How to get around Barolo

Barolo divides into a village you cross on foot in ten minutes and an appellation you cannot see without a vehicle.

The village: on foot

The square, the castle, the few streets and the viewpoints at the edges are all within ten minutes of each other. Leave the car at the edge and walk; the centre is small and partly restricted, and there is nothing to be gained by driving into it.

The zone: a car, and a plan about drinking

The Barolo appellation spreads across eleven communes, and the cellars are scattered through them on ridge roads. There is no public transport a visitor can build a cellar day around — buses serve residents on timetables designed for school and work. Distances are short and times are long: La Morra is ten minutes, Grinzane Cavour about fifteen, Alba twenty to thirty.

Settle the driving before the first tasting. In a village whose purpose is a 14%-plus red wine, reached by narrow unlit roads with steep vineyard either side, this is the single most important practical decision of the visit. Hire a driver for the day — standard practice here, and the local firms understand exactly what is wanted — or nominate someone who will not taste, or sleep within walking distance of the estate you want.

On foot between the villages

This is the underrated option and the best way to see the UNESCO landscape. Marked tracks and farm roads cross the hills, including the Sentiero del Barolo which runs from La Morra through the vineyards. Walking between two villages and eating at the far end solves the drinking problem entirely. Stay on the tracks: the rows are private property and a working crop.

By bike

Excellent and genuinely hard. These are steep hills with fast narrow descents and blind bends, shared with farm machinery.

Arriving

By road from Alba, which has the nearest station. Most visitors fly to Turin and drive.

How easily, and at what cost, can you combine the region’s main destinations?

Cost compares the options for each route rather than quoting a fare: inexpensive means the price is not a factor in planning, moderate cost means a real line in the budget, and the expensive option is one worth weighing against the alternative. Fares change from year to year; the ranking between them does not.

The shape of the problem

Barolo has 750 residents and an appellation of eleven communes. The village is walkable; the zone is not reachable without a car or a driver. Plan on that basis.

In the village

Ten minutes end to end. The Castello Falletti and the WiMu are on the square at Piazza Falletti 1, with the restaurants and the wine shops around it and viewpoints over the vineyards at the edges. Park at the edge of the village and walk in.

The loop worth driving

Barolo is best visited as part of a circuit rather than a destination, because its neighbours supply what it lacks:

• La Morra — ten minutes, on the ridge at 513 metres, with the panoramic terrace over the whole amphitheatre and the Cappella del Barolo. This is the view Barolo itself does not have.
• Grinzane Cavour — about fifteen minutes, with its UNESCO-inscribed castle and the regional wine shop that has been there since 1967.
• Alba — twenty to thirty minutes, the market town, the station, the hospital and the restaurants.
• Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d'Alba, Monforte d'Alba, Novello, Verduno — the other communes of the appellation, each with its own producers and several with castles of their own.

A sensible day: castle and museum in Barolo, lunch, the terrace at La Morra, a cellar in the afternoon, back through Grinzane Cavour.

Driving and drinking, in detail

It needs stating plainly. The options that work are:

• Hire a driver for a cellar day. This is the normal arrangement in the Langhe and costs less than the wine you will buy.
• Sleep in the zone and walk. Several villages have serious producers within walking distance of their own square, which removes the problem.
• Nominate a non-tasting driver. Cellars expect this and will look after that person.

Walking and cycling

The marked tracks and farm roads between the villages are the best way to experience the landscape inscribed by UNESCO on 22 June 2014. The Sentiero del Barolo starts from La Morra; no length for it is published by the municipality, so ask locally rather than trusting a figure. Keep to the tracks — the vineyards are private and worked, with machinery in the rows at harvest.

Cycling is rewarding and physically serious: real gradients, fast descents, narrow roads, blind bends.

Arriving

There is no station in Barolo. The nearest is Alba, with regional services, and the village is a short drive from there. Visitors from abroad generally fly to Turin and hire a car — then park it on tasting days.