Personally, I would put Torino at the end of your trip, so that you could see more of Valle d'Aosta than just the town of Aosta. I would fly to Milan, take a train to Aosta, and then rent a car in Aosta, tour the alps, and then go to Alba/Asti. It is less than 2 hours to drive from the valle d'Aosta to Alba or Asti, on very good roads, even in winter.


However, if you want to see Lago d'Orta, it is best to have a car there. So I would order the trip this way:

Fly to Milan, take a train to Aosta.

See Aosta, have a rest, rent a car to visit the valleys like Rhemes, or visit Mont Blanc or the Gran Paradiso park.

Drive to Lago d'Orta (2 hours)

Drive to Alba (2 hours) --- visit the wine country

Go to Torino, drop off the car, see Torino

Take the train to Stresa/Lago Maggiore (which is actually in Lombardia)

Take a bus from Stresa to Malpensa airport.

I think to spend a week in Stresa is a very long time, so you could spend 3 days there and give the rest of the time to Aosta and lago d'Orta.

If you really like to drink wine, you should stay someplace where you dont have to drive home after dinner. There are many such places in Piemonte. The wines of Piemonte are some of the most serious internationally, and you will need to make appointments to visit the best wineries. You can talk ahead of time with your local wine seller for reommendations. You can also go on wine tours.


Lago Maggiore is actually in Lombardia, not Piemonte. That's a just a small detail

A nice guide, if you wish to drive is contained in a book "Back Roads Italy" from Eyewitness Travel. I used the route in Piemonte last October. Great wines and great food. Ask your local fine wine store, if you are a frequent customer, for assistance in winery reservations.

Actually, half of Lake Maggiore is in Piedmont, the other half in Lombardy.

Yes, that is true! I mixed that up. Stresa is the Piemonte side.

Am going with you in spirit, Magster2005! If you click on my name, there's some Turin info in the first TR listed. FYI only--you've probably planned your itinerary. Although, the restaurant was pretty special!

Have a wonderful time.

Thanks for the comments. I realize I forgot to say when we will be doing this -- we are planning for late March/early April.

Any suggestions for wine tours or specific wineries to visit? Can I make appointments with wineries directly or is it better to go with a tour or make a contact via my local wine store (not sure how this will work since I live in PA. where we have state-run wine stores, but maybe they can help me out).

stracciatella -- Thanks for your thoughts on reordering our trip. I do like the idea of spending time in and around Aosta. We will actually be coming from Paris by train, so we could arrive in Turin, take the 2-hr train to Aosta and then follow your recommended sequence.

Or I am thinking we could do a day trip to Lago d'Orta from Stresa which would allow us to do a sequence like this:

Turin (stay) -- train or drive to Aosta (stay) -- drive to Alba (stay) -- return car to Turin and take train to Stresa (stay) -- bus to Malpensa

We found this guide helpful:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/mar/05/aperitivo-turin-food-drink-italy/print

We almost made it through the list.

Marija -- thank you so much! Just one more reason to look forward to Turin -- we will definitely hit a few. Great tip!

In March or April I don't know how many buses go to Lago d'Orta from Stresa. Make sure to check.

There is a very nice place to stay in Torino called Residenza Saachi that is apartments, and it is not hard to park a car there if you need to. It is right next to the train station too. There are many historic cafes and food shops nearby. You are a 15 minute walk to the Palazzo Madama and the museums.

Aosta will be very cold in Spring, and it could snow. But because there is skiing, there is lots of warm food, and the roads are cleared. If you are going to wineries in Piemonte, you need to pay attention to the weather, because sometimes the wineries are on dirt roads which get very muddy if it rains a lot. If the roads are steep, it is hard to drive on them.

Mag...suggest a good base for you just outside of Alba...Villa la Favorita. We loved it, on a recommendation from EKSCrunchy. Roberta the owner, ia very pleasant and so knowledgeable about the wineries in the region and everything else. There are numerous villages with wineries and Alba or Asti make fine bases. Alba the town is very convenient, a true walking town, with inviting restaurants and wine bars.
We were there in fall after harvest and the weather was very comfortable. no rain.

