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As we have been doing for the past years, this year we have again decided for a mixed holiday which took place between the 13-24 August 2008. We spent seven nights in a mountain resort in the North of Italy, for complete relaxation and walks on the mountains, and the remaining four nights in a city, for culture and sightseeing.
This time we choose Corvara (13th-20th) in Alta Badia, in the heart of the Italian Dolomites, and Bergamo (20th-24th), a beautiful city in the Lombardia region.
We left Malta to Milano Malpensa on Wednesday 13th August 2008 on flight KM 628 which departed in time at 08.25 hours. We arrived at Malpensa at 10.25 hours and we immediately boarded the bus to Milano Centrale Train station outside the Arrivals of Terminal 1.
There are two companies providing transfers to Milano Centrale, the Malpensa Shuttle (€7 one way) and the Malpensa Bus (€7.50 one way - offer pay 2 for 3). The journey to Milano Stazione Centrale takes around 50 minutes and the departure is every 20 minutes depending on the number of passengers. The trip may take around 1hour 15 minutes if there is heavy traffic. The bus leaves terminal 1 and goes to terminal 2 before proceeding to its destination.
From Milano Centrale we took the train to Bolzano departing at 12.05 hours changing at Verona Porta Nuova Station. We arrived at Bolzano at 15.30 hours. Cost of train ticket Milano-Bolzano is €29.30 (http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/)
As we have been doing for the past years, this year we have again decided for a mixed holiday which took place between the 13-24 August 2008. We spent seven nights in a mountain resort in the North of Italy, for complete relaxation and walks on the mountains, and the remaining four nights in a city, for culture and sightseeing.
This time we choose Corvara (13th-20th) in Alta Badia, in the heart of the Italian Dolomites, and Bergamo (20th-24th), a beautiful city in the Lombardia region.We left Malta to Milano Malpensa on Wednesday 13th August 2008 on flight KM 628 which departed in time at 08.25 hours. We arrived at Malpensa at 10.25 hours and we immediately boarded the bus to Milano Centrale Train station outside the Arrivals of Terminal 1.
There are two companies providing transfers to Milano Centrale, the Malpensa Shuttle (€7 one way) and the Malpensa Bus (€7.50 one way - offer pay 2 for 3). The journey to Milano Stazione Centrale takes around 50 minutes and the departure is every 20 minutes depending on the number of passengers. The trip may take around 1hour 15 minutes if there is heavy traffic. The bus leaves terminal 1 and goes to terminal 2 before proceeding to its destination.
From Milano Centrale we took the train to Bolzano departing at 12.05 hours changing at Verona Porta Nuova Station. We arrived at Bolzano at 15.30 hours. Cost of train ticket Milano-Bolzano is €29.30 (http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/)
I had made previous arrangements with a certain Mr H Riegler to transfer us from Bolzano to Corvara (cost is €100). We arrived at Corvara in Alta Badia at around 17.45 hours through the Passo Gardena.
Corvara in Alta Badia
Corvara is a small town in the Alta Badia region and is a good base from where one can start walking adventures over the beautiful mountains of the Alta Badia. It is a place where one can find good hotels which offer a half board basis including the use of their wellness centre.
Corvara may be reached through the Passo Gardena (in summer only), or the Passo Campolungo or the Badia Valley from Brunico. It is dominated by the Sassonger Mountain which shadows the town along with the other mountains of Col Alt and Piz Boe’. There are cable cars that take you up to the latter two mountains.
Corvara touches Colfosco on the side of the Passo Gardena and La Villa on the opposite way. From La Villa one can also reach the nearby towns of Pedraces (Badia), San Cassiano and La Val. These small mountain villages together form the Alta Badia region.
During our visit the weather was most of the time fine, sunny with clouds, but very cool which sometimes got colder on the mountains. The temperature was around 8 degrees Celcius at around 08.00 hours increasing to about 12 degrees or 14 degrees around 14.00 hours. Light warm clothing is important depending on how sensitive one is to the cold weather.
We stayed at Corvara for seven nights from the 13th to the 20th August 2008. The only day when we had bad rainy and cloudy weather was Friday 15th August. During that day we had to abandon our mountain trekking and we managed to travel to the town of Brunico which is around 55 minutes by Bus from Corvara.
