B&B Sotto l'Alben

All three rooms have a double bed or, alternatively, two singles, and a sofa bed for a third person; in one the sofa bed also takes a fourth guest. Each has a large private bathroom with a big shower, hairdryer, linen, toiletries, satellite TV, kettle and water in the room.

The website publishes a price list for a double room with breakfast, split between low and high season, which here covers July, August, long weekends and the Christmas and Easter holidays, with supplements for single use and for a third and fourth bed. For the extra bed guests aged 13 and over count as adults; children up to 2 sleeping with their parents stay free.

Breakfast is a buffet from 8 to 9.30 am, in the room with the panoramic bay window: home-made cakes and jams, croissants, fruit salad, natural yoghurt, alpine-pasture butter, local cheese and cured meats, cereals, bread and Val Serina honey. The property's page on VisitBergamo adds that hot drinks, from coffee to cappuccino, are served at the table.

In fine weather you can order a basket to have breakfast outdoors, on the meadows around the house or under the gazebo. On request the house prepares packed lunches and, between 5 and 8 pm, an aperitif dinner with local produce.

The wellness terrace, opened in 2024, has a barrel sauna and a hot tub, a wooden tub with whirlpool and coloured lights, both heated by wood. It is used only privately and by booking, for two hours, in slots starting at 4, 6 and 8 pm, subject to availability; it is paid separately, with a price per couple and for groups of up to four adults.

Parking is private, inside the property, wi-fi is free throughout the house and cards are accepted: the VisitBergamo page lists debit cards, Visa and Mastercard. The garden has outdoor furniture and a gazebo.

Small dogs are allowed, with a one-off supplement for the final cleaning rather than a nightly charge: they must be well behaved and used to being indoors, and cannot be left alone in the room during the day. For children the VisitBergamo page mentions a cot in the room, a high chair in the breakfast room and a baby carrier backpack to use on walks.

Rooms are ready from 3 pm on the day of arrival and must be vacated by 10.30 am; the VisitBergamo page gives check-in until 9 pm and check-out at 10 am, but the conditions on the website are the ones that apply. The house is family-run and has no reception open all day: let the owners know your arrival time in advance, by phone or email.

Smoking is not allowed indoors, the kitchen is not available to guests except for special needs agreed in advance, and visitors who are not staying are not allowed. Rooms are made up every day between 10 am and noon. When booking you pay a 50 per cent deposit by bank transfer or Satispay: it is not refundable, but if you cancel up to 14 days before arrival it can be used for another stay in the same season.

The website gives about an hour from Bergamo and an hour and a half from Milan. Without a car you can arrive on Bergamo Trasporti bus line B, with a compulsory change at Zogno and services Monday to Saturday: the piazza Tiraboschi stop is about 370 metres away as the crow flies. Closer by are the via Roma playground, about 190 metres away, the Banco BPM branch 270 and the A&M Market 300; the pharmacy is about 370 metres away.

Pian della Palla, one of the two access points to the Alben cross-country ski trail, is about 890 metres away as the crow flies: according to the B&B's blog you drive there from Oltre il Colle along via Drago, about 3 kilometres, and there is plenty of parking. Among the trips the website recommends are the Capanna 2000 and the Sentiero dei Fiori on the Arera, the mines, the Ponte nel Sole bridge, the caving park and the Becco viewing platform in Dossena, the Big Bench in Serina and the village of Cornello dei Tasso. Guests get 10 per cent off the Ponte nel Sole and QC Terme San Pellegrino.