Bergamo

[MinnieMountain]

Has anyone been?

DH and I want to go to a pretty town in Italy to enjoy the food and wine. It seems a good choice to me as it’s big enough to have churches etc to look at in between eating.

So is it a good idea for a lazy, foodie weekend or do people have better recommendations?

We won’t have a car wherever we go.

It’s beautiful! Very walkable and picturesque. I highly recommend. Went there about 20 years ago but I don’t expect the old centre has changed much.

It's on my list too. I have a friend from Milan who recommended it to me. Very pretty and walkable and lots of great places to eat and drink. She did say that one day would be plenty though. It's very close to Milan and you can get there by train if you fancied a bit more exploring

I’ve never been, but my dad has been for work pretty regularly and absolutely loves it- so much so that he would choose it over Milan!

I can't advise on Bergamo but will put a word in for Bologna. Brilliant for food & well located for day trips ( if you can be bothered).

Friend of mine went earlier this year and she was very impressed with it. I’ve seen a lot of her pictures and it does look a lovely place. I think you can reach Lake Iseo by public transport in an hour or so if you want a trip out.

There are two distinct sections, the charming old town and the newer bit.

Think it would be lovely: have only see it from the airport (!) but looks beautiful. Easy to get to from the airport, and if you want to have a day in Milan you can do that easy peasy on the bus -- why not? Think it would be great.

It’s beautiful, lovely to spend time in, an easy train ride to other places too. I’d love to go back!

Yes, it's very nice. Easy to get to (obviously fly to Bergamo itself if at all possible), easy to get around, pretty, lots of nice eateries. A bit crowded. Three days is probably enough (unless you're also going to go into Milan), or four if you want to take it slow.

I had a very good meal at Vineria Cozi.

Thank you for the positive comments everyone. It looks like a winner. Although I’ll have to check out Bologna now too…

Just to add, I went there for work and was blown away by how beautiful it was.

I'd love to go back for a romantic weekend or a nice trip with friends and enjoy exploring the old town and the lovely wine bars and eateries.

Can you let you know after next Sunday, we’re staying by Lake Iseo for 10 days and going to Bergamo, amongst other places 😁

Make sure you go to Bergamo Alta not just Bergamo, the alta (high) part is stunning. A day is long enough up there as it's not huge.

We stayed 2 nights last year as part of holiday to Italian lakes. It was fab, old part is very picturesque with lots of great restaurants. It's quite small so a day or two is plenty of time there. Public transport is great and you can do day trips by train very reasonably. Verona or Bologna both are fab and around 2 hours on the train from bergamo. I would probably combine two cities if I went again.

Bologna and Verona are lovely. Wouldn’t bother with Milan. Cathedral is stunning but I found the rest to be very meh, although we visited twice as day trips in August and so much was closed.

The medieval Bergamo Alta is lovely, we went on a guided walk led by a local historian which made the beautiful town come alive. The restaurants were great, rabbit and tomato stew served with polenta was especially memorable, also a couple of bakeries for sweet treats were fab.
The modern Bergamo is a busy bustling town, plenty of restaurants & bars, you certainly won't go hungry!
I also really like Verona and Lucca, with wonderful restaurants in both.

Yes definitely do it if you can! It's gorgeous.

We were very pleasantly surprised staying there for a night en route to the lakes - it was really lovely!