Getting around Piedmont without a car
What is genuinely reachable by train and bus, and what is not.
Written by the I Love Piedmont editors in Mongardino (AT).
Last updated:
Be honest with yourself early. Most of the events in this calendar are in comuni of two thousand people, and public transport to them is designed for schoolchildren, not visitors. That does not make a car-free trip impossible, it makes the choice of base the whole trip.
The rail spine. Turin is the hub. From Porta Nuova and Porta Susa you can reach Asti, Alessandria, Novara, Vercelli, Biella, Cuneo and Bra by regional train, most of them in an hour or less. Alba is connected via Asti or Bra. Acqui Terme has a line from Alessandria and from Genoa. Lake Maggiore is served by the Milan to Domodossola line, with stops at Arona, Stresa and Verbania Pallanza, and that is one of the easiest car-free bases in the whole region.
Where the network stops. The wine villages. Barolo, La Morra, Serralunga, Barbaresco, Neive, and almost the entire Monferrato outside Asti, Moncalvo, Casale and Nizza, have either no rail service or a bus that runs twice on a weekday and not at all on Sunday. Sunday is the critical problem: many rural bus routes in Piedmont do not operate on Sundays and public holidays, which is exactly when the sagre are.
A workable car-free plan. Base yourself in Asti, Alba or Acqui Terme. All three are real towns with hotels, restaurants, their own event calendars and a station. Do day trips by train to the other towns, and use taxis for the one or two village events you really want. A taxi from Alba to one of the Barolo villages is a manageable fare. The same journey from Turin is not.
Buses. Regional services are run by several operators and timetables are published on the operators' own sites rather than in one place. Check the day of the week you intend to travel, not the timetable in general. Many routes are marked feriale, meaning Monday to Saturday, or scolastico, meaning school days only.
Bicycles. The Monferrato and the Roero suit it well, with quieter roads than the Langhe and a number of signposted routes. The climbs are short but constant. An e-bike turns a hard day into a pleasant one, and rental is available in Asti, Alba and Canelli.
Taxis and drivers. Do not expect to hail one. Book by telephone, and book the return leg at the same time, because a village at eleven at night will not produce a taxi on demand.