At Lake Orta, we liked the Hotel Orta as did several other Fodorites, but I understand it has closed. Very easy, short drive from Orta to Stresa and Lago Maggiore...I woukld take a few days away from Stresa and vicinity and tack them on to Alba and vicinity, or Aosta.

stu

The hotel and attached restaurant of Ca d'Lupo in Montelupo Albese - just above Alba was one of the most memorable hotels and restaurants in several trips to Italy. Contemporary style hotel and outstanding food and wine (at a discount to hotel guests). We did eat in Alba, but had to go easy on the wine (too bad)because of the drive back up the hill. If we returned I'd stay a night or two at Ca d'Lupo and then right in Alba (which we liked more than Asti) and walk back to the hotel in this delightful small city after enjoying a bottle of wine -- and maybe a grappa.

I'm a bit confused about your itinerary. Consider the frequent and very nice bus from Malpenza to Torino (where you don't need or want a car). We stayed at the Hotel Orta (too bad it's closed but with its location just off the piazza, I can't imagine someone else hasn't picked it up. And by the way, you have to park your car up the hill from the town.) We had an easy ride from Orta to Malpenza for the flight home.

I agree that Orta is worth two days at most: the island, the Sacre Monte and that's about it. Same with Stresa. I'd consider spending more time in Piedmonte - La Morra; perhaps Novara.

http://www.eataly.it/

Turin has the original store and it hasn't lost any of its drive.

Still offers some of the best food available for the mass market, just take plenty cash.

Way time of year are you visiting? Alba's truffle festival in October is a good time to visit.

Thanks to everybody for the helpful comments! I have reworked the plan a bit. Because of the time of the year, we decided not to include Aosta (but perhaps do a day trip just to get up into the mountains for a few hours).

The new plan is:

Turin (9 nights) -- I booked Residenza Saachi -- thanks stracciatella!

Alba (5 nights) -- So glad to hear all the good reports on Alba, have booked a place called La terrazza sulle torri within walking distance of the town center. Will be nice for my husband to have some meals where he can drink wine without having to drive.

North of Asti (4 nights) -- booked an Agriturismo called Tenuta Polledro

Stresa (4 nights) -- found a day tour to Lake d'Orta with Maggiore Discovery. Also verified that we can take a bus from Stresa to Malpensa.

Any particular villages we should plan to visit in the Alba/Asti area?

I was going to recommend that you stay on Lake Maggiore and drive up to Lake Orta for lunch. Why do you need a tour? It's a short drive and a very small lake. Take a boat out to the island. Eat lunch in town.

I would keep the car for Lake Maggiore., easy driving unlike Lake Como.

HappyTrvlr -- Thanks so much for the suggestion to keep the car til the end. Makes perfect sense. As a rule, we prefer public transportation, but for this trip, a car will be much better. Will run it by my husband, the driver.

We spent a week in the Piemonte near Alba this year and enjoyed it so much. There were very few tourists.
The food, wine, scenery and hospitality were all wonderful.

I'm not sure how close to the Alba/Asti area you want to stay, but if you're interested in Barolo wines, then you should head down that way, to the Barolo-producting towns. Towns that we enjoyed were Monforte d'Alba (primarily because we stayed at a B&B in this town), Barolo, La Morra, Serralunga d'Alba.

A short drive from Alba is the small town of Barbaresco with wonderful restaurants and wineries. Highly recommend the wines at Boffa. North of Alba is the wines of Tenuta Carreta in the town of Canale. An excellent restaurant are located there also.

If you are going to Alba in Oct., during the first weekend in that month, the donkey races are held. Was one of out trips highlights as well as the first truffle tasting of the season. Prior to the race, which is a spoof of the Palio race in Asti, a grand procession is held in the streets of Alba.

Mag:
If you should change your mind on nearby-Alba lodgings, here is the villa I had mentioned in my post above. Take the rossa room...chamring and colorful.

http://www.villalafavorita.it/home_uk.html

stu (just in case)

Love these terrific recommendations -- thanks!

Lexma90 -- Drinking Barola is one of our main goals for this trip! I added all your favorite towns to our plan - thanks!

Huggy -- My other goal is to learn about Barbaresco. Thanks so much for the recommendations! I bookmarked the Boffa and Tenuta Carretta winery websites. We'll be going in the spring. Too bad -- we would have loved the donkey races!

stu (just in case) -- I bookmarked Villa Favorita too (thanks for the link!) -- it looks lovely.

