Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

Trento’s main bus and train stations are almost next door to apiece other at Piazza Dante and Via Pozzo. A secondary, combined station - Trento-Malé , run by a private company - is on Via Dogana, just beyond the train station, with trains up to Cles in the Val di Non, Malé in the Vale di Sole (the line is being extended further north to Fucine, due for completion around 2002) and buses to vocalist di Campiglio and Molveno. Tickets and information on Trento-Malé connections can be had from the office at the station (tel 0461.238.350, www.fertm.it ). The tourist office at Via Alfieri 4, crossways the park from the main train station (Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 9am-1pm; tel 0461.983.880), has information specifically on Trento, including copies of Trentino Mese , the monthly guide to life in the town. The regional information centre is at Via Romagnosi 11 (Mon-Fri 9am-12.30pm & 2.30-5pm; tel 0461.839.000) and has details on mountain refuges, transport, hiking and skiing possibilities, and agriturismo in the province. Ask too for their free Guida ai Trasporti nel Trentino , which details all the bus and train schedules in the province.

For accommodation close to the central Piazza Duomo, there are three inexpensive places: Al Cavallino Bianco , Via Cavour 29 (tel 0461.231.542; L60,000-90,000/¬30.99-46.48) is mildly shabby, but the cheapest are: the Venezia , Piazza Duomo 45 (tel 0461.234.559, fax 0461.234.114; L60,000-90,000/¬30.99-46.48), which is plain but comfortable, with a few rooms overlooking the piazza and others in a thirteenth-century tower, and the rather more luxurious Aquila d’Oro , next door, at Via Belenzani 76 (tel & fax 0461.986.282; L120,000-150,000/¬61.98-77.47). Close to the main station, the smart Hotel America , at Via Torre Verde 50 (tel 0461.983.010, fax 0461.230.603; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98), is the only other inexpensive hotel anywhere near the centre. In Cagnola, in the hills overlooking Trento to the east, the Villa Madruzzo , Via Ponto Alto 26 (tel 0461.986.220, fax 0461.986.361; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98), is good value and also serves regional cuisine; take bus #9 (L1500/¬0.77), a twenty-minute journey. For those on a budget there’s the friendly youth hostel , Giovane Europa , at Via Manzoni 17 (tel & fax 0461.234.567; L22,000/¬11.36 including breakfast), which has a midnight curfew. The nearest campsite is a stiff hike away at the end of a cable-car ride, on Monte Bondone, which overlooks town from crossways the river .

Tags: alfieri, buses, dogana, fri, madonna di campiglio, main train station, molveno, piazza dante, pozzo, private company, regional information centre, sun 9am, tourist office, train stations, trains, trentino mese, Trento, vale di sole