Note: this is only during truffle season, so for 2017, it was September 22 to November 11…read more
Definitely book this ahead of time. You can book online or in person at the tourist information center. Tickets are €22 a person - if you pay in person, it's cash only. When we checked online, they were sold out, but they still had a few tickets in person the day before our tour. It's a max of 15 people, so reserve early.
You meet in front of the cathedral and get some history on the town of Alba, the name, and the areas.
Parts of the walking tour:
- Cathedral: you briefly tour the cathedral , and our guide pointed out some interesting historical features and gave us some background information.
- Wine: we went to a local wine bar and had an Arneis and a Nebbiolo. Our guide happened to complete year 1 of sommelier training, so he was able to tell us all about the regions and explain the different soils and flavor profiles.
- Truffles: there was a small shop where you could smell truffles and sample various truffle products including truffle salami, some spreads, and cheese with truffles, as well as some wine and hazelnuts (no pressure to buy anything)
- Grappa: we finished off in the last shop with hazelnuts, chocolate hazelnut spread (more than double the hazelnut content compared to nutella), and we sampled two types of grappa (moscato and Barolo). It was my first time trying grappa, and that stuff is pretty strong...
Overall, it was a great tour to learn more and sample a little of everything. Our guide spoke really good English, as well as Italian, and he did everything in both languages on our tour. He was super knowledgeable and was a great host.
In total, it took about 2 hours. I think it's definitely worth checking out if you're in town the right time of year.