S.A.D. Trasport provides bus transport throughout the Dolomite region. However this transport is very irregular and it may sometimes be worthwhile to walk rather than wait for the bus cause you may arrive earlier. Further information could be obtained from www.sad.it/index.php?page=start&lang=it
The most important bus route for us was that for Brunico which runs nearly every hour. It
leaves Colfosco, passes through Corvara, then through La Villa and Pedraces (Badia) and proceeds to Brunico and back. It is very useful to travel to the other small towns and then go up the mountains with the various cable cars and chair lifts to enjoy the splendid panoramas of the region. Once on the mountains you are in the heart of the dolomites and you can walk through the very well organized paths and forest ways for hours in very easy and safe walks. In my opinion the Alta Badia is one of the best marked places for walks on the mountains.
We used to return to the hotel around 16.00 hours and spend the rest of the day in the wellness centre, enjoying the relaxing saunas, swimming in the beautiful large swimming pool or relaxing in the whirpool of our hotel. We would then dine at around 19.30 or 20.00 hours.
In the evenings and at night there is not much to do at Corvara and the surrounding villages. The Tourist Offices usually organise events which start around 9.15pm. However to travel to the adjacent villages one needs to call a taxi. At Corvara, the main road Strada Col Alt is turned into a pedestrian zone every evening. This is the main street where one can find a few shops, and most hotels and restaurants. The Tourist Office, the Parish Church and the town hall are all accessed from this street. At the top end of the street lies the Cable Car Station for Col Alto.
Corvara Hotel
In Corvara we stayed at Hotel Col Alto, Strada Col Alt (www.colalto.it/). This is a very good hotel of 3 star superior rating. The staff is friendly. The Hotel is just about 15 metres from the Dolomites Bus Stop and this proves to be very advantageous for people who use public transport to move around the Alta Badia region.
The facilities of the Hotel are excellent. The room was very spacious, tidy, with a bathroom neatly equipped with more than enough towels to use. On the negative side is the fact that there are no tea/coffee making facilities in the rooms and the TV set is so small that it is very difficult to be followed from bed. We also had a balcony with a view of the Col Alt mountain forest.
Our stay was on a half-board basis. The food was enough and very good in quality. Breakfast was lavish with a variety of cold meat and cheeses as well as different cereals and sweets. For dinner, there was a very good vegetable buffet which makes up for the very modest portions served in the four course dinner (an anti-pasto, a first and second plate and a dessert). Otherwise the quality of the food served was excellent and the service by the always elegant restaurant staff was fast and very efficient.
The Hotel also provides its clients (included in the price) the use of a beautiful wellness centre where one could spend some hours of relaxation after a day’s walk in the mountains. There are various saunas providing also inhalation treatments, a beautifully decorated and quite big pool that includes a whirpool, a gym and a games room with a table-tennis and table-soccer.
I would definitely recommend this hotel.
Excursions
In order to use cable cars, chair lifts and public transport in the region, it is advisable to buy a mountain pass (www.mountainpass.it/) which not only makes you avoid queues but would in the end make you save money instead of paying for the use of each facility. There are three types of mountain passes and the most convenient for us was the pass that enables the unlimited use on all facilities on 5 days in a space of 7 days together with unlimited travel on the Dolomites bus up to Bolzano for 7 consecutive days. This pass costs €38.
Below is an account of the excursions which we performed in the Alta Badia region.
Day 1
Excursion Gruppo Sella
We walked about 10 minutes from the hotel to the Cable Car Boe’ and took the cable car up to the Piz Boe’ (2152m). Once up the mountain there are many possibilities of beautiful walks. One of them is to walk to Lake Boe’. However we decided to take another chair lift from up there to Vallon (2530m).
We then walked to Rifugio Franz Kostner (2550m). The walk to and from this Rifugio takes around 30 minutes.
Back to the Chairlift Vallon and down to the Piz Boe’ we walked through sentiero 638 to Passo Campolongo (1875m). This walk takes around 1hour 50 minutes. When down at Passo Campolungo we discovered that the bus would pass in more than two hours and so we decided to walk down to Corvara. The walk from Passo Campolungo to Corvara takes approximately 1 hour.
