Benvenuto to this weeks Walk of the Week. We all like walking, if you are reading this, I think that is a given.  To put one foot in front of the other and feel the freedom, discover at your own pace is a truly wonderful thing. The only way to make this better is to combine this with another passion and cram it all into a long walk. For me, it is wine. Oh, and food. I think after a long day on the trail we all need a bit of sustenance and why not make it the very highest quality of sustenance around? So, for me, the Barolo Vineyard Trail is one to focus on. LLet'sget to it....

 In a Nutshell:

Distance: 64-86 km Grading: Easy to Moderate - So you can make this trip a little easier by taking shorter walks on some days, though there is one 20.5km day that is unavoidable unless you favour the taxi option. The paths are generally in very good condition and while it is not way-marked, we provide an excellent set of route notes, so that navigating should be easy, even after a few Barolo samples.

Where is it?

The Barolo Vineyard Trail is in the north of Italy, in the Piedmont region. It is closest to Turin for flying and from there it is a simple journey to Alba where you will start your weeks walking.

Why walk it?

I am going to start with a few short phrases and see if you can tell where I am going with it. Some of the worlds most praised wines.  Tube Magnum, a prized white truffle. Gourmet cheeses. Delicious pastries. Hazelnut chocolates. Handcrafted, indulgent deserts. Of course you can do some walking here too and the scents and sights of many of these delicacies accompany you as you walk through vineyards and hazelnut plantations, through rolling green countryside linking up hidden little medieval villages. This is a side of Italy that few choose to see and it is one that I guarantee that you will fall in love with. On top of all this great produce, of course, comes an amazing restaurant scene. While you can do some fine dining, a lot of the time you are better off just eating locally and seeing what each little town has on offer. Such is the vastness and variety of the local produce, each restaurant is trying to outdo their competitors in a friendly competition. You will be enticed in and treated like a friend while offered little samples of the great local foods. Heaven? For me, definitely.

Planning to walk the Barolo Vineyard Trail

The trip is available from April to November and we can generally get this booked up at reasonably short notice due to it being a quieter part of Italy. If you want to be there in the harvest time, then mid-late October is the time to go, but probably for the weather, I would recommend May-June and September, with the summer months sometimes being a little too warm. We have a couple of Italy specialists in the office, so any questions that you have about the trip, you know where to direct them. If you fancy a bit of a gastronomic adventure, then I don't see many better places to go than on the Barolo Vineyard Trail.  Don't hesitate to email one of our Destination Specialists to find out more.