Second Location Near the Dolomites

We are about your age (70’s), avid hikers, and love traveling in Switzerland and Italy in September. Here are a few of my suggestions:

Malcescine on Lago di Garda, with Monte Baldo rising behind it and offering great hiking (accessible by cable car). We arrived there last September by ferry from a town on Garda served by train, or you can take a bus or private transfer from a train station south of Bolzano, such as Rovereto or Verona.

https://www.visitmalcesine.com/en

Bettmeralp in the Valais, a car-free village perched high above the Rhône Valley. Hiking (or riding a cablecar) to the top of the ridge behind the village will give you splendid views of the Aletsch glacier, Europe’s largest. There are numerous hikes you can take and easily fill 3-4 days.

https://www.aletscharena.ch/en/aletsch-arena/places/bettmeralp (Scroll down for summer photos).

We combined those two last September, with an intermediate stop in Locarno in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, for a lovely 12 days of hiking and enjoying lakeside scenery. Bettmeralp is my favorite place to hike in Switzerland and I never tire of looking at that glacier.

We enjoyed Slovenia and the Julian Alps, but not as much as the above areas, and it would not be easy without a car. We went with a hiking tour (REI Adventures).

I have some other suggestions in mind but will have to go and look up some information. I will be back.

Lola, These are great suggestions, and I will look into them. I really want to see Slovenia but was concerned about the lack of train service, so thanks for confirming that. I think I will look into a tour some other year.

Bettmeralp sounds ideal for next year. Lake Garda could be a good place to go before we head to Ortisei. I still don’t know how early we can leave; I’m waiting for the school schedule to come out because we babysit our granddaughters the week before school starts. We should have at least a few days and possibly ten before we go to the Dolomites. I’m thinking we could slot in Locarno either before or after Ortisei.

Thanks so much for your ideas. You are always so helpful. (Regarding my April trip to England and Wales, which you also helped me with — I am booked for four days with HF Holidays in Church Stretton. Can’t wait!)

We included Locarno because we flew into and out from Zurich, and took the scenic Treno Gottardo over the Alps to reach it. With two nights there, we had a full day to take the Postbus from the train station stop into Val Verzasca to spend the day hiking from the famed Ponte di Salti up to the stone village of Sonogno, about 8 miles on a path along the river. This was a highlight and not nearly as busy/crowded as I expected from reports of the bridge’s Instagram fame. In late September the river was low in places but still aqua-blue, crystal clear, and beautiful.

https://www.ascona-locarno.com/en/explore/valle-verzasca

Locarno itself is, well, a city, and not particularly worth visiting in its own right if it is not on your route, apart from the Valle Verzasca. But the lakeside hotels make a nice relaxing place to spend 2 nights, and there are nice nearby Italian restaurants, as well as a pedestrian path along the lake for 2+ miles. My husband fell in love with Locarno because, in his words, it offers the best of two worlds—-Swiss cleanliness and organization, and Italian cuisine and language. Also, since it is on Lago Maggiore, one can take a ferry from there to the towns along the lake, including in Italy.

In the same trip, we spent a week hiking around Lago Maggiore with HF Holidays, and the day we spent hiking above Cannobio, then ending in town, was the best. Most of the other hiking was too easy for us, and not as scenic as we expected, so I would not recommend that HF Holidays trip for you.

But one I would recommend is their new Brenta Dolomites trip, which is offered in early September. That might be a better fit than Malcescine if you have the time. I had a trip to the Brenta Dolomites planned with my sister and her family 20 years ago, but had to cancel due to health reasons. I have been trying to get there ever since, but like you we don’t rent cars so needed a guided hiking trip. We will be going there next July with the company we used for hiking Val Gardena, Tre Cime, etc. 2 years ago. (Mountain Hiking Holidays). But had I know HFH was going to offer a trip there I would have chosen that.

https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/holidays-and-tours/discover-italys-brenta-dolomites?format=pdf&vid=3628

They also offer 2 different hiking tours around Lago di Garda, but we are perfectly happy doing that independently. On our way to Malcescine we spent 2 nights in Salò to break up the ferry journey from Desenzano (coming by train from Locarno). This is a lovely, untouristy town on the west side of the lake, south from Malcescine; appreciated by my Italophile husband as the “last stand” place for Mussolini—-he set up a government there late in the war. In addition to viewing his former headquarters (just a walk past), we walked to the next village of Gardone di Riviera to visit the very interesting Heller Gardens, full of quirky art and beautiful plantings.

https://www.thecollector.com/italian-social-republic-salo/

https://hellergarden.com/

Thanks again, Lola. I’m going to look into all these places.