Alternatively, one could get back down to Corvara through the Cable Car Boe’.
Day 2
Excursion To Rifugio Pralongia’
There are many ways to reach Rifugio Pralongia’. There is the direct one by going up the way from Corvara to Planac and take the chairlift. There are then other possibilities to go for walks on the mountains and reach Pralongia’ from Col Alt or from Piz La Villa.
We decided to go from La Villa. We took the Bus to Brunico and stopped at La Villa (about 10 minutes drive). A little away from the Bus stop one finds the Cable Car station that takes you up to Piz La Villa (2077m). As soon as you go out of the cable car up the mountain, you immediately realize that you are in the most beautiful part of the dolomites. Splendid views range from the Gardenaccia, the Marmolada and Sella Mountains to the Passo Gardena. 
From La Villa we started our walk of approximately 1 hour 30 min through sentiero 4 and sentiero 23 to Rifugio Bioch (2079m) and then to Rifugio Pralongia’ (2157m) where we stopped for lunch. On the way to Pralongia’ it was very cold and windy but the views of the panorama enclosing the Passo Gardena and the snow peaks of the Marmolada Mountains were very rewarding.
We then walked back to Rifugio Bioch, to Rifugio Piz Arlara (2040m), and down to Rifugio Col Alto (1980m) from where we took the cable car down to Corvara and walked to the Hotel.
Day 3
Excursion To Cascate del Pisciadu’ and to Plans Frara
From near the Boe’ Cable Car, just passing the Lago Biotopo at Corvara, we took the way up through the Borrest path (which is well marked) up to the Cascata del Pisciadu’. Then from there we finished to the Cable car station of Plans Frara (at Colfosco). The total time of this walk is around 1 hour and 30 minutes.
From there we took the Plans Frara cable car (with an intermediate change) to Rifugio Jimmy (2222m) just below the Sas Ciampac at the beginning of the Parco Naturale di Puez-Odle. From up there we enjoyed a beautiful view of the Sella Group and just over Passo Gardena.
There are many walks from there especially to the Parco Nazionale Puez-Odle.
Day 4
Excursion To Gardenaccia
We took the bus from Corvara direction Brunico and stopped at La Villa. From there we took the chair lift of Gardenaccia (1745m). We decided to walk through path no 11 to Rifugio Gherdenacia. However after walking for about 30 minutes we realized that the path was getting somehow dangerous. Here one has to walk for a long time on big pebbles on which it is very easy to slip. The path is just around two feet wide with just a precipice on the side. Considering that a slip can bring about serious consequences, we decided to go back to base and down to La Villa.
Corvara in Alta Badia
Corvara is a small town in the Alta Badia region and is a good base from where one can start walking adventures over the beautiful mountains of the Alta Badia. It is a place where one can find good hotels which offer a half board basis including the use of their wellness centre.
Corvara may be reached through the Passo Gardena (in summer only), or the Passo Campolungo or the Badia Valley from Brunico. It is dominated by the Sassonger Mountain which shadows the town along with the other mountains of Col Alt and Piz Boe’. There are cable cars that take you up to the latter two mountains.Corvara touches Colfosco on the side of the Passo Gardena and La Villa on the opposite way. From La Villa one can also reach the nearby towns of Pedraces (Badia), San Cassiano and La Val. These small mountain villages together form the Alta Badia region.
During our visit the weather was most of the time fine, sunny with clouds, but very cool which sometimes got colder on the mountains. The temperature was around 8 degrees Celcius at around 08.00 hours increasing to about 12 degrees or 14 degrees around 14.00 hours. Light warm clothing is important depending on how sensitive one is to the cold weather.
We stayed at Corvara for seven nights from the 13th to the 20th August 2008. The only day when we had bad rainy and cloudy weather was Friday 15th August. During that day we had to abandon our mountain trekking and we managed to travel to the town of Brunico which is around 55 minutes by Bus from Corvara.
