Sorry for the delay Brian. I’ve been getting pummeled at work today. If you want the most centrally located cool town to stay in choose La Morra. I think it is less cool than Monforte, but it is closer to Alba, which is for sure worth visiting. The restaurants are good to very good, there’s a little square, and a really cool chocolate factory to boot. I personally like Monforte quite a bit more. It depends on which side of town you are in and going to a lot fo times, as the in town driving is a few minutes, then and open road. I drive probably a little faster than average, but It’s 15 mins from La Morra to Monforte , less than 10 to Barolo from both La Morra and Monforte. Verduno is pretty far from Monforte (30 mins) and less than 10 mins from La Morra. Verduno is pretty sleepy, not much food choice, same for Novello. Barolo is pretty tourist filled and has less good views, etc. Better to drive there and visit. Monforte and La Morra have better food, better views. I love the upper old town part of Monforte. Castiglione is a little sleepy as well, less so than Verduno or Novello but still into much else going on for walking the town, chilling after dinner, etc.
Serralunga is out of the way and pretty far from everywhere because you have to go around to get there from other places. It’s also pretty sleepy, but prob worth a drive to have some bubbles at Centro Storico there around sunset, the view is great and the shadows on the tower near there are super cool in the end of the day.
Barbaresco is pretty far- basically 10-15 mins the other way past Alba.
I particularly love the driving in the Langhe, so it’s not so much of a chore, just time. There are speed traps, but they will be marked ahead of time most of the time. They take DUI very seriously there and it is a BAL of 0.5%, so I spit all day, and with dinner we pick one person to DD each night a dinner. Another reason to choose La Morra or Monforte is you can eat there and walk home after dinner.
I’m envious of your trip, feel free to PM me with any Q’s.
Great recommendations in this thread - one top of mind addition to it: Restaurant Ant in Novello.
Slightly conceptual take on traditional/ local cuisine, but overall excellent and great value for money. The wine options are solid with some creativity (e.g. Nascetta white from Cogno), but maybe sparse towards the higher end of the specterum. I believe they also have a small hotel/ guest rooms available, which look nice as well.
It is technically required in a few European countries, including Italy. It is absolutely required in Japan. No rental car company will give you a vehicle without it. I know people who have scoffed at this warning and found themselves in a really bad position in country that doesn’t generally make exceptions to rules.
Interesting (and thanks Sarah). So I asked my discount international legal advisor (ChatGPT) and it gave a long list of countries with a lot of subtle variations of what is required. For grins, here are the countries ChatGPT said did not require the IDP (your mileage and jail time may vary):
In these countries, a valid U.S. license is sufficient for short-term driving:
• Canada
• Mexico
• United Kingdom
• Ireland
• Australia (with English-language license)
• New Zealand
• South Africa
• Netherlands (short stays)
• Nordic countries (e.g., Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark)
Last time I showed one was about 25 years ago. Have been to Italy and France most years since and never been asked. I also drive my hire car like I stole it!
Yes love driving like a local…my wife however who drives rather conservatively, tends to go into various degrees of hysteria!! Especially the time I picked up a car at Malpensa and most of the traffic lights were out between the airport and our digs in barolo.
In my experience it really depends on the country, the rental company, and the person at the counter. I absolutely needed it in Sicily in May, but wasn’t asked about it in Germany in March.
I decided to go ahead and get one after being asked for it (and not having it) a couple of years ago in France, but was able to convince the counter person to let me have the car anyway.
I do think it’s a bit of a scam to extract more $ from travelers, but it seems a small price to pay to avoid a potentially difficult and ugly start to your European vacation…
Kent, I don’t know if you taken her to Calabria. Next level horror. That is unless you learn to enjoy the chicken race game with the understanding that two lanes really are ment to narrow a bit and make room for a magical third lane. Cars going either direction may use.
If new to it, just stand your ground, perhaps a strategic position closer to the center giving you room to stay on the road. And of course say your prayers and don’t TACO.
I’ve never really experienced crazy driving in many trips to Northern Italy over the past 30 years, although the Milan Tangentiale (beltway/ring road) is one of the Circles of Hell at rush hours. But the traffic there is too frozen for any really wild maneuvers.
for the first time I saw someone turned away from Europcar because they didn’t have an International license, luckily I had mine. Later in the trip I rented from Enterprise and like previous trips they didn’t ask to see it.
To continue this thread/hijack it a little. Any spots that stand out for good wine pricing? I’ll be traveling with a group where a majority of the people aren’t into wine, so they won’t be looking to spend a ton. So I’ll want to get my fix during lunches/dinners bottle (others will drink some of the wine) or BTG.
It’s been some years since I was there, and I’m sure those with recent visits there will give better advises, however at least back then I found that most places I came across had very fair pricing for Langhe Nebbiolo , docetto, barbera, and so on.