Any other lunch recommendations are also much appreciated. I figure what could be better than roaming around the Piedmont drinking great wine and eating incredible lunches?

We really enjoyed lunch in beautiful Neive at La Luna nel Pozzo.
http://www.lalunanelpozzo-neive.it/eng/restaurant.htm

Mag: A few Piemonte recos for lunch/dinner from my journals:

In Babaresco, a small village aboout 8 kms. uphill from Alba, Antica Torre..has ample menu selections for "tajarin" (unmatchable Piemonte pasta dishes)..I had the buttery sage, wife had ragu. Outstanding choclatey hazel-nut desserts. Salads and soups are also available with dinner.

In town Alba has many choices..we dropped into Vincafe' on Vittoria Emanuel, the main street, for lunch..tajarin again, with sauteed mushrooms and a wide choice of local wines. Large fresh salads. Very reasonable, for lunch anyway. Several shops in town feature bags of tajarin in their windows. We took a few home. I tried to copy the buttery sage recipe Antica Torre gave me, and it worked out quite well for us.

Market day in Alba is quite colorful and extensive, outdoors, every conceivable food fruit and vegetable product imaginable, along with clothing, shoes, etc. This was on a Thursday, but it's listed as Wednesday on the internet. The gigantic street-level billboard covering a city block heralding the truffle festival, with photos of the famous is uniquely interesting to see. We were a few weeks late, but again, every shop window has a display of truffles, all sizes, all prices.

Great gelato offerngs at Sacherros on the same pedestrian main street.

Drove to Treiso (10 kms from Alba, through wine country) a "foodie" village with several recommended diner-ies but only one was open...Risorgimento Trattoria and it looked like the entire village was there for lunch. All locals, only two women, and the two turistas, us. The owner seemed to give us his special attention and it worked out so cordially. Wonderful pumpkin raviolis and again, my favotite tajarn dish, burre and salvia (butter and sage)..he insisted on gifting us a carafe of his favorite local vino, and hazel nut cream torte for dessert...appreciated and delicious. He remarked that when Americans and other foreigners honestly try to speak the language, he is very pleased. He hugged us when we left. I guess my Quincy (Mass.)childhood Italiano still works.

Mag...you will certainly enjoy the hospitality, the food and the wine of the Alba area.

Stu

We read Ekscrunchy's trip report on her visit to the Piemonte and especially loved her recommendation of a restaurant a little outside of Alba, Profumo di Vino. We ate there twice and it was our favorite in the area. We had a good lunch in Alba at Cafe Umberto, and a dinner downstairs later at Enoteca, both very good. Enoteca has a nice wine cellar setting and good serice too. We ate putside at Cafe Umberto.
We were not thrilled with La Libera in Alba, food and service were OK, nothing special, despite good reviews. We liked the others I've mentioned much, much more.
We had a fabulous lunch or two while out wandering the countryside at bars in town centers. Sorry no names, but great food and experiences, sitting outside.

Happy...yes, the Profumo di Vino was one of the restos closed for lunch in Treiso I mentioned above. That was our first choice based on EK's report..but Riorgimento didn't disappoint. EK also gave ius the reco for Villa la Favorita.
I agree on La Libera..a little stuffy and I didn't even include it on my recs above.
stu

This is all great stuff -- thank you so much! At this point we will also be staying north of Asti for a few nights. Any winery/restaurant recommendations for that area?

Sorry, can't help re north of Asti, as we were focussing on Barolos.

Here are more restaurants, though, our favorites from our trip:

La Ciau del Tornavento, piazza Baracco 7 I - 12050 Treiso. This was my favorite; I still drool when I think about the fois gras-stuffed raviolis. Don't know how fancy or high-end you want to go, though.

Trattoria della Posta, Localita Sant' Anna, 87, Monforte d’Alba (3 km beyond the central piazza). Just an all-around wonderful meal in a comfortable setting.

Giardino del Felicin, via Vallada, 18, Monforte d’Alba. The traditional selection of a number of different pasta dishes.

Osteria La Cantinella, Via Acqua gelata, 4/a, Barolo. Just a little place with lots of outdoor seating overlooking the hills of the Piemonte (on the edge of town). We had lunch here on a Sunday, and were drawn in by the grandmother types bringing fresh pasta from the (kitchen?) up the hill.

