Luxury holidays in the Italian Alps | Bespoke hotel holidays

An Expressions tailor-made holiday in the Italian Alps is a hiker's Promised Land in summer, and in winter the region shelters some of the finest ski resorts in Europe with some of the best snow in recent seasons to match. Bordering Austria to the North and France and Switzerland to the west, the Italian Alps is a pastoral paradise of edelweiss-covered meadows, terraced vineyards and ancient farming villages. Framed by a dramatic backdrop of towering summits and ridges, the Italian Alps reaches its zenith on the border with France, rising to a height of 15,782ft at the snow-capped summit of Monte Bianco - Mont Blanc. Perhaps the most spectacular section of the Italian Alps is the Aoasta Valley, crowned by huge peaks, including the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, Gran Paradiso and Monte Rosa, with an extensive network of lifts and cable-cars to whisk skiers up the pistes in winter, and walkers up to spectacular trails in summer. Lower down, the Aoasta Valley's ski resorts are connected by cross-country skiing trails, fantastic for walkers in summer. A playground for outdoor adventurers, the area also has some of the best mountain-biking trails in Europe. To the east are the Dolomites, to the southeast is the Piemonte region, whilst further south are the Italian Lakes. The proximity to these different Italian regions makes the Italian Alps a fabulous summer or winter holiday destination.

Frequently Asked Questions

The lift and cable-car network built for winter skiing is, in summer, simply a very efficient way of getting walkers up to some of the finest high-altitude trails in Europe without a long climb on foot. Alpine meadows that lie under snow for half the year become carpeted with wildflowers, the cross-country ski trails around resorts such as Cervinia and Cogne convert directly into walking routes, and the whole region, from the Aosta Valley to the Dolomites, becomes a genuine playground for hikers, mountain bikers and anyone who wants dramatic scenery without the cold. National parks such as Gran Paradiso and Stelvio are at their best from June to September, and the lower valleys offer easy, self-guided walks of three to six hours for those who want gentler days between the more demanding routes. For clients who associate the Italian Alps purely with winter sports, summer is very much where we would point them first.

The Dolomites are geologically and visually quite different from the granite peaks of the Aosta Valley further west: pale limestone towers and spires that turn a striking pink at sunset, a phenomenon known locally as enrosadira, and a landscape so distinctive it holds UNESCO World Heritage status in its own right. Val Gardena, one of the range's best-known valleys, retains its own Ladin language and culture alongside its more famous skiing, and in summer its lift network, part of the Dolomiti Superski system, opens up walking and via ferrata routes across some of the most photographed mountain scenery in Europe. We would typically base a stay at the Gardena Grödnerhof, a Michelin-starred, Relais & Châteaux hotel just minutes from the lifts, ideal for days spent walking high above the valley and returning to a proper spa and kitchen in the evening, a different rhythm entirely from a ski-season stay.

The Aosta Valley is the Italian Alps at their most dramatic, ringed by Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, Monte Rosa and Gran Paradiso, and in summer its ski infrastructure becomes the easiest way to reach genuinely high walking country. Cogne sits inside the Gran Paradiso National Park itself, Italy's oldest, a former royal hunting reserve now known for its ibex and its gentler, greener valley walks, and the Bellevue, a Relais & Châteaux hotel with gourmet dining and a spa, makes an excellent base for exploring it. Cervinia, at the foot of the Matterhorn, is higher and starker, better suited to more serious high-altitude walking, with the Hotel Hermitage offering the same combination of comfort and access to genuinely spectacular scenery. Between the two, a client can choose a gentler, more pastoral week or a more demanding one, both built around the same lift network that carries skiers in winter.

The Italian Alps border Piemonte to the south-east and the Italian Lakes further south again, which makes a purely mountain-based holiday only one option among several. Our Liguria, Piemonte and Italian Alps fly-drive touring holiday combines a stay on the Ligurian Riviera with the wine and truffle country of Piemonte and several nights in the mountains around Cogne, giving a genuine sense of how quickly the landscape and character of northern Italy changes over a short drive. Turin itself, with its Baroque architecture and Fiat heritage, sits within easy reach, as do Lake Maggiore, Como and the smaller Lake Orta, each offering boat trips, gardens and a gentler pace after several days of walking. For clients who want more than mountain scenery alone, building in two or three nights at a lake or in Piemonte alongside the alpine stay gives a fuller and more varied holiday.