S.A.D. Trasport provides bus transport throughout the Dolomite region. However this transport is very irregular and it may sometimes be worthwhile to walk rather than wait for the bus cause you may arrive earlier. Further information could be obtained from www.sad.it/index.php?page=start&lang=it
The most important bus route for us was that for Brunico which runs nearly every hour. It
leaves Colfosco, passes through Corvara, then through La Villa and Pedraces (Badia) and proceeds to Brunico and back. It is very useful to travel to the other small towns and then go up the mountains with the various cable cars and chair lifts to enjoy the splendid panoramas of the region. Once on the mountains you are in the heart of the dolomites and you can walk through the very well organized paths and forest ways for hours in very easy and safe walks. In my opinion the Alta Badia is one of the best marked places for walks on the mountains.We used to return to the hotel around 16.00 hours and spend the rest of the day in the wellness centre, enjoying the relaxing saunas, swimming in the beautiful large swimming pool or relaxing in the whirpool of our hotel. We would then dine at around 19.30 or 20.00 hours.
In the evenings and at night there is not much to do at Corvara and the surrounding villages. The Tourist Offices usually organise events which start around 9.15pm. However to travel to the adjacent villages one needs to call a taxi. At Corvara, the main road Strada Col Alt is turned into a pedestrian zone every evening. This is the main street where one can find a few shops, and most hotels and restaurants. The Tourist Office, the Parish Church and the town hall are all accessed from this street. At the top end of the street lies the Cable Car Station for Col Alto.
Corvara Hotel
In Corvara we stayed at Hotel Col Alto, Strada Col Alt (www.colalto.it/). This is a very good hotel of 3 star superior rating. The staff is friendly. The Hotel is just about 15 metres from the Dolomites Bus Stop and this proves to be very advantageous for people who use public transport to move around the Alta Badia region.
The facilities of the Hotel are excellent. The room was very spacious, tidy, with a bathroom neatly equipped with more than enough towels to use. On the negative side is the fact that there are no tea/coffee making facilities in the rooms and the TV set is so small that it is very difficult to be followed from bed. We also had a balcony with a view of the Col Alt mountain forest.
Our stay was on a half-board basis. The food was enough and very good in quality. Breakfast was lavish with a variety of cold meat and cheeses as well as different cereals and sweets. For dinner, there was a very good vegetable buffet which makes up for the very modest portions served in the four course dinner (an anti-pasto, a first and second plate and a dessert). Otherwise the quality of the food served was excellent and the service by the always elegant restaurant staff was fast and very efficient.
The Hotel also provides its clients (included in the price) the use of a beautiful wellness centre where one could spend some hours of relaxation after a day’s walk in the mountains. There are various saunas providing also inhalation treatments, a beautifully decorated and quite big pool that includes a whirpool, a gym and a games room with a table-tennis and table-soccer.
I would definitely recommend this hotel.
Excursions
In order to use cable cars, chair lifts and public transport in the region, it is advisable to buy a mountain pass (www.mountainpass.it/) which not only makes you avoid queues but would in the end make you save money instead of paying for the use of each facility. There are three types of mountain passes and the most convenient for us was the pass that enables the unlimited use on all facilities on 5 days in a space of 7 days together with unlimited travel on the Dolomites bus up to Bolzano for 7 consecutive days. This pass costs €38.
Below is an account of the excursions which we performed in the Alta Badia region.
Day 1
Excursion Gruppo Sella
We walked about 10 minutes from the hotel to the Cable Car Boe’ and took the cable car up to the Piz Boe’ (2152m). Once up the mountain there are many possibilities of beautiful walks. One of them is to walk to Lake Boe’. However we decided to take another chair lift from up there to Vallon (2530m).
We then walked to Rifugio Franz Kostner (2550m). The walk to and from this Rifugio takes around 30 minutes.Back to the Chairlift Vallon and down to the Piz Boe’ we walked through sentiero 638 to Passo Campolongo (1875m). This walk takes around 1hour 50 minutes. When down at Passo Campolungo we discovered that the bus would pass in more than two hours and so we decided to walk down to Corvara. The walk from Passo Campolungo to Corvara takes approximately 1 hour.
Alternatively, one could get back down to Corvara through the Cable Car Boe’.
Day 2
Excursion To Rifugio Pralongia’
There are many ways to reach Rifugio Pralongia’. There is the direct one by going up the way from Corvara to Planac and take the chairlift. There are then other possibilities to go for walks on the mountains and reach Pralongia’ from Col Alt or from Piz La Villa.