We also made several visits to the Barolo Bar, in the center of Monforte d’Alba. Each time, we were the only non-Italians there, but they welcomed us warmly, and we enjoyed the complimentary appetizers served with our wine.

For visits to wineries, have your hotel help you out. They will have contacts at various wineries. For our trip, we only visited a couple (we were there during the truffle festival, so that was our other focus), but the owner of our B&B set up visits for us at Podere Rocche dei Manzoni and Podere Ruggeri Corsini. I especially enjoyed the latter, as it's run by a woman and is a much smaller winery, so we saw a good contrast.

Keep in mind that European laws on drinking and driving are much more strict, so especially if only one person will be driving, as opposed to taking turns, that person will need to carefully limit wine drinking at lunch if you plan to drive afterwards.

This is making me want to visit the Piemonte again, right now! (And we will return.)

I did not have the pleasure of visiting, but while doing trip research before my visit to Asti, I learned that one of my favorite wines,have not visited this place, but food writers the Lee Brothers recommended it in this article:

oops--sorry, hit the tab button. Let's do that over:

I did not have the pleasure of visiting, but while doing trip research before my visit to Asti, I learned that one of my favorite wines, http://www.braida.it/it/brachetto-dacqui/, is produced in the next town over.
Food writers the Lee Brothers recommended the winery restaurant in this article: http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/taste-the-flavors-of-piedmont/1

Magster2005,

You might want to visit the walled town of Moncalvo and the synagogue at Casale Monferrato (note spelling of town). If you like risotto, visit the Italian rice capital of Vercelli, where you can visit rice producers and it is also a small art city. All of these places are convenient to your B&B north of Asti.

Near the residence where you are staying in Torino, you should make a least one visit to Pfatisch, the chocolate and pastry makers, since it is just a few steps away. In the close-by Corso Vittorio Emanneule are many historic cafes, chocolatiers and other gastronomic treats in particular Caffe Platti and the chocolatier Peyrano. Also steps from you is DeFillipis, which fabricates the many beautiful pastas that are so wonderful in Turin. so you can make a great dinner "at home" when you tire of restaurants. This website has a lot of good tips about Torino http://www.extratorino.it/ENG/list.php?categoriaID=39

If when you arrive in Torino you make one of your first stops the bookstore Libreria Co-op in the piazza Castello, they have an extensive collection of guides to Piemonte (and other Italian destinations). Even if you don't speak Italian, you will be able to figure out the Osterie d'Italia put out by the Slow Food editors (look for a yellow book with a snail somewhere on the front). It is a great way to choose restaurants as your tour the countryside or in Alba or Torino. I think you may be able to get the new version on an Iphone. Perhaps the Slow Food guide can help you out with tips for where to eat in Barbaresco if you plan to go to the source of Barberesco wine production to learn more.

SInce you will be in Torino for 9 days and so close to the train station, you might consider visiting the historic core of Asti as a day trip from Torino rather than drive there. It is a very short train trip. It is a long (but not impossible) walk from the Asti train station to the Duomo, the crown jewel of Asti. You might prefer a taxi from the train station to the Duomo. Make sure you have a good map before you go to Asti, even if you have to print one out online.

Bookmarking for our 25th wedding anniversary next year!

http://www.localidautore.com/paesi/moncalvo-1373.aspx

http://www.casalebraica.info/?page_id=156&lang=en

http://www.localidautore.com/paesi/casale-monferrato-1369.aspx

http://www.tenutacastello.com/EN/ristorante_oryza/menu

http://www.localidautore.com/paesi/vercelli-1425.aspx

Once again, I am blown away by all the helpful information I get on this forum. Thank you all so much! I am busy adding all these restaurants and suggestions to my plan. (And all this food talk is making me so hungry!!) Thanks to all of you, I am getting more excited about this trip all the time. I have no doubts that we have made a great decision to see the Piemonte.

Lexma90 -- thanks for the great restaurant recommendations!

yorkshire -- Braida looks wonderful, thanks! if you don't mind me asking, which of their wines is your favorite?

tuscancstle -- thanks for all the detailed suggestions, love the idea of making a special pasta dinner in our apartment, and really appreciate the wise suggestion to visit Alba by train

It's Braida's Braccheto d'Acqui--it is probably an acquired taste, as it is an effervescent red wine more akin to fruit juice than wine, but in summer it is absolutely perfect. (I normally don't like sweet wines.) Enjoy--I can't wait to return to the Piedmont.

