Background: Referral is one of the strategies in place across all levels of health care settings for adequate use of health care services in time. Implementation of an appropriate maternal referral practice as per the Ethiopian national referral guideline could reduce the morbidity and mortality rate of mothers during labor and delivery. However, there is paucity of study on the maternal referral practices in Ethiopia and in Amhara region, in particular. Objective: To determine the maternal referral practices and associated factors among laboring mothers referred to public hospitals of Bahir Dar city, northwest, Ethiopia. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 1 to 30/2021 in Bahir Dar city hospitals. A systematic random sampling technique was employed and a total of 358 mothers who came by referring for delivering at Bahir Dar city public hospitals was interviewed using an interviewer-administered and pre-tested questionnaire. Data was coded and entered to Epi-data version 3.1 software and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Descriptive statistics was computed and presented in tables and texts. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regressions was used to determine the determinant factors associated with poor maternal referral practice. Finally, p-value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant cut off value. Results: A total of 353 study participants took part in the study. The level of poor maternal referral practice was 52.7% (95% CI 47%, 58%). The mean age of the respondents was 26.73 (+ 5.45) years. About twenty eight percent of the mothers were illiterate. Unable to read and write (AOR=2.38, 95%CI: 1.15, 4.94), read and write only (AOR=6.59, 95%CI: 2.53, 17.17), monthly income < 1527 birr (AOR=4.55, 95%CI: 1.91, 10.84), monthly income between 1527-3000 birr (AOR=4.29, 95%CI: 1.76, 10.50), and monthly income between 3001-5305 birr (AOR=3.73, 95%CI: 1.49,9.33), referred from referral hospitals (AOR = 4.63, 95%CI: 1.94, 11.07), gave birth via cesarean section (AOR = 2.06, 95%CI: 1.22, 3.47), gave birth via assisted delivery (AOR = 4.77, 95%CI: 1.64, 13.91), and time spent more than one hour to arrive to Bahir Dar city public hospitals (AOR = 2.15, 95%CI: 1.07, 4.34) were significantly associated with poor maternal referral practice. Conclusions: This study revealed that the maternal referral practice was poor. Maternal referral practice was influenced by demographic, social, environmental and obstetric factors. Mothers earn with low monthly income, not attending the formal education should be given maximal attention for improving the poor maternal referral practice during labor. Keywords: Referral practice, laboring mother, Bahir Dar city, public hospital