We decided to go from La Villa. We took the Bus to Brunico and stopped at La Villa (about 10 minutes drive). A little away from the Bus stop one finds the Cable Car station that takes you up to Piz La Villa (2077m). As soon as you go out of the cable car up the mountain, you immediately realize that you are in the most beautiful part of the dolomites. Splendid views range from the Gardenaccia, the Marmolada and Sella Mountains to the Passo Gardena. 
From La Villa we started our walk of approximately 1 hour 30 min through sentiero 4 and sentiero 23 to Rifugio Bioch (2079m) and then to Rifugio Pralongia’ (2157m) where we stopped for lunch. On the way to Pralongia’ it was very cold and windy but the views of the panorama enclosing the Passo Gardena and the snow peaks of the Marmolada Mountains were very rewarding.
We then walked back to Rifugio Bioch, to Rifugio Piz Arlara (2040m), and down to Rifugio Col Alto (1980m) from where we took the cable car down to Corvara and walked to the Hotel.
Day 3
Excursion To Cascate del Pisciadu’ and to Plans FraraFrom near the Boe’ Cable Car, just passing the Lago Biotopo at Corvara, we took the way up through the Borrest path (which is well marked) up to the Cascata del Pisciadu’. Then from there we finished to the Cable car station of Plans Frara (at Colfosco). The total time of this walk is around 1 hour and 30 minutes.
From there we took the Plans Frara cable car (with an intermediate change) to Rifugio Jimmy (2222m) just below the Sas Ciampac at the beginning of the Parco Naturale di Puez-Odle. From up there we enjoyed a beautiful view of the Sella Group and just over Passo Gardena.
There are many walks from there especially to the Parco Nazionale Puez-Odle.
Day 4
Excursion To Gardenaccia
We took the bus from Corvara direction Brunico and stopped at La Villa. From there we took the chair lift of Gardenaccia (1745m). We decided to walk through path no 11 to Rifugio Gherdenacia. However after walking for about 30 minutes we realized that the path was getting somehow dangerous. Here one has to walk for a long time on big pebbles on which it is very easy to slip. The path is just around two feet wide with just a precipice on the side. Considering that a slip can bring about serious consequences, we decided to go back to base and down to La Villa.
We then took the cable car up to Piz La Villa to enjoy once again the spectacular views from up there. We returned to La Villa by cable car, and back to Corvara by bus.
Day 5
Excursion To La Crusc
We took the bus from Corvara direction Brunico and stopped at Pedraces (Badia). From there we walked to the centre to the chair lift of Santa Croce to Rifugio Lee (1840m). From there we walked for about 5 minutes to Lago Lee.
On our return to Rifugio Lee we took another chairlift to La Crusc (2045m) where shaded by the peak
of the Sas de la Crusc there is a church and a monastery which provide a beautiful setting in the mountains.
We returned back to Corvara from Pedraces by bus.
Leaving Corvara to Bergamo
We decided to use the bus and the train to go to Bergamo. This proved to be quite a task because we first had to take the bus to Brunico, departing from Corvara at 08.46 hours and arrived quite late at Brunico Train Station at 10.10 hours (instead of 09.49 hours).
From the Brunico train station we had to take a train to Fortezza then change to Verona from where we had to proceed to Bergamo after changing again in Rovato. We made it in time. We left Fortezza at 10.14 and arrived at Bergamo at 14.46 hours.
Bergamo
Bergamo is practically divided into two parts. The old city called Citta Alta is located on top of a hill and fortified by nealy 6 km of walls completed in 1588 when Bergamo formed part of the Republic of Venice. Then there is the lower city which started to expand at the end of the thirteenth century and which has become an urban centre and the seat of the local council and the government of the city. The train station and bus terminus are also found at the lower part of the city.
The Citta’ Alta may be reached either by Bus no 1A or Bus no 3 or by means of the funicular service. There is also another funicular that connects the Citta’ Alta with the highest part of the city called San Vigilio. From here one can enjoy a beautiful view of the city with a panorama that reaches as far as the pre-alps outside the city. The price of a single ticket for use on buses and funiculars is €1 and is valid for any trip that starts within a period of 75 minutes. There is also a day ticket (biglietto giornaliero) costing €2.50 which permits holder to use unlimited transport on any one day.
