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10 Days in Northern Italy - Slow and Quiet

Hello all! First, thank you to everyone who is contributing here and making this kind of trip planning less daunting and confusing.

Quick background: our family of 5 (3 kids from 3 to 11 years old) live in a small city in central Africa and have traveled around a fair bit outside of living here (Australia, Mexico, all around the USA before moving here, etc.) and have no love of crowded tourist destinations, places to go just to take a picture and say you've been there, or anything of the sort. We're constantly busy and rarely have a moment to stop and appreciate what's around us, but those moments are the best and most precious ones. Our past travel experiences have taught us and less is more and slow is joyful, so we're planning to spend about 10 days in northern Italy in mid-March, flying in and out of Milan (unless we can get an inbound or outbound flight from Venice with no added cost).

What we're not interested in: anything crowded, big cities for more than the time it takes to see a few big things and get some good food (maybe a day to try to find a nice bag for my wife and a couple of nice, used coats for us...sub-saharan Africa isn't known for its supply of warm clothing), and as little travel over 1.5-2 hours as possible apart from moves to a different region or to Milan for our outbound flight.

What (we think) we'd enjoy most: getting to know the culture of the Trentino Alto Adige area (immersing in culture has been immensely more memorable for us than destinations), small towns that would be a good home base for a few day trips to historical or cultural sights, the best food we can get, and (due to having 7-9 people with some unavoidable luggage) train or bus routes that max out around 2-2.5 hours from our "home base" somewhere in that area. Anything involving horses or livestock is a huge bonus, all of us love animals and agrarian life. Proximity to some sort of trails would be great for when everyone else is sleepy and I get stir crazy (really doesn't have to be much, we will not have hiking gear and I'd be going out before breakfast or after lunch, nothing serious).

Must-haves:

- At least one castle tour
- Anything that will blow our kids' minds
- No more than 3 moves from base-to-base (2 would be best, apart from a possible 1-2 nights in Milan for convenience and pre-flight rest)
- Beautiful views
- Either the ability to get around with a van or bus/train (train is best, but bus is fine); side note, driving in our home town here would terrify most westerners, so I'm not afraid of having to be a little brave with the driving and parking, just as long as it's reasonably possible
- Small town/village (possibly in one of the valleys???) that has some food options in walking distance from a house/lodge/farm stay...if you have a town/region to recommend, I'll happily spend way too many hours researching routes and accommodation options.

Now the questions (and yours are, of course, very much encouraged in response to all of this!):
1. Is this possible, or are the expectations too high (small town, walking distance to food, and driving/bus/train options to Trento)?
2. What will the weather be like around Trento in March?
3. Are we going to be disappointed that we didn't spend a few days in Florence/Venice/Milan? Keep in mind that we will be flying this same route at least once a year and can do a trip like this every time, which we plan to do for Rome, Florence, Venice, and maybe one other city next time around. This one is just meant to be a relaxing intro to Italy, and to see if our hearts get stolen away as they did in a quiet town here, which has taken away our desire to see any of the touristy safari destinations close to us.
4. We'd like to take the Bernina Express line, though on a local train, but that can be a brief stop at the beginning or end of the trip. Any small towns/villages we should stop and spend the night at there in order to enjoy the culture of that area for a day?

Posted by
29332 posts

Trento weather -- March 2025

That link takes you to timeanddate.com, which has actual, historical, day-by-day weather statistics for most places you might want to go. Use the pull-down box to check additional years for a better view of the range of conditions you might experience. Use the Search box near the upper right to find data for other towns.

Keep in mind that the high temperature will only apply for a brief part of the day; it will probably be a lot chillier when you head out in the morning.

Be very mindful of altitude; it will get colder as you head uphill.

For precipitation, check the Wikipedia entry for your destinations (or nearby larger cities, if necessary).

I like to go to places large enough that there are sights to see, so I can't help much with suggestions of really small places. Places that may be larger than you're looking for: Trento itself, Roverto (good modern-art museum), Bolzano (excellent Iceman exhibition at archaeological museum), and Bressanone. In that same area you have small, picturesque Chiusa/Klausen, right on the train line between Bolzano and Bressanone. Farther west are Brescia and Bergamo.

All of the above have rail service.

Posted by
1139 posts

We very much enjoyed a week at Villa Glauber in Dobbiaco/Toblach in 2022. The villa (we stayed in the former stable building, apartment Antelao) is an easy walk into town for groceries and restaurants. There are multiple apartments if some of your larger group would like to spread out. There is bus and train service though we had cars, which allowed us to scoot around all over the area. Lots of walking/ski trails from the door or of course farther afield. March will either be snowy or muddy most likely, but nothing good shoes/boots can't handle. It won't be very cold (but my measures are Canadian not African.)

We were there in February to ski cross-country. We are not downhill skiers but we still bought a 3-day lift pass which we could use at many different sites, so we would ride up the lifts, have lunch at the rifugio or restaurant at the top and ride back down (or sled down the long sledding trails for some of us.) It was great fun. We enjoyed Brixen/Brissanone, Cortina d'Ampezzo and other towns in easy driving distance. Popped over to Austria just because we could.

I agree with Rovereto and Bolzano as day trips. Haven't stopped in Trento. And on your way to Milan, if you can stop in Brescia and/or Bergamo, I recommend both of them.

Are you aware of the dates for the 2026 Winter Olympics in that region? The regular one is in February but the Paralympics run until March 15. It could still be a little busier than you might like.

Some information about castles in Trentino Alto Adige.

Posted by
799 posts

I very much like Trento itself and have been there twice. Trento has its own castle. Trento is not exactly a small town or village but the historic center is very compact. There is a daytrip train route out of Trento called the Trenino dei Castelli. I haven't done it but recently saw it advertised online and the scenery is spectacular. It visits Castel Caldes, Castel Valer and Castel Thun. It is on my list of things to do if or when I return to that area. Research it to see if it is offered in March or if it is only a summer offering. Also consider smaller Merano and Vipiteno. Both have train service and fit your description of what you are looking for. I was in this region in late March 2023 and weather was beautifully sunny and cool but not cold. Afternoons were quite pleasant. Everything was open. We used lightweight coats and did not need heavy gear. From Trento we also did a daytrip by train to Bolzano and hired a driver to take us to see some of the pretty northern towns on Lake Garda.

Posted by
1139 posts

Oooohh Pat, that Trenino dei Castelli tour looks like so much fun! And not a bad price for a full day's guided tour plus 2 meals and a snack. Makes me want to rush right up to Trento!

However, for the OP, the tour only runs May-September as per their webpage: Trenino dei Castelli. But I'm putting it on my wish list!

Posted by
1801 posts

The weather is unstable in March in that area. Skiing is ok, but other outdoor activities such as hiking may be very limited. I suggest you focus on the lake areas around Milan and slightly off beaten path destinations such as Verona, Trento, Vincenza. 10 days will go by quickly.