My suggestion is to visit Asti (not Alba) by train because trains leave about every 20 minutes from Torino Porta Nuova station and arrive in Asti in less than an hour.

Brachetto is a sparkling wine from southern Piemonte that is most often served as a aperitivo in summer. You might not readily find it where you are going in spring, but you might be able to find a bottle in the US (if that is where you are posting from):

http://www.winewordswisdom.com/wine_reviews/brachetto-sparkling-wine.html

Northern Piemonte is the birthplace of vermouth, and you might want to try some of the local brands as an aperitif in one of Torino's historic cafes, or if you like cocktails made with vermouth:

http://www.alcoholreviews.com/WINES/carpano.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punt_e_Mes

http://www.specialitybrands.com/Cocchi-Vermouth.htm

http://www.specialitybrands.com/Antica-Formula-Vermouth.htm

http://www.specialitybrands.com/Gancia-Vermouth.htm

historic cafes and cocktail bars

http://atasteoftravelblog.com/2011/turins-cafe-culture/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/mar/05/aperitivo-turin-food-drink-italy

You'll need a car to visit the wineries and explore the beautiful countryside.
We enjoyed our visit to www.pietrorinaldi.com in Madonna di Como, a very short distance outside of Alba.

Here is a link to ekscrunchy's very helpful trip report of the Piemonte region which I mentioned above:
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/le-langhe-and-turin-a-week-in-the-land-of-barolo-bagna-cauda-and-bicerin.cfm

You are going to love the Residence Sacchi. I stayed there for a few days last month. I wouldn't call it a 15 minute walk to the museums unless you really hustle, though. Be careful walking home at night. I don't think it is dangerous but there were people sleeping on the street around the hotel when I was there. Don't let that put you off, and consider taxis home at night if you are too tired to walk back. I would never stay anywhere else, for the money you pay you get a whole apartment and the people there are very kind.... my apartment was at the top and had these great skylights that let in the fresh air. Wonderful.

There is a great food store pretty close by, on Vittorio Emmanuel at the end (and across the street) from Via Sacchi, called Baudracco. There is also a Carrefour in the other direction on Via Sacchi. Hope this helps!

Mag...with all this talk about Alba, thought I'd toss in some familiarization pix of the lovely town and vicinity for you.

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/ScenesOfPiemonteAlbaAndVicinity#

stu

Google times the walk from the Porta Nuova train station to the piazza Castello/Palazzo Madama at 15 minutes, and to the piazza Carignano/Egyptian museum at 13 minutes. The museum of the cinema is probably the furthest away at 25 minutes. (I've forgotten where they keep the shroud). Quite a few trams in the city run directly to the Porta Nuova train station, and for a 9-day stay, it would be worth learning how to use them (very easy). The metro also stops there.

In addition, you can take a short train ride from Porta Nuova station to Lingotto to visit the painting collection of the founders of Fiat.

http://pinacoteca-agnelli.it/visit/collection/

You need to add on some time because the Residence Sacchi is not in front of the train station. It is on the side and pretty far down the side of what is a pretty big station. It is definitely worth it to learn the tram and bus system (I am sure the fine folks at the Residence are familiar with it too!) There is a bus that goes right by Eataly.

Great stuff -- thank you all very much.

Sorry about the confusion on the day trip from Turin -- I meant to write Asti, not Alba. Taking the train from Turin Asti for the day sounds like the way to go.

stu -- thanks for the beautiful pics!

HappyTrvlr -- thanks for the winery recommendation!

tuscancastle -- thanks so much for all the detailed information! Not a vermouth drinker, but I love the look of Turin's cafes!

Rialtogrl -- so glad to hear that you had a good experience at Residence Sacchi & thanks for the food store recommendations! We definitely plan to eat at least a few meals in the apartment.

Magster, if you are going to cook at the Residence, you might bring a bit of salt and pepper and any other spices you might use with you in a little baggie - in my apartment, there was nothing - no salt or oil or anything. No point buying it if you can bring a little bit from home.