Four days in Piedmont
 

Do you have favorite towns in Piedmont? We'll be traveling by car, (late May) ending up at the Milan airport (MXP) We prefer very small hotels or B&Bs and prefer not to drive after dark. Thanks for any tips.

Look at:
Villa Favorita---Alba
Villa Sampaguita---Asti
Baur B&B---Aqui Terme

I like different towns in Piemonte for different things. Some towns are good for wine, some towns are good for "slow food," some towns are good for sightseeing the dramatic mountains, some towns are good for including a day at the beach.

What are you going to Piemonte to experience, and what time of year are you going?

If you don't want to drive after dark, then you should stay in a town, not somewhere outside of a town. Dinner in Piemonte is not served in restaurants until 8pm, so unless you stay in a town with restaurants, you will be driving after dark.

You can also stay in hotel with a restaurant that it is the countryside, but in Piemonte, those can be fairly expensive. You can also stay in an apartment outside of town with your own kitchen and make your own dinners. It is easy to buy nice cheese, pasta, veg and wine in Piemonte, so this works for some people too.

By the way, the spelling of the town mentioned above is Acqui Terme.

I second Alba and Asti, but if you intend not to drive after dinner, then I'll list the places I stayed in both towns:
Asti: http://www.relaiscattedrale.it/ (supreme comfort and a friendly host)
Alba: http://www.casadellatorre.net/eng/camere.asp (I cannot say enough good things about this place, so I'll just say one thing: best breakfast ever.)
You might consider doing what I did because of time considerations: one night in Asti because of its proximity to Milan, and three nights in Alba.
I chatted with some travelers who had been in Monforte d'Alba, and they raved about it. If I had been traveling by car, I would have strongly considered Neive, which has some nice accommodations as well.

I've heard that Torino has become a very hip city since the Olympics so you should visit there. I also just did a quick search for agriturismo's in Piemonte and here's what I found. Do you like any? I'm also still searching for the perfect agriturismo so thought I'd try to help . . .

http://itrepoggi.it/organic-farm-holidays/?lang=en

http://www.querciarossa.com/uk.htm

http://www.agriturismo.com/agrituris...p?inserztabs=1

http://www.lamussia.it/en/

None of the websites are too great but these are small family-run places so I think that's to be expected.

I second the recommendation of Baur B&B in Acqui Terme. We had a wonderful stay there, and Diana and Mischa are some of the best B&B owners anywhere in the world. Wonderful rooms, amazing breakfasts, and great recommendations for wine tasting, restaurants, things to do. Here is a link to my trip report from our time in Piedmont, along with pictures:

http://www.fromhometoroam.com/2012/0...t-acqui-terme/

BTW, I also agree with recommendations to visit Torino, we really enjoyed it and found it one of the most underrated cities in Italy.
Enjoy!!

You can also visit the original Eataly in Torino http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/05/i...ery-store.html .

I also just found some more wonderful Piemonte hotels. Fodors, if you're hiring I'm available ;)

http://lavillahotel.net/index.htm

http://www.terensano.it/default.asp?LANG=en&PAGE=5

Wisbevo:
Once again, I join "Navigator Bob" in voting for Villa Favorita just outside Alba ( a fine little town in which to headquarter). Roberta, the Villa's resident-owner, is a delightful, helpful, charming person...The rooms are large and well-appointed. The fenced-in grounds are very inviting. The rates are not backbreakers.
stu

wisbevo:
Here are scenes of Villa Favorita and Alba, from my visit. Also the Villa web pages.
stu

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...baAndVicinity#

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

Can any of you recommending Baur B&B and Villa Sampaguita and Villa Favorita honestly explain why, when a person comes to Fodor's and says right in their first post that they do not want to drive after dark that you would recommend places to sleep where the person cannot walk to any nearby restaurants, nor do these places in the countryside serve dinner to their guests?

There are so many fantastic small towns in Piemonte, scenic and historic, with gorgeous b&bs and small hotels, why try to change somebody's trip to get them to stay at a place that, howevermuch you like it or the owners, isn't at all right for someone who doesn't want to drive after dark?

Are you unaware of these other high-quality possibilities in Piemonte or is there some other reason you've zeroed in promoting these places even though they don't fit what the traveler is looking for?

PS: I ask because nearly every thread on Fodor's whose subject line is "Piemonte" turns into a thread with the same people promoting the same B&Bs or villas even if the poster has asked for that. If it were new posters doing this, it would get reported as as advertising. It gets harder and harder to believe these people aren't friends of yours whose businesses you like to keep billboarding on Fodor's Piemonte threads whether they are responsive or senstiive to the original request or not.

typo alert: Meant to type "even if the poster hasn't asked for that."

You are dead wrong!
Stick to what you know, or better yet, go away.

Zepp...I thought you had left the room. You've shown your usual sweetness in downgrading Fodorites whose only goal is to contribute. Stay home and stir up your own pot. Nobody likes you and nobody wants you. Deal with it. Bye. Write when you get work.

Once again, only zeppole's opinion is the correct one. Why don't you run up and down your 700 steps a few times and get rid of your angst that way.

@goldenautumn I'm assuming this is not directed at me since this is my first time chiming in on a Piemonte post. Also, Wisbevo, please note that both places I've recommended have wonderful-sounding restaurants!! I actually found these hotels on a website where I was reading up on Slow Food, a movement which started in the Piemonte city of Bra!

We stayed at Villa Tiboldi in Canale several years ago. It has a restaurant which was quite good. The most memorable part of the restaurant was ordering a dish with white truffle. They brought the white truffle to the table and weighed it. Then they shaved some over our dish and asked if that was enough. After they finished shaving, they weighed the truffle again. As we were staying at the hotel, our restaurant bill went to our room and we never actually knew how much that truffle shaving was, although the restaurant bill was reasonable.
The hotel is a charming small hotel in the middle of a vineyard. We were lucky enough to be there in the middle of the wine harvest. You must have a car, but as stated before, there is a restaurant on the premises.