Northern Italy Bliss – Spectacular Lakes and Mountain Scenery
Zurich is a gorgeous and wonderfully scenic city, but still relatively quiet and local in the summer. We spent one day wandering through the old town areas, swimming at the local river/lakeside baths (that turn into bars at night!) and travelling on the various forms of water transport…from river ferries to all day paddle steamer trips on beautiful Lake Zurich.
Our next highlight was catching The Bernina Express from Zurich, Switzerland to Tirano, Italy – through some of the most incredibly beautiful Swiss alps and lakes via St Moritz. Although it was a 6-7 hour trip, it was so amazingly scenic, that even the kids did not get bored.
At Lake Como, we stayed in central Varenna (a small, beautiful but quaint village) right on the lake. There were several flat, well marked walking trails to nearby towns and natural attractions (L’Orrido di Bellano, a deep gorge was one of the highlights), suitable for the whole family. One day we visited the castle overlooking the town, and on another we spent the day on the lake ferry – getting on and off and exploring Menaggio and Bellagio, which were equally as gorgeous as Varenna. All the restaurants and bars are family friendly and serve high quality but inexpensive food.
We then travelled by train on to Stresa, Lake Maggiore, where we did some more of the same types of activities (hiking, lake trips to the islands and nearby towns) but we then stayed one of the small islands for two nights – Isola Pescatori! The restaurants specialise in seafood and fish, so we had two amazing meals on this tiny (20 minutes to walk the entire island), but gorgeous island.
Another train trip, took us to Bergamo, where I highly recommend staying in Bergamo Alta, the historic walled old town, perched on top of a hill with 360 degrees of magnificent views. There are some lovely parks surrounding the cobbled, narrow streets and in the summer temporary family-friendly beer gardens and bars are set up, serving drinks and food from local restaurants. There are churches, museums, towers and two funiculars that link parts of Bergamo, which the kids enjoyed.
Our next stop was to stunning Verona, which has something to appeal to everyone – incredibly beautiful scenery, bridges, piazzas, old castles and duomos, children’s parks, and a tourist train. We visited the infamous Juliet balcony and saw a Shakespearean play (in Italian) in the old town one evening. I would have loved to see some opera at the infamous Arena, a Roman Coliseum-like structure, but we will be back!
On the last leg of the trip, we travelled north to Bolzano, the major base from which to explore the Dolomites from – it is also home to Otzi, the famous 5000 year old iceman, who was discovered close to here. From Bolzano, we caught a cable car another 1000+ metres up to Soprabolzano, where we based ourselves for a week. There were many outdoor activities to undertake – hundreds of hiking trails through the forests, mountains and meadows for all abilities, narrow gauge trains to tiny towns, more cable cars to remote peaks, horse riding and llama farms. One day, we attended a local festival, which had a Munich beer festival style - the whole area has more of an Austrian/German atmosphere, rather than Italian. All the menus and signs are in both German and Italian, with only some of the major hotel’s menus and the tourist information, being translated into English.
We then caught a direct train back to Bologna (3.5 hours) and flew back to Dubai.
This was a trip that would appeal to adventurous families and couples who want to experience some of the not-so-touristy side of Italy, with a focus on outdoor activities. June or July is a perfect time to travel, as it is not quite peak season (accommodation prices are reasonable), but the weather is perfect.