Bergamo has its own Airport called Orio al Serio and is just 15 minutes away by bus from the centre. A one way trip to the airport costs €1.75 but there is also a day card that costs €3.50 that allows one return trip to the airport and unlimited travel inside the city centre including funiculars.
The most popular shopping area in the city centre is the part consisting of via 20 settembre, to the left of Viale Roma (facing Citta’ Alta). Another well known shopping place in the region is the Orio Centre which is directly opposite the Airport terminal on the Statale Milano – Trieste. The centre may be reached by Bus 1 Aeroporto which stops at the terminal Bus Stop. From there one has to walk around 50m to take a footpath along the main road. This leads to a tunnel which crosses the very busy strada statale that divides the Airport terminal from the Orio Centre.
Bergamo is also very central for surrounding areas such us the beautiful italian lakes of Como and Iseo.
I do not intend to go into the details on places to visit inside the
city of Bergamo. There are many beautiful historical places to see, starting from the Gates and walls of Citta’ Alta and the famous buildings inside the walled city and finishing at Beautiful Largo Porta Nuova and the famous Teatro Donizetti. However I feel I should mention that, strangely enough, Bergamo's cemetery has one of the most beautiful entrances I have ever seen, a monument on its own (picture).
As regards where to eat, we never have problems on this when we visit Italy. And Bergamo keeps up with the Italian culinary tradition. However some restaurants may strike the balance of good food combined with good service at a reasonable price. I would recommend the following restaurants in the same order.
- Pizzeria Trattoria Capri (dei Fratelli Nesti & Co), Via Zambonate 25, Bergamo
- Ristorante Pizzeria La Bruschetta, Via G. D’Alzano, Bergamo
Bergamo Hotel
In Bergamo we stayed at the Hotel Jolly Bergamo, Via Plaeopaca 8. (www.jollyhotels.com/en/hotels/italy/bergamo/jolly-hotel-bergamo.html).
This is a good four star hotel, clean, comfortable and above all air conditioned. This is a special requisite in Bergamo because unlike Corvara, temperatures in Bergamo can be very high during the night and may make your night very uncomfortable. On the other hand the room was a bit small.
The breakfast is in general fine, but could be better. Breakfast cannot compare with other four star hotels such as Sheraton and Crown Plaza. We booked the hotel through Venere.com at €170 per night for a triple room including breakfast.
Day 5
Excursion To La Crusc
We took the bus from Corvara direction Brunico and stopped at Pedraces (Badia). From there we walked to the centre to the chair lift of Santa Croce to Rifugio Lee (1840m). From there we walked for about 5 minutes to Lago Lee.On our return to Rifugio Lee we took another chairlift to La Crusc (2045m) where shaded by the peak
of the Sas de la Crusc there is a church and a monastery which provide a beautiful setting in the mountains.We returned back to Corvara from Pedraces by bus.
Leaving Corvara to Bergamo
We decided to use the bus and the train to go to Bergamo. This proved to be quite a task because we first had to take the bus to Brunico, departing from Corvara at 08.46 hours and arrived quite late at Brunico Train Station at 10.10 hours (instead of 09.49 hours).
From the Brunico train station we had to take a train to Fortezza then change to Verona from where we had to proceed to Bergamo after changing again in Rovato. We made it in time. We left Fortezza at 10.14 and arrived at Bergamo at 14.46 hours.
Bergamo
Bergamo is practically divided into two parts. The old city called Citta Alta is located on top of a hill and fortified by nealy 6 km of walls completed in 1588 when Bergamo formed part of the Republic of Venice. Then there is the lower city which started to expand at the end of the thirteenth century and which has become an urban centre and the seat of the local council and the government of the city. The train station and bus terminus are also found at the lower part of the city.
