Bergamo Travel Forum

My husband and I are going to Bergamo in April 2008 and would love to do some walking in the area, or if possible take public transport to some of the lakes. We are trying to avoid hiring a car if possible.

The question I have is does anyone know where we should look for accomodation, any particular hotel? We would need to be able to get from the airport to the hotel easy enough, as well as be able to get out and about to see some of the scenery we keep hearing about! We're not bothered about nightlife as such as long as there is somewhere where we can eat at night and grab a couple of beers.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Hello,
The airport is served by a bus to the city railway station. Tickets are purchased in advance in the airport terminal.

The tourist office has a website:
http://www.apt.bergamo.it/L_inglese/guide_inglese.html

I can recommend the St.Marco and the Arli.

I know very good website - write there where you are looking the hotel for and you will see free hotels and description. There are also pinions another quests. And what is very important - the prices are lower than in hotel and the payment is only in hotel

I give you the website: www.eurohotel-booking.co.uk

Good Morning Samantha, and welcome to VT.

Well, Bergamo is perfect for exploring the area, whether it be Lake Como, Lake Garda, Verona and even Venice can be done in a day, but please remember that Bergamo itself is beautiful, especially Citta Alta.

To start with you need a hotel and when I have stayed in Bergamo I have used Hotel Piemontese as it close to the bus station and directly accross from the train station. I would not describe it as a touristy hotel more suited to buisness types, but it is clean and provides a reasonable breakfast.
I read the reviews and booked this and many other hotels through

www.venere.com

All you train enquiries can be made at

www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

Example 1. Varenna on Lake Como is 1hr 15mins with 1 change at Lecco at a cost of approx €10 return. From Varenna you can take the 20 min ferry ride to Bellagio if you wish, although I personally prefer Varenna itself.

Example 2. Desensano on Lake Garda is between 1hr 20min and 1hr 45mins with a change at Brescia costing approx €22 return.

Example 3. Verona (Porta Nuova) is approx 2 hours with 1 change at a cost of €25 return.

Example 4. Venice is approx 3hrs awy with 1 change and will cost between €25 and €40 return dependind on what type of train you board. for instance if you want save money avoid the Eurostar(ES) trains.

The vest way to get afeel for the railways is play about with the trenitalia site and remember thta it is not nessecary to book your tickets in advance and that the staff at your hotel will be able to advise on travel.

If you have any further questions my fellow VTers and I will do our best to help you.

Regards,

Billy

Thank you all for your help, you've given me a few things to think about. I'll have a look at the website's you've given me and will probably be back with a few more questions if thats ok?
Thanks
Sam

Hi Billy
Unfortunately Hotel Piemontese is fully booked and Venere is only offering the bigger hotel chains which are pretty expensive. I've googled, however the cheaper options are on the outskirts of Bergamo, while we dont mind walking into the centre/Old Town, we dont want to be too far out of the way that we need to take taxi's all the time.
I dont suppose you know of any B&B's in the area?? As we're not landing until 10.40pm we dont want to be travelling too far at this time of night.
Any further help you can give me with this would be great!!
Thanks
Sam

Hi Sam, I am afraid I don't know any B&B's in Bergamo. However, friends have stayed in a small hotel in the historic part of the city called Citta Alta.
The hotel is called La Valletta and only has 8 rooms but my pals raved about it.

http://www.lavallettabergamo.it/

Buona Fortuna,

BIlly

Great thanks, i'll try there!

S

I suggest that you stay in "Citta Alta", which is the upper town of Bergamo. It has the old houses made of large cubical rocks. It has two or three piazzas, and most ways are allyes. Cars can not go there except with special permission for Taxis and for those who live there. It is still filled by residents.

In this fresh air area, you can take the dinner in the restaurants there. I stayed there in "San Lorenzo Hotel". Its rate is around 115 Euro per night. You can find some serviced apartments at much lower rate (60 or 70 Euro per night).

I strongly recommend to stay in that area (350m above the sea). Then, you can go by bus to the lower town. The bus runs every 10 or 20 minutes. Its destination is at the railway station. From the railway station you can go to Venice (3 hours) or to Milan (1 hour).

When you arrive at the Bergamo airport, there is a shuttle bus that takes you (with your luggage :-) to the railway station. Then, you take the bus to the upper town CITTA ALTA. Do you like to browse some pictures of that area? I can send you some links.

That would be great thanks and i'll have a look at the Hotel that you stayed in. I'm having a real problem trying to get somewhere to stay at the moment. the hotel that Billy mentioned can only accommodate us for the first two nights, we would have to make alternate arrangements for the last one. Prefably we would prefer to stay in the same place for the three nights.
Any help is really appreciated.
Sam

Try the Mercure / Accor Hotelin the former Palazzo Dolci
http://www.mercure.com/mercure/fichehotel/gb/mer/3653/fiche_hotel.shtml
I have reviewed it on my Bergamo pages from our stay 2-3 months ago. A taxi from the airport was 15 Euro and about 15 minutes, 3 minutes from the train station, 15-20 minutes leisurely walk to the funicular for the old town. Comfortable bright bar, reasonable prices too (like yourselves, a few drinks rather than a 6am session fits the bill)! We will be back at Bergamo and we will undoubtedly stay here again