Winter remains a genuine strength of the region, and recent seasons have brought some of the best snow in years across both the Dolomites and the Aosta Valley, but we position it as a secondary recommendation to the summer walking holiday that is our main focus here. The Dolomiti Superski network around Val Gardena is one of the largest linked ski areas in the world, and Cervinia offers high-altitude skiing directly beneath the Matterhorn, both served by the same luxury hotels, the Gardena Grödnerhof and the Hotel Hermitage, that we would recommend for a summer stay. Winter suits clients who are already committed skiers or who want a short, luxurious ski break with excellent spa facilities to return to each evening. For anyone undecided, or drawn more by scenery, walking and gastronomy than by piste time, we would still steer the conversation towards a summer holiday first.

Our bespoke, luxury hotel holidays can be

● Single centre or multi-centre
● Long or short stays
● Combine a number of different hotels in different regions
● Utilise a variety of transport arrangements to Italy and within Italy, combining flights, hire-car, rail, ferries and private transfers

Our special interest holidays to the Italian Alps

● Food and wine holidays
● Cultural tours for individuals
● Private guided sightseeing
● Art, history and heritage holidays
● Spa holidays
● Family holidays
● Walking holidays

Included in all our holidays

● Concierge service
● Handcrafted helpful hints and local information provided with all our holidays
● Personal service by your sales consultant who looks after all aspects of your holiday

Call us on 01392 441245

Highlights of the Italian Alps

Hiking and skiing in the Aoasta Valley; the annual autumn Alba Truffle festival, with more than 40 taking place in various towns and villages in Piemonte. Some Piemonte guesthouses and hotels can also arrange for you to go truffling with a local hound; the baroque piazzas and palaces of Turin, where the Fiat car factory is an interesting visitor attraction in its own right; the Italian Lakes north of Milan, such as Lake Maggiore, Como, and lovely little Orta, which has a Benedictine monastery right in the middle; boat trips on Lake Maggiore to visit the Borromean Islands; the beautiful hill town of Bergamo, with a funicular railway up to Bergamo Alto to visit its stunning 15th century chapel; the mediaeval village of Arca on the upper reaches of the Sarca River Valley; boat tours of Lake Lugano; spectacular views from Monte Mottarone above Stresa on Lake Maggiore, reached by cable car; national parks such as the Stelvio National Park north of Orta and the Parco Nazionale della Val Grande above Verbania on Lake Maggiore; Milan, with its magnificent gothic cathedral, famous La Scala opera house and 19th century Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, perhaps the most elegant shopping arcade in the world; Verona's annual opera festival as well as its sights, including the Romanesque church of San Zeno, the Renaissance Loggia del Consiglio and the Roman Arena.

Travel around the Italian Alps

Trains and buses connect Milan and Verona with the villages and ski resorts to the north, as well as the lakes of Lombardy. As with all trains and buses in Italy, the service is fairly efficient and relatively cheap, and buses in particular are a good way of getting between villages once in the mountains themselves. However, as it often requires several changes to reach smaller, remoter destinations, by far the best way to explore this area is by hire-car, which we include with all our holidays to the Alps.

Italian Alps travel information

By air

Fly to Turin with non-daily flights with British Airways from Gatwick.

Self-drive

These regions are reached very easily by car all the way from the UK. We can arrange overnight stops for you in locations throughout France. In addition to holidays by air and by car, you may also be interested in holidays by rail (including the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express and an overnight sleeper service from Paris to Italy).

Our bespoke, luxury hotel holidays can be

Our special interest holidays to the Italian Alps

● Food and wine holidays
● Cultural tours for individuals
● Private guided sightseeing
● Art, history and heritage holidays
● Spa holidays
● Family holidays
● Walking holidays

Included in all our holidays

● Concierge service
● Handcrafted helpful hints and local information provided with all our holidays
● Personal service by your sales consultant who looks after all aspects of your holiday

Call us on 01392 441245

Here you will find a map of Italian Alps showing the locations of the hotels that we offer

Our bespoke, luxury hotel holidays can be

Our special interest holidays to the Italian Alps

● Food and wine holidays
● Cultural tours for individuals
● Private guided sightseeing
● Art, history and heritage holidays
● Spa holidays
● Family holidays
● Walking holidays

Included in all our holidays

● Concierge service
● Handcrafted helpful hints and local information provided with all our holidays
● Personal service by your sales consultant who looks after all aspects of your holiday