The Citta’ Alta may be reached either by Bus no 1A or Bus no 3 or by means of the funicular service. There is also another funicular that connects the Citta’ Alta with the highest part of the city called San Vigilio. From here one can enjoy a beautiful view of the city with a panorama that reaches as far as the pre-alps outside the city. The price of a single ticket for use on buses and funiculars is €1 and is valid for any trip that starts within a period of 75 minutes. There is also a day ticket (biglietto giornaliero) costing €2.50 which permits holder to use unlimited transport on any one day.Bergamo has its own Airport called Orio al Serio and is just 15 minutes away by bus from the centre. A one way trip to the airport costs €1.75 but there is also a day card that costs €3.50 that allows one return trip to the airport and unlimited travel inside the city centre including funiculars.
The most popular shopping area in the city centre is the part consisting of via 20 settembre, to the left of Viale Roma (facing Citta’ Alta). Another well known shopping place in the region is the Orio Centre which is directly opposite the Airport terminal on the Statale Milano – Trieste. The centre may be reached by Bus 1 Aeroporto which stops at the terminal Bus Stop. From there one has to walk around 50m to take a footpath along the main road. This leads to a tunnel which crosses the very busy strada statale that divides the Airport terminal from the Orio Centre.Bergamo is also very central for surrounding areas such us the beautiful italian lakes of Como and Iseo.
I do not intend to go into the details on places to visit inside the
city of Bergamo. There are many beautiful historical places to see, starting from the Gates and walls of Citta’ Alta and the famous buildings inside the walled city and finishing at Beautiful Largo Porta Nuova and the famous Teatro Donizetti. However I feel I should mention that, strangely enough, Bergamo's cemetery has one of the most beautiful entrances I have ever seen, a monument on its own (picture).
As regards where to eat, we never have problems on this when we visit Italy. And Bergamo keeps up with the Italian culinary tradition. However some restaurants may strike the balance of good food combined with good service at a reasonable price. I would recommend the following restaurants in the same order.- Pizzeria Trattoria Capri (dei Fratelli Nesti & Co), Via Zambonate 25, Bergamo
- Ristorante Pizzeria La Bruschetta, Via G. D’Alzano, Bergamo
Bergamo Hotel
In Bergamo we stayed at the Hotel Jolly Bergamo, Via Plaeopaca 8. (www.jollyhotels.com/en/hotels/italy/bergamo/jolly-hotel-bergamo.html).
This is a good four star hotel, clean, comfortable and above all air conditioned. This is a special requisite in Bergamo because unlike Corvara, temperatures in Bergamo can be very high during the night and may make your night very uncomfortable. On the other hand the room was a bit small.The breakfast is in general fine, but could be better. Breakfast cannot compare with other four star hotels such as Sheraton and Crown Plaza. We booked the hotel through Venere.com at €170 per night for a triple room including breakfast.
The hotel receptionist, a guy who said he used to work for Costa Crociere, was extremely helpful. He explained to me many things about the city, places where we could eat well, gave us a useful City guide, and other information on how to reach the Lago d’Iseo or where to shop around. He also praised the beauty of the Grand Harbour in Malta which he used to enjoy when he visited the island on board cruise liners.
Lago d’Iseo
The Lago d’Iseo, also known as the Sebino, is one of the most beautiful spots in the North of Italy. Unlike the other lakes of Garda, Como and Maggiore, the lago d’Iseo is less visited by tourists and therefore retains better its natural characteristics. The main attraction in the lago, so to speak, is the Monte Isola, which, as the name implies is an island mountain in the middle of the lake, still preserved in its original state and closed for motor vehicles. Monte Isola is also accompanied by another two smaller islands, the Loreto Island to the North and the St Paul’s island to the South.
To visit Lago d’Iseo from Bergamo is quite easy. The best thing is to take Bus that leaves from the main Bus terminus (to the right as you come out of the train station) to the lakeside town of Tavernola. The Bus leaves Bergamo from platform 10 every 20 minutes past the hour (except at 12.35) and then nearly every hour at different times (www.sab-autoservizi.it/). The line is linea E and a one way ticket costs €3 for a trip of 1 hour 10 min.
From Tavernola one may get the ferry boat to Monte Isola. There
are about four stops on Monte Isola and the two most popular stops are Peschiera and Sensole. I suggest it would be better to buy tickets when on board, so that if you need to adjust your timetable and change your direction you would not be left with an any unused prepaid tickets.
