Where to stay in Bergamo
Bergamo splits between a walled hilltop and a lower town on the plain. The upper town keeps cars out, the lower town has the garages and the airport bus, and the choice of base follows from that.
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How the areas differ
Città Alta is the walled upper town: Piazza Vecchia and the Venetian walls, linked to the lower town by a funicular. Its streets are steep and its evenings quiet. San Vigilio, above it, is a green hill of villas that a second funicular reaches from the upper town.
The lower town, Città Bassa, runs from the Sentierone and Piazza Matteotti to the station, with the shops of Via XX Settembre. It is the practical base for trains and the airport bus. Borgo Santa Caterina, east of the centre, is an old street of local shops and houses, quieter and more residential.
Orio al Serio, the comune around Milan Bergamo airport, suits a night before or after a flight. The lower-town centre is about 7 km from the airport by road and Città Alta about 9 km.
Staying with a rental car
The walled centre of Città Alta is a permanent limited traffic zone watched by cameras. Around it, the Città Alta e Colli zone closes on Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 24:00 and, while summer time lasts, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 21:00 to 01:00, under the rules in force since 21 June 2026. During those hours a visitor may drive in only to use the car parks at Porta Sant'Alessandro, Via Tre Armi or Via della Fara, and only through the gate on Viale Vittorio Emanuele II at the Conca d'Oro roundabout. The car park's cameras read the plate and add it to the gates' whitelist.
Parking Fara, the 465-space garage on Via della Fara, is open round the clock with a 2.15 m height limit and charges EUR 3.30 an hour, EUR 30 for 24 hours or EUR 99 for a week. The car must reach it within 30 minutes of passing the gate. For a hotel inside the walls, ATB's page offers temporary permits only to people who live inside the historic centre, so ask the hotel before driving up.
In the lower town, Via XX Settembre, the Teatro Donizetti side of Piazza Matteotti, Via Tasso, Via Pignolo and Piazzale Marconi in front of the station are permanent camera zones. ATB's garages are the answer there: San Marco on Via Zelasco at EUR 2.50 an hour, and the Ex Gasometro by the station at EUR 1.50 an hour by day, with a EUR 10 daily maximum. The Fiera interchange car park is free, with 300 spaces on bus line 1. Pay blue bays at the meters or in the apps ATB lists; it warns that other QR codes stuck on meters are not valid.
GetCar's guide Driving in Bergamo: Orio al Serio Airport, the A4 and the Valley Roads, the Città Alta ZTL and Its Three Car Parks, the Lower Town Garages, the Funiculars and the Buses covers the roads, the tolls and the valleys.
What the tourist tax and registration rules mean for a guest
Bergamo charges non-residents 7 percent of the price of each night, breakfast included and VAT and extra services excluded, capped at EUR 5 per person per night, in hotels, B&Bs and short-let flats alike. The tax applies to at most five consecutive nights. Minors pay nothing, and neither do people with a certified disability and a companion, or guests in youth hostels. On a EUR 150 room shared by three guests, the city's own example comes to EUR 3.50 each.
Orio al Serio, around the airport, is a separate comune that runs its own imposta di soggiorno, so the Bergamo rules do not apply to hotels there.
Every licensed stay in Italy, hotel or short-let flat, carries the national CIN outside the building and in every listing, and Lombardy assigns its own regional code, the CIR. At check-in each guest shows an ID card or passport, which the host registers with the police within 24 hours. A 2024 Interior Ministry circular, upheld by the Council of State in November 2025, requires the host to verify each guest in person or by a video link at the door.
When to book what
With a car, the hill zone's hours set the arrival plan. On a Sunday or holiday after 10:00, or on a summer-time Thursday to Saturday evening after 21:00, drive straight to one of the three car parks through the Viale Vittorio Emanuele II gate. The walled centre stays closed at every hour.
For a week or more, the tax cap counts: Bergamo charges it for five consecutive nights at most, so a long stay in one place pays no more tax than a five-night one. For an early flight, a night in the lower town or at Orio al Serio puts the terminal about 7 km or about 1 km away, and the Airport Bus runs every 20 minutes.
Which area for which trip
Old streets and quiet evenings: Città Alta.
Trains, the airport bus and shops: Città Bassa.
A neighbourhood base for a longer stay: Borgo Santa Caterina.
Space and views above the city: San Vigilio and the Colli.
A night before a flight: Orio al Serio.
Questions
Can hotel guests drive into Città Alta?
The walled centre is a permanent camera zone, and ATB's page offers temporary permits only to people who live inside it. Ask the hotel before driving up; otherwise use Parking Fara, EUR 30 for 24 hours.
When is the Città Alta e Colli zone closed?
On Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 24:00 and, in summer time, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 21:00 to 01:00, under the rules in force since 21 June 2026.
Is the Bergamo tourist tax charged every night?
For at most five consecutive nights, at 7 percent of the night's price and no more than EUR 5 per person per night. Minors pay nothing.
Where is free parking in Bergamo?
At ATB's interchange car parks: 300 spaces by the Fiera on bus line 1, and ex Bonini on Via San Bernardino on line 6. They are not guarded.
Does the Bergamo tax apply at airport hotels?
Hotels in Orio al Serio, the comune around the airport, charge that comune's own imposta di soggiorno, not Bergamo's. Ask the hotel for the rate.