the same every night.
Terrazza Verdi by OrcoBacco: Aperitivo on a Rooftop Terrace
Overlooking Piazzetta Verdi, this rooftop terrace bar leans into sunset aperitivo — the kind of spot where you order a spritz and stay for the view rather than the other way around. It's a seasonal terrace, so it's worth confirming it's open for the season before making it your plan for the evening, particularly outside the warmer months.
Al Brindisi: A Drink in the Oldest Osteria in the World
Photo by Cappellacci a Merenda
At Via Guglielmo degli Adelardi 11, in a narrow alley beside Ferrara's cathedral, Al Brindisi holds a Guinness World Record as the oldest osteria on the planet — documented as operating since at least 1435 under the name "Hostaria del Chiuchiolino," with some evidence it existed as early as 1100, when it served the workers building the cathedral next door. Nicolò Copernico reportedly drank here as a student at the university; Ludovico Ariosto mentioned the place in his own writing. It's been run by the Pellegrini family since the late 1970s, and today functions as a proper enoteca — a long wine list alongside Ferrarese dishes like salama da sugo and, again, cappellacci di zucca, in a room of exposed brick and old timber that hasn't fundamentally changed layout in centuries. It's a five-minute walk from three of the ClueGo stops above, which makes it an easy add-on to end a puzzle trail rather than a special trip on its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
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A cocktail at Double Sip or the rooftop at Terrazza Verdi covers a standard evening out; for something with more history attached, Al Brindisi combines a drink with the novelty of sitting in a nearly 600-year-old room. None of these require booking ahead — you can walk in, though weekend evenings get busy.
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In Fuga Escape Room scales cleanly from 2 to 9 people in one room, which makes it easier to book as a single group than most activities on this list. ClueGo Ferrara works well for a similar-sized group too, since the €19.99 code covers up to 5 people at once — for a bigger group, you'd split into two codes running in parallel.
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Between two escape rooms, a self-guided puzzle trail through the real streets, a weekly pasta-making class, a ceramics workshop, and roughly an hour's worth of car-free riding along the old city walls, none of the activities on this list involve a museum ticket.
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Both escape rooms are entirely indoors and run regardless of weather. ClueGo and the bike ride depend on conditions — ClueGo's code lets you pause and resume on a different day if the weather turns while you're mid-route.
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In Fuga Escape Room and ClueGo Ferrara both confirm English as an available language on their own booking pages. The cooking class doesn't state a language on its official listing, so it's worth checking directly before booking if you don't speak Italian.
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The cooking class prices children from age 4 separately and is built around a shared table at the end, which tends to work better across a wide age range than an escape room built around solving under time pressure. ClueGo's recommended minimum age is 7, and the walking pace is easy to adjust for older kids or grandparents.