The white truffle season in the Langhe runs from roughly October to December. During it Alba's Saturday market fills with dealers, the restaurants shave truffle over everything at prices that make people flinch, and rooms across the hills book months ahead.
Outside those weeks the same hills are quiet, the same restaurants are half the price, and the wine is exactly as good. Which is the single most useful thing to know about planning a trip here.
Turin and the hills
Turin is an hour north of the wine country and it is an underrated European city: a Baroque grid laid out by the House of Savoy, 18 kilometres of arcaded streets, the second-largest Egyptian collection in the world after Cairo, and the invention of both vermouth and industrial chocolate. It has no vineyards.
The Langhe, around Alba, is the wine: Barolo and Barbaresco from nebbiolo, made in villages a few kilometres apart whose names are on the labels — La Morra, Serralunga d'Alba, Monforte, Castiglione Falletto.
The Roero and Monferrato, north and east, are less famous, cheaper and increasingly where the interesting things are happening.
The whole area became a UNESCO site in 2014 for the vineyard landscape, which is worth knowing when you see the hills: the terracing and the village siting are the listed thing.
The eleven below are grouped by area.
The Langhe
Among the Barolo and Barbaresco villages.
Casa di Langa occupies a hillside estate at Cerretto Langhe built to a serious environmental standard, with 42 rooms, an infinity pool over the hills, a cookery school and a vineyard. It is the best hotel in Piedmont wine country.
Casa di Langa
Cerretto Langhe · 5★ · $$$$
An infinity pool over the hills with a cookery school
Check availabilityIl Boscareto Resort & Spa sits at Serralunga d'Alba below the castle with a large spa, a pool and a restaurant, surrounded by the Barolo vineyards that give the village its name.
Il Boscareto Resort & Spa
Serralunga d'Alba · 5★ · $$$$
Large spa below the castle among the Barolo vines
Check availabilityRelais San Maurizio occupies a seventeenth-century monastery at Santo Stefano Belbo with a spa in the old cellars, a garden and a restaurant with a long-held star.
Relais San Maurizio
Santo Stefano Belbo · 5★ · $$$$
A seventeenth-century monastery with a spa in the cellars
Check availabilityPalas Cerequio sits at La Morra in a stone farmhouse among the Cerequio cru vineyards, with a handful of rooms and Barolo made on the property.
La Villa Hotel occupies a villa at Benevello with views across the Langhe, a pool and a serious kitchen.
La Villa Hotel
Benevello · 5★ · $$$
Hilltop villa with a pool and a serious kitchen
Check availabilityCastello di Guarene sits in a castle above Guarene in the Roero with formal gardens, a pool and rooms in the original state apartments.
Castello di Guarene
Guarene, Roero · 5★ · $$$$
Rooms in the state apartments of a hilltop castle
Check availabilityMonferrato Resort occupies a hillside at Cremolino in Monferrato with a farm, a pool and a contemporary interior against old stone. It is the value pick in the hills.
Monferrato Resort
Cremolino, Monferrato · 5★ · $$$
A working farm with a contemporary interior in old stone
Check availabilityTurin
The Baroque grid, the arcades and the museums.
Turin Palace Hotel occupies a building facing the Egyptian Museum with a rooftop terrace over the city and the Alps behind it. It is the best hotel in Turin.
Turin Palace Hotel
Facing the Egyptian Museum · 5★ · $$$
Rooftop terrace over the city with the Alps behind
Check availabilityPrincipi di Piemonte | UNA Esperienze | Preferred Hotels and Resorts sits near Porta Nuova in a 1930s building with a spa, a pool and rooms that are the largest in the centre.
Principi di Piemonte | UNA Esperienze | Preferred Hotels and Resorts
Near Porta Nuova · 5★ · $$$
A 1930s building with the largest rooms in the centre
Check availabilityGrand Hotel Sitea occupies a position on Via Carlo Alberto with a garden, a good restaurant and a long-standing local reputation.
Grand Hotel Sitea
Via Carlo Alberto · 4★ · $$
Garden and a good restaurant with a long local following
Check availabilityNH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina sits in a converted seventeenth-century palazzo on Piazza Carlina with a glazed courtyard and contemporary rooms.
NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina
Piazza Carlina · 4★ · $$
A seventeenth-century palazzo with a glazed courtyard
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The agriturismi and cantine with rooms across the Langhe are excluded, and in a region of small family producers they are frequently the most enjoyable way to stay. They are farm stays rather than hotels.
What to do
Book cellar doors. Barolo producers are small and most require appointments; the famous names fill weeks ahead and the interesting ones are often the least known.
Understand the villages. Barolo from La Morra tastes different from Barolo from Serralunga because of the soils, and the producers will explain it at length if you ask.
Go to Alba on a Saturday, in any season, for the market. In truffle season the dealers set up alongside it.
Eat Piedmontese: tajarin with butter and sage, vitello tonnato, agnolotti del plin, brasato al Barolo, and hazelnut cake with the local nuts that are the basis of the region's chocolate.
In Turin, do the Egyptian Museum, the Mole Antonelliana with the cinema museum inside it, and drink a bicerin, which is coffee, chocolate and cream in a glass and is the city's own.
Practical notes
Turin has its own airport and Milan Malpensa is about two hours from the Langhe. The train from Turin to Alba takes about ninety minutes; a car is essential in the hills.
September and October are the best months: harvest, then truffles. November is truffle season proper and busy. Spring is green and quiet. Winter is cold and foggy and the region is at its cheapest.
Book restaurants in the Langhe ahead in autumn. The good ones are small.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Turin and the Langhe Hotels
Questions people actually ask
When is truffle season?
Roughly October to December for the white truffle, with Alba's fair through those months. Rates and restaurant prices rise accordingly.
Is Turin worth adding?
Two nights, and yes. It is one of Italy's least visited major cities and it has the arcades, the museums and the food.
Barolo or Barbaresco?
Both, and they are twenty minutes apart. Barbaresco is generally lighter and earlier-drinking.
How many nights?
Five. Three in the hills and two in Turin.