My husband and I were lucky enough to take a lovely trip to Northern Italy this Summer, while my parents watched our children. It’s not lost on me that this is a huge privilege and I will forever be grateful to my parents for giving us this opportunity. For me as a parent, a recharge is necessary and needed in order to be the best mom I can be. Italy was the perfect place to go for our first trip back to Europe since 2020 (!) A pandemic and two children later and we were ready to explore our favorite country.

I studied abroad in Florence and my husband studied in Rome, so we’ve been to most of the popular Italian destinations, but Lake Como was high on my list and the Dolomites were high on his list (as he loves to hike and be active), so we paired the two and made the perfect itinerary with a mix of both.

8 DAY NORTHERN ITALY ITINERARY

DAY ONE

We took an overnight flight from JFK to Venice.

DAY TWO

We arrived in Venice at 9AM, and rented a car from Alamo. We picked it up at the airport and quickly drove 14 minutes from the Marco Polo airport into the Venice City Center. We parked in a parking garage and spent the next 2 hours exploring around Venice. We grabbed a bite to eat and enjoyed the scenery. After walking along the gorgeous canals, we hopped in a water taxi and had it bring us back to our starting spot.

We quickly got back in the car and headed to our first destination, Como Alpine Dolomites. We checked into our hotel, grabbed a drink, and went on a quick walk/hike near the property. There’s a few cute hiking shops to browse, but otherwise, there’s not much at the top of this mountain besides your hotel and hiking trails. We freshened up for dinner and ate gourmet pizzas outside at Alpina Chalet.

DAY THREE

The breakfast at Como Alpine is delicious (and free!) so we ate a hefty breakfast before our big day began. We booked a hiking and mountain biking day through the hotel — ask for Alex. He was incredibly knowledgable, so fun to spend the day with, and not only took us on an adventure we will forever remember - he also captured it beautifully with my camera. at 9AM we set out on our journey which was a mix of mountain biking for 3+ hours, and hiking for 4+ hours. While I can’t tell you exactly where we went, we did end up hiking to Lago di Antermoia as our final destination. There was a hut at the top of the mountain where we had lunch. It was an extremely challenging day, but very rewarding. Highly recommend paying for a guide so you don’t have to worry about anything and can just enjoy the scenery.

We got back to our hotel around 4PM, and quickly headed to the pool to relax. We had dinner at Alpina Chalet!

As we only had a few days in each location, I wanted to include some additional options of things to do that we didn’t end up having the chance to explore…

Hikes: Cinema delle Odle, Val Di Funes, Gardena Pass, & Karersee Lake

DAY FOUR

Enjoy your free breakfast at the hotel before hitting the road. We took the cable car up to Secede Mountain where we were hoping to hike and eat lunch at Baita Sofie Hutte or Baita Troier Hutte. Unfortunately we had a bat weather day (rain), so we walked around a bit but didn’t get to spend as much time up here as we wanted.

After, we got back in the car and headed to our next Destination, Lefay Resorts and Spa Dolomites. We checked into the hotel and had a delicious lunch. Spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the pool and exploring the Spa (I’ll get to that later!) We walked to Pinzolo, the adorable town at the base of the mountain and grabbed dinner at Rendenèr — delicious! Afterwards, we enjoyed gelato from Dolom'Ice GelateriaArtigianale.

DAY FIVE

We had an incredible (and free) breakfast at the hotel, before heading to the Val di Genova walking path. This area is surrounding by the glaciers of Adamello and Presanella, whose streams descend to the river Sarca. Along its course, you’ll see many beautiful waterfalls. If you’d like to do a more intense hike, you can look into Madonna di Campiglio and Pinzol.

After our morning in nature, we headed to the Spa at the hotel and it was by far the most impressive spa we’ve ever been to! We counted over 20 steam rooms and saunas. Multiple relaxation rooms, cold plunges, a walking path, multiple pools at different temperatures, a snack bar, and any type of treatment you can imagine. It’s worth spending a day (or two!) here!

We ate dinner at a local pizza/pasta place called Al Cardo in Pinzolo that night. It’s so nice you can walk into this adorable town from the hotel. Before heading back we got more gelato + an espresso.

DAY SIX

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the hotel before hopping in the car bright and early to get to our next destination — Sunny Lake Como!

We checked into The Grand Tremezzo Hotel, and ate lunch at the Beach restaurant, Da Giacomo. It’s a very fun vibe with great seafood and boats docking so guests from all over the lake can come and enjoy the restaurant. Afterwards, we went to the pool to relax for the rest of the day. They have amazing spicy pineapple tequila cocktails - make sure to try one! Before heading back to our room to freshen up, we went on a little hike up the mountain on our property. It will quickly get your heart racing but you’ll be rewarded with stunning views of the lake. For dinner we went to Al Veluu, a family owned restaurant that came highly recommended from a friend. The food and views were incredible. It’s only 4 minutes away from the hotel.

DAY SEVEN

We woke up and played tennis at the hotel, before heading to the most insane breakfast buffet I’ve ever witnessed — complete with a dessert table of my dreams.

After breakfast, we quickly freshened up and took a private boat out for 2 hours. I’ve had friends who did the boat tours for 4-6 hours and stopped in different towns for lunch. I think you can’t go wrong either way but personally we only wanted to do 2 hours. It allowed us to see so many of the towns and our driver would tell us this history of some of the incredible homes on the water.

Afterwards, we came back to the hotel and relaxed at the pool. For lunch, we grabbed pizzas at the pool along with some spicy pineapple margaritas. For dinner we ate at the hotel restaurant, La Escale. Personally, I would probably skip this place. I didn’t feel it was worth the price - but it was convenient :) Afterwards, grab a