Bozen Bolzano really surprised us. It is a beautiful city and is visited by people of all ages. It was a real mixture of visitors around and it gave the city a good feel. In my opinion it is ideal for a city escape, for the Christmas markets, for skiing but also for hiking (with or without snow), mountain biking, for shopping and great food and wine. It is romantic, unique but also busy and we would definitely return.
After spending Christmas and New Years Eve with friends and family at home, we decided to go to the mountains for a few days on our own. Living in Venice has some challenges but it also has many great new opportunities. Getting to the mountains in no time for example is a big plus. We hopped on a train in Venice and three hours later arrived in the beautiful south Tyrolese town of Bozen. A picturesque city located in a valley, in between hilly vineyards. The city is a gateway to the Dolomite mountains where you can ski, hike, Mountainbike and much more.
Bozen Bolzano really surprised us. It is a beautiful city and is visited by people of all ages. It was a real mixture of visitors around and it gave the city a good feel. In my opinion it is ideal for a city escape, for the Christmas markets, for skiing but also for hiking (with or without snow), mountain biking, for shopping and great food and wine. It is romantic, unique but also busy and we would definitely return.
There is so much more to do in the mountains in winter other than skiing. I have wanted to do this for a while and found a company which organises snowshoe walking tours. They are called „ ALPINZENTRUM ROSENGARTEN“ and their Website is linked to this post. We met up in the skiing region at Del Latimer and Maggie, one of the guides met us. Everyone was fitted their snow shoes and of we went up in the mountains. We walked up and down the mountain for about four hours and it was great. Being active outside, the view, the fresh air I loved it!! And sliding through the deep snow was my favourite part! Try it!
On our second day, we chose to go walking without the snow. Directly from Bolzano there are three cable cars going up the mountains. We took the Jenesien cable Carmen up to the town of Jenesien and walked back down to Bolzano. The cable car runs every 30 minutes (and has a lunch break between 12–3 PM. Walking down the hill we were nearly by ourselves. Overall it is a easy walk, with some steep parts and fantastic views of the whole valley. On the next day we took the „Ritten“ cable car to Oberbozen which was much busier. Great views towards the Dolomites and many options to walk further up the mountains or stay in one of the great restaurants around. So many options for activities and not enough time. We will just have to come back I guess.
It is no secret that I have a thing for hotels. That is one of the reasons why we chose to stay at Parkhotel Laurin in Bolzano. This hotel is an institution in the area and has been a Grand Hotel since 1910. The other reason we chose it, was the Laurin Bar and their Live Jazz Music every Friday. There is a different band on every week and we spent a great evening in this busy buzzing place listening to „Vino Rosso“ and their alpine world music. All in all a great hotel in a great, convenient location with a long history, friendly staff and really tasty breakfast!
