We were ready to move on from the amazing Swiss Alps and headed towards Italy, planning a brief stop to revisit a wonderful memory in Varenna, Lake Como. We had stayed there in 2015, but all Chris could remember was sitting in wonderful places with his head hunched over his computer trying to meet deadlines for work back home. We had booked the same hotel on the shores of the lake and were looking forward to enjoying the ambience of this beautiful place.

In order to get to Italy, we needed to take another tunnel train through under the Alps. Unfortunately we arrived over an hour early and parked up at the front the of the queue to wait. Chris headed out for a walk while I sat in the sun, minding the car and our belongings. By the time we drove onto the train, the car was very warm – we left the windows open while we waited in more sunshine for another 20 minutes for the train to depart. We moved along the tracks and almost immediately entered the Simplon tunnel – needing to close the windows and, of course, the engine had to be switched off. Immediately the car became a sauna, we were struggling with the heat and lack of air flow, and we had only just entered the tunnel – no idea how long we were to suffer. After 15 minutes of torture we emerged, gasping, and immediately opened the windows. We ended up stopping as soon as we drove off to get some fresh air, change our soaked shirts and try to recover. Mildly refreshed, we set off with air-con on full blast to cool the car down and said, never again! We’ll drive the pass rather than go through that again – or run the air-con fully before we board.

Arriving at our accommodation, we immediately wandered down to the bar under our accommodation and revisited 2015 all over again – they do the BEST limoncello mojitos! We sat in the sun, enjoying the vista before us, sipping on our drinks, thankful to be able to enjoy this beautiful place.

We spent time on the Lake catching ferries across and around, ending up in Bellagio for a nice wander before arriving back to Varenna in time for another aperitivo! Bliss.

More mountains called us so we aimed the car eastward towards the Dolomites, stopping first in the pretty village of Molveno. Perched on the side of an alpine lake, it gave vistas of the Brenta Dolomites, some stunning pieces of jagged rock thrusting skywards. We hired bicycles for the morning, circumnavigating the lake, enjoying the magical views, then caught the chairlift up into the heights for lunch and a wander to take in these stunning peaks.

Then northwards, almost at the Austrian border to Vipitino. This beautiful town caught my eye when looking at our options in the Dolomites. Although it didn’t have the mountains, there were some interesting walks nearby and we set off on a threatening morning to the waterfalls nearby. The trail was well maintained, taking in a number of cascades and deep blue pools, rocky canyons and bridges and stairs onwards and constantly upwards. There were many others doing the walk, some with their dogs. We are constantly surprised at the numbers of people out and about in this shoulder season, so glad we didn’t arrive in the summer peak. Finally reaching the top, we wandered back down a much easier trail to the starting point. In the area we could see many small villages, each with their sharp steeples and green pastures on the slopes. We managed to arrive at our car before the rain arrived, thankfully.

We had time to spare, so decided to head over the pass to Austria; Innsbruck was only an hour away, so off we went, realising at the border that we needed a road toll sticker; we managed to get a 3 day pass, but then still had to pay a toll regardless at the bottom of the hill. After finding (paid) parking we wandered into the city, taking in the sights and avoiding the crowds before the heavens opened and we needed to put our umbrellas up, along with everyone else. We spent an aimless hour or so before deciding to return back to Italy, paying more tolls in both Austria and Italy before arriving at our accommodation … it was an expensive jaunt to Austria.

The following day, we left in fairly cloudy weather – it was a short distance to our destination but we added a couple of detours. I had seen many photos of the delightful Church of St John in the Funes valley. I had tried to find accommodation in this area, but as there was little on offer we weren’t staying here – thankfully, I discovered, as apart from the picturesque church, there was very little else on offer for restaurants or life. We managed to get some photos of the church with a glimpse of the majestic peaks behind peeping through the cloud before moving on towards the Val Gardena, a very beautiful part of the Dolomites region. Arriving early, we were allowed to check in before heading up the closest gondola to get an orientation view of where we were. This area was fantastic, so many peaks and valleys to gasp over. From time to time, the cloud lifted to unveil the circle of mountains that cradled this beautiful valley.

The beautiful Selva de Val Gardena is surrounded by amazing rocky peaks and has a wonderful village vibe – this is a ski area in winter. Later that evening the clouds cleared enough to reveal a rainbow and sunshine. Next morning the weather was very misty, but we decided to head upwards on another gondola to the Seceda peak, walk the trails and take in whatever we could. It didn’t look promising as we started off, but towards the top the mists dispersed enough to see these peaks. For shoulder season, it was very busy with many tourists doing the same as us. We were prepared for rain, cool and damp underfoot conditions, we saw lots of others who were not, their beautiful white shoes would have been ruined by the end of the day! We had trouble identifying what tracks we were supposed to be on, the labeling of the trails at junctions left a lot to be desired and we ended up on completely the wrong path (thankfully we never entered the Amazing Race, we would have been abysmal!), eventually reaching our goal, but able to enjoy the views. The whole area was skiable and it would be an amazing place to enjoy this winter sport. As the day wore on, the cloud lifted and we got more vistas of this beautiful area.

We were planning to drive eastwards over the passes to our next stay, but found the roads blocked even before we left town – a special bicycle event was on to ride to the summit, so we hastily revised our route and backtracked westward then north and finally east again, via Cortina, another ski resort to the north. It was a longer day, but the views didn’t disappoint. We stopped in Cortina for lunch and coffee, walking the streets of high-end $$$$ couture but enjoying the Fiat Bambinas on display and the pretty hotels and houses. As we moved further east, the peaks became less impressive but the valley views and roads kept us with “wow’s”. Belluno was a surprise, with views over a pretty river valley and a typically Italian old town, rather than the Tyrolean architecture of the previous Dolomite villages. We were headed to our first European housesit in the Veneto region, the small village of Polcenigo, and a lovely dog to show us around for the 3 days we were there. We enjoyed the “luxuries” of eating in, doing laundry and having space to spread out. The northern Italian experience had been fantastic, definitely mind blowing landscapes we were able to experience in many ways.