Piedmont question
 

Hi

we are looking forward to spending 11 nights in the Piedmont region at the end of a 5 week Italy trip in May.

My question is; would you stay in 3 places, or 2? We normally travel slowly taking a week, but this area looks so amazing and has so many gorgeous places to stay that I have narrowed it down to

Govone
Monferrato region (north)
Turin

So I am debating between

3 + 3 + 5 (in Turin)

or 5 in Govone and 6 in Turin.

We then fly from Milan.

What would you do?

Two places with one of them being Alba, the other Turin.

Lots of people go to Piemonte to drink wine, much of which is served in excellence restaurants that are only open for dinner. If that is an important part of your reason for going to Piemonte, then you might want to move around and sleep very close to your wine drinking destinations. It is not always easy to drive Piemonte roads at night.

I am not sure why people consider Alba as a base, especially if the focus is not cheese (even then one can go to other places). There are many beautiful historic towns in Piemonte surrounded by nice scenery. (Personally I would rather go to the area of Cuneo (where Govone is) If you are interested in the Monferrato region around Asti, is it very simple to visit Alba from there.

Unlike you, I am a mainly a road-tripper, so what I would do really doesn't apply to you. If part of your attraction to Piemonte is lots of outdoor activity in May, like hiking & biking, or visiting wineries, you mght find not switching hotels too often is better. But also realize that Torino is not as "obvious" a tourist destination as Venice or Florence or Rome. There is certainly enough going on in Torino to enjoy six days there but you will need to look at a detailed guidebook. The Cadogan guide for Piemonte has all the details.

Sorry, I just realized I mislocated Govone, which is not as near the town of Cuneo as I indicated. But it is not far from Alba, so I don't see much reason to prefer staying in Alba over Govone, especially if one has found an appealing place to stay or would prefer a smaller, less touristed town.

Thank you so much for replying. I appreciate your information.

We are deciding still on our itinerary, but if we choose this area we now will only have two bases, one being Govone and one being Turin.