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Driving day from Bellagio/Lake Como to Alba/Piedmont - what to see?

My fiance and I will be staying four nights near Bellagio on Lake Como and driving to the Alba area for two nights before continuing on to the Cinque Terre and finishing in Milan. We will have a car. I have some ideas for things to see on our day driving from Lake Como to Alba, and I'd appreciate some feedback!

Option One: I initially planned to drive to Stresa and see the Borromean Islands before driving to our hotel in Alba. But will it be too similar to Lake Como? We're going to be spending more time in the lakes than anywhere else on this trip.

Option Two: See a few sights in or near Turin. I know my fiance would love the automobile museum (we are going to a fancy car show in Como) and I would love to see the Sacra di San Michele outside the city. This would be a lot of driving, yes, but it looks doable if we get on the road early.

Option Three: Asti and the surrounding hill towns. We will be taking a wine tour through the ItaliAnna company, so I know we will be seeing some little towns in the Langhe the next day. Is Asti worth a separate trip? Any particular places to try Asti Spumante there? Any little towns we must see?

Any advice is much appreciated and please let me know if you have other ideas for our driving day. Thanks!

Posted by
1609 posts

In Torino, YOU will enjoy the car museum --- I rather dislike cars and I loved the museum. All sorts of creative, interesting exhibits and terrific short vintage films showing how cars fit into history.

In Torino, if you are at all interested in ancient Egypt, the Egyptian Museum is wonderful.

Posted by
7952 posts

I love going to Stresa, but I wouldn’t add it to your itinerary. We enjoyed seeing Torino, going to the Superga, seeing the royal palace, etc. I think the Sacra SM would add to your overall experience.

Posted by
3812 posts

There is a ZTL in Turin that's enforced by cameras from 7:30 to 10:30, plus a couple of roads reserved to cabs and buses 24/7. The automobile museum is quite far from the forbidden zone, but all the other museums are inside it.

Do not leave anything in the trunk.

Posted by
630 posts

When are going? We are going to CT/Milan/Lake Como (Varenna)/Turin and Barolo for three weeks in April. If you are interested PM me I can send you my notes or a "report" when we return. FYI- we like hiking, drinking wine, eating and see "stuff". We plan to go to Sacra di San Michele.
I downloaded the Lonely Planet :Turin, Piedmont and CT" for $4.99. I found it helpful.