Piedmonte

I'll start it off by suggesting the beautiful town of Stresa on Lake Maggiore. Its a straight shot on the autostrada south to Malpensa airport, about 25 miles.

FYI, Barolo is TINY ! Not a lot of choices of places to eat either, but fabulous food. 5 nights in Barolo seems a bit much, we were there for 2 and had enough....

On Lago Maggiore I liked Cannobio or pretty much all towns north of Verbania on the Piemonte shore. Stresa is also nice and convenient to visit the islands. Nearby is another smaller gem. The Lake D'Orta. My favorite towns there are Orta San Giulio and Pella (just across). Obviously the most famous spot is the San Giulio island, but I'm not sure there are accommodations there. When I went there I stayed in Omegna, which is a little bigger.

You have been given good recommendations but I wanted to add my 2 cents, as well. My favorite town on Maggiorie is Cannobio. I stay at a wonderful hotel there (a converted monastery) called Hotel Pironi. It is great. I also love Stresa. I stay at Hotel Eden there which is very close to the boat docks. Make sure you take one of the boats over to the island with the restaurant and eat there. It is a great location. I think the restaurant is named Verbano...if my memory serves me correctly. They also have a small hotel on the island. I have also stayed in Baveno at a place on the lake side of the road (I can't remember the name of it right now). Each room had a great balcony with a view of the lake.

Thank you for all of your input. Ellen, did you stay somewhere else in Piedmonte besides the 2 nights in Barolo? We like to minimize packing/unpacking and are looking for a good base to use for day trips - if Barolo is too small - are there other suggestions? We could also do 3 days in 2 different Piedmonte towns before heading to the Alps. Thanks

We spent two weeks in Piedmont this summer and I would go back in a flash. We stayed north of Turin, in the Canavese region, and adored it. but we did do a day trip through the Langhe, including Alba, Barolo, Barbaresco, Neive, and Cherasco. The last two were our favorite, especially Cherasco. That's where I would stay. It's no more than a half hour or so from Barolo, but is larger and with a number of great restaurants (try La Rosa Rossa). We enjoyed the wine tasting in Barolo, but there wasn't much more than an hour or two of sightseeing. We didn't stay for a meal though, so maybe there's more to do that we missed out on by driving on. Really, the region isn't that big by North American standards. Pick any town, they're all beautiful. With the rental car, you can see all the towns and vineyards around easily in five days. Driving was easy, just look out for the speed boxes on the sides of roads. They're about the size of a mailbox and contain speed cameras. We drove from Switzerland over a pass and down along Lake Maggiore and spent one night on Lugano. That was lovely though overrun with people, and we didn't see the other major lakes, so can't help with recommendations there. If you decide to drive through Turin or the Canavese, I can supply more tips.

barolo is very small but it's a good base for day trip..Castiglione Falletto,Bossolasco,Murazzano,Guarene worth a half day visit..and one day for turin: the castle of Valentino, Mole antoneliana,piazza san carlo are amazing.
The egipt museum is the most important outside after the cairo's one. And please don't miss Venaria reale !!! http://www.lavenaria.it/web/