Infact we actually stopped at Sarnico which is nearer to Bergamo and boarded the ferry boat from there. We bought return tickets before boarding the ferry with the intention to go back to Sarnico on the ferry that leaves at 14.25 hours. However we then realized that the return trip we intended to board from Monte Isola to Sarnico is only available on a Saturday. It wasn’t a Saturday and that meant we had to wait for the next trip in two hours' time. So we decided to take the ferry to Tavernola and return to Bergamo by bus from there. A return ferry ticket to Sarnico costs €7.05 (tariffa 3) while a return ticket to Tavernola costs €3.05 (tariffa 1) www.navigazionelagoiseo.it/
On Monte Isola we stopped at Peschiera Sud and from there we walked along the shore for around 30 minutes. There are beautiful views of the lake and the islands. Many visitors were sunbathing or else swimming in the waters of the lake. We stopped our walk for lunch at Trattoria del Sole, via Sensole 17.
Returning to Malta
Bergamo is very close to Milan and Milano Centrale can be easily reached by train in less than an hour. From Milano Centrale, we boarded Malpensa Bus to the Airport. Our Air Malta flight was due to leave Malpensa at 16.40 hours but this was delayed first to 17.05 and later to 17.35 hours for unknown reasons.
But still worse, our flight could have possibly been preparing for an emergency landing after about 15 minutes in the air as we heard the undercarriage wheels being lowered again. The captain later announced that all was back to normal and we landed safely in Malta around 19.30 hours.
Lago d’Iseo
The Lago d’Iseo, also known as the Sebino, is one of the most beautiful spots in the North of Italy. Unlike the other lakes of Garda, Como and Maggiore, the lago d’Iseo is less visited by tourists and therefore retains better its natural characteristics. The main attraction in the lago, so to speak, is the Monte Isola, which, as the name implies is an island mountain in the middle of the lake, still preserved in its original state and closed for motor vehicles. Monte Isola is also accompanied by another two smaller islands, the Loreto Island to the North and the St Paul’s island to the South.
To visit Lago d’Iseo from Bergamo is quite easy. The best thing is to take Bus that leaves from the main Bus terminus (to the right as you come out of the train station) to the lakeside town of Tavernola. The Bus leaves Bergamo from platform 10 every 20 minutes past the hour (except at 12.35) and then nearly every hour at different times (www.sab-autoservizi.it/). The line is linea E and a one way ticket costs €3 for a trip of 1 hour 10 min.
From Tavernola one may get the ferry boat to Monte Isola. There
are about four stops on Monte Isola and the two most popular stops are Peschiera and Sensole. I suggest it would be better to buy tickets when on board, so that if you need to adjust your timetable and change your direction you would not be left with an any unused prepaid tickets.
Infact we actually stopped at Sarnico which is nearer to Bergamo and boarded the ferry boat from there. We bought return tickets before boarding the ferry with the intention to go back to Sarnico on the ferry that leaves at 14.25 hours. However we then realized that the return trip we intended to board from Monte Isola to Sarnico is only available on a Saturday. It wasn’t a Saturday and that meant we had to wait for the next trip in two hours' time. So we decided to take the ferry to Tavernola and return to Bergamo by bus from there. A return ferry ticket to Sarnico costs €7.05 (tariffa 3) while a return ticket to Tavernola costs €3.05 (tariffa 1) www.navigazionelagoiseo.it/On Monte Isola we stopped at Peschiera Sud and from there we walked along the shore for around 30 minutes. There are beautiful views of the lake and the islands. Many visitors were sunbathing or else swimming in the waters of the lake. We stopped our walk for lunch at Trattoria del Sole, via Sensole 17.
Returning to Malta
Bergamo is very close to Milan and Milano Centrale can be easily reached by train in less than an hour. From Milano Centrale, we boarded Malpensa Bus to the Airport. Our Air Malta flight was due to leave Malpensa at 16.40 hours but this was delayed first to 17.05 and later to 17.35 hours for unknown reasons.
But still worse, our flight could have possibly been preparing for an emergency landing after about 15 minutes in the air as we heard the undercarriage wheels being lowered again. The captain later announced that all was back to normal and we landed safely in Malta around 19.30 hours.
(Click on each of the above pictures to see a larger image - all pictures in this blog are self produced)
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1 comment:
Very good......
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