In the limited research I have done so far, I looked at HFH’s Brent’s Dolomites tour. The September dates don’t work for us. Also, it looked to me like you had to fly round trip from London, which we don’t want to do. Can you book HFH tours without the flights from London?

In addition to Lola's very thorough and excellent recommendations, you might look at Pontresina in the Upper Engadine region of Switzerland. We have spent two weeks there happily doing fairly easy hikes and there are some more demanding ones as well. It might be getting a bit chilly by the end of September, but we are going to be in nearby Sameden starting Sept 15 for 2 weeks as we haven't explored that particular area as much as we'd like to.

Another thought is Merano in Italy, west of Bolzano. It is a lower elevation and very pleasant in later September. At least in our experience it was not hot, definitely not cold, just very nice temps. Good walking, no car needed, incredible garden at Castle Trautmansdorff, good dining options, not terribly touristed.

Thank you, Laurel. I will look into your ideas as they sound excellent. I have your book on the Dolomites and can’t wait to go back. We were last there about seven or eight years ago before I was aware of your book.

Yes, you can book the HFH holidays in Europe without the flights from and back to London. That is what we did for the Lago Maggiore week last September. We did our own flights (adding on 2 weeks ahead for Bettmeralp and Lago di Garda) and just met the group at the Milan airport arrival point. WE cold have just gone straight to the hotel and met them there, but the transport was much easier to MXP—-we just took the Malpensa Espress from Milan.

Look on the main page at the line “Overview===Itinerary===Accommodation—-etc. —-Dates, Prices and Trip Notes”. And click on that last item. The next page will offer you a choice between “Prices with flights from UK”. And “Land Only”. Click on that and it will show the corrected price, and that should carry through if you hit the “book” from that page.

Maybe this will show it:

https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/holidays-and-tours/discover-italys-brenta-dolomites

Carroll,
I don't know much about the Dolomites, but if you want to head west, toward the Italian Alps, we once stayed in Aosta and found it charming. Small, in beautiful Alpine foothills, and looks like it has some nice hiking. We got there by car, so I don't know about your getting there, but it really registered with me as a place of comfort and charm.

Thats’s good to know about, HFH, Lola. Thanks so much.

Judy, I will definitely look into that area. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hi Carroll,

This are may be on interest to you. The Vinschgau/Val Venosta in the Sud Tirol. This valley has gorgeous alpine scenery, loaded with beautiful castle and castle ruins and the medieval walled old town of Glurns/Glorenza. It starts just west of Meran/Merano and runs to the Swiss border to the west.

https://www.vinschgau.net/en/culture-art/architecture-art/castles-mansions.html

https://www.vinschgau.net/en/culture-art/architecture-art/curches-monasteries.html

https://www.vinschgau.net/en/mountain-holidays/hiking-mountain-tours/hiking.html

https://www.vinschgau.net/en/service-info/location-directions/by-train.html

https://www.meranerland.org/en/service/local-public-transport/val-venosta-train/

Thanks, Paul. I will definitely check it out.

I'd really think hard about Slovenia - its a gem. I spent part of my life in Switzerland and have good friends that live in a small town in the Dolomites, so I know both areas well. We spent some time in Slovenia last summer and frankly it blew me away. Amazing scenery, great food, cheap and relatively uncrowded. I'm going back!

Thanks for your endorsement of Slovenia, Marcus. I do very much want to go there. The question is whether I do it on this trip or hope for another opportunity. I have been busy with Christmas things/events and haven’t had time to do any trip planning the last few days, but I plan to get back to it soon. My problem now is what to eliminate among the excellent suggestions I have received. I will take one last look at Slovenia to figure out what I can do there without a rental car.