Where to next? We love the mountains!

The Val Gardena in Italy will suit you. We have a hard time picking our favorite between Lauterbrunnen and Ortisei, but I have to say prices and food quality tip to Italy’s favor. The transportation is fabulous with buses (free pass from your lodging) and lifts well coordinated. Lots of hiking from very easy to extremely challenging,

If you use the search function above and type in ‘Ortisei’ or ‘Val Gardena’ you’ll see a lot of advice has been offered here in the Forum.

Ditto to what Lsurel said. The Dolomites are fantastic!

While I loved time in the Dolomites, we continue to return to the Lauterbrunnen area, and despite the costs.

Innsbruck, Alpbach, Lienz,
Seefeld , and Leutasch are Tirol villages in the Apustrian Alps similar to the Berner Oberland mountain towns. These villages fit what you are looking for. The Austrian Alps have paranomic views and excellent hiking trails. It is truly a place to experience.

https://www.tyrol.com/things-to-do/sports/hiking

Have you considered Andorra and the Pyrenees? Or, closer to home, the East side of the High Sierras?

Does it have to be in Europe?

The Canadian Rockies are incredible.....Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper.

Loved the Alps (Swiss, French, Italian, etc.) and the Dolomites. An under appreciated and less expensive option are the Picos de Europa in Spain. I stayed at the Parador de Fuente Dé. Just driving there on the N-621 and CA-185 was jaw dropping - the roadway goes through the gorge honed away for millennia by the river. Wonderful interpretive Museum the Centro de Interpretacion de Los Picos de Europa on the route in that explains the history of the area. A cableway across from the parador speeds you to the top of the the mountain. The area has numerous attractions. It’s also easy to get to the Basque cities of Bilbao and San Sebastián.

High Tatras of Slovakia.

Austria and Switzerland have no doubt the best Alps.

The Dolomites are fantastic (as others have mentioned, Val Gardena is a great base) and Austria's Tirol offers stunning scenery at great prices.

I spent a week in the Wilder Kaiser region of the Tirol last autumn and it was amazing. The views were stunning and the transit system is well-designed for hikers, connecting each of the valley towns and stopping at major trailheads and cable car lifts. A transit pass is given to all guests staying at hotels/pensions/etc in the region so it's free to get around by bus (a lift pass is extra but the guest card gives you a discount). I'm not sure how old your son and other travel companions are but Wilder Kaiser is designed as a family destination so there are lots of fantastic play areas scattered among the hills.

Albanian Alps

I’ve always felt that going from North America to Europe to see mountains is misguided, even foolish. Like going to Paris to eat at McDonald’s.

Tom my good man, It's not the destination that matters but the journey in itself.

There’s culture in those mountains and it’s very different from any found in the North American mountains. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion.

And in my opinion, it’s the destination; sometimes the physical journey can be a pain in the neck, although we have all sorts of journeys as we travel through this life.

What's wrong with the McDonald's in Paris? Seriously man, now you got me worried ... ?

It's the McDonalds in USA that are the problem; lousy fries and no beer.

But seriously, the mountains (and forests) in Europe are like gardens compared to the wilderness of the Sierras and Rockies.

I was surprised to read on a past blog (???), somewhere anyway, that Rick had never been to Yosemite. Maybe he's rectified this by now, but wow.

I think people want the Heidi experience, and for that the mountains in Europe are better

I'd rather see bears, elk, and bighorns in the Rockies than cows in the Alps.

just sayin' . . . .

You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?

A Royale with Cheese.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. But in all seriousness, my sister and I fell in love with Lake Bled, Slovenia. We were only there two nights, so just had time to ride a luge, visit the island and its church, and take an all-day tour into the mountains (us and a bus full of British retirees). I wish we would have stayed longer to walk around the lake or up to the castle. The mountains were also the site of really intense fighting in WWI; the tour took us to some of them, as well as memorials. My memory is that it was cheaper than Austria, but not as cheap as Poland, but that was ten years ago, so someone who has traveled there more recently can tell me if that's still the case. No exaggeration - It is breathtakingly beautiful.

Chani If we only had lifts and trains to take us to those wild places! And espresso served in a mountain “hut” along the trail! It is the civilized manner of Switzerland and the Dolomites that make us go back over and over. But then deer and elk pass through my backyard.

Having just walked over the Pyrenees this past Sept. they have won a place in my heart. Stunning, magnificent views. Herds of wandering horse, cows and flocks of sheep, all of them wearing bells!
Anyway, they are magnificent and no one has mentioned them yet.

I live 5 miles from the beach and 45 feet above sea level (Flood Zone X, which helps for insurance purposes) We always seek out mountains when we go on vacation, whether it's North America or elsewhere in the world.

They're lower and older and not as dramatic as the Alps, but we had a lot fun rambling around the mountains of Wales in 2017. Lots of good hiking in places like Snowdonia and Brecon Beacons national parks, and many small towns with good tourism infrastructure.

Yosemite- haven't been there yet because my requirement is staying in the Valley proper in a hotel room that's en suite and getting ones of the more reasonably priced rooms meeting those parameters is kind of like trying to get online tickets for the Eiffel Tower or Ann Frank House level of difficulty for peak summer season when we can go there. (Spousal Unit teaches so we can't do fall shoulder season trips)

Laurel - In the Rockies, it's all little more than a short walk from the highway or the parking lot and often at the side of the road.