This suggested itinerary accompanies my earlier blog, More Than a Oenophile’s Dream. Read the blog for more detail and photos. 

Access: Piedmont is within easy reach of Milan, Genoa as well as Nice and Monte Carlo but you will need a car to reach the towns and get around. The main city of Turin is well connected by train so you could opt to rent a car in Turin. However, if you are in Milan, I recommend picking up the car in Milan and driving.

Stay: Staying in the hill towns or in select bed & breakfast establishments among the vineyards is probably the most enjoyable way to spend time in Piedmont. I stayed in Palas Cerequio, near La Morra.

Length of stay: Two-three nights but you could spend more time if you plan to visit more wineries or just savour things at a slower pace. My suggested itinerary follows.

Day 1:

• Depart Milan after breakfast. It’s around a one and a half hours drive to Asti and a further 30 minutes to the heart of the Piedmont hills and towns such as La Morra. You could have lunch en route in Asti and spend some time to visit the city or a winery. I visited the Michele Chiarlo winery in Asti but this was arranged through a distributor. I’m not sure if they entertain public visits. I would allocate around two hours for a winery visit as this often includes a tasting along with the winery walk-through.
• Mid-late afternoon, check into Palas Cerequio, relax with a drink and have a short walk around the compound and/or vineyards, time permitting.
• Late afternoon: Wine tasting of the Michele Chiarlo wines in Palas Cerequio – this takes about an hour.
• Dinner in Palas Cerequio

Day 2:

• Early morning walk in the surrounding vineyards
• After breakfast drive to and visit Alba. Spend a couple of hours to walk around the old town centre. There are good lunch spots in Alba include Michelin 3-starred Piazza Duomo.
• After lunch – drive to Barbaresco and then to Barolo. Have a look at the towns. There are some museums in Barolo but some may find them disappointing if you already have a decent knowledge of wines. Or visit a winery in the area if you have this arranged in advance.
• Dinner at a local trattoria or in the hotel. If you had a light lunch, you may want to dine at one of the finer restaurants in the area such as La Ciau del Tornavento. We ate in Palas Cerequio again where we conducted our own tasting of fine Barolos from other producers.

Day 3:

• Early morning walk up the hill to the town of La Morra
• After breakfast drive to and visit Turin. Park as close to the historic centre if possible. Note – instead of going to Turin, you could also opt to spend the full day visiting wineries.
• If in Turin, there are a number of good lunch spots. However, I opted to visit Eataly for a light salad (I went to the branch opposite the Prada store on Via Lagrange). We followed this with hot chocolate (and chocolates also) at Guido Gobino, which was a short walk down the road.
• Return to hotel / dinner at any of the fine establishments in the area. We went to La Ciau del Tornavento on our final night in Piedmont.

Day 4: Return to Milan after breakfast. In my case, we left at sunrise and drove straight to the airport in Milan to catch a late morning flight.

Some Useful Links:

Palas Cerequio website: http://www.palascerequio.it

La Ciau del Tornavento website: http://www.laciaudeltornavento.it/ita

Eataly Lagrange website: http://www.eataly.net/it_en/shops/turin-lagrange

Guido Gobino website: http://guidogobino.it/en/

Piazza Duomo website: http://www.piazzaduomoalba.it/en

Blog on Piedmont with numerous recommendations: http://www.piemontemio.com

For more info on the Langhe area: http://langhe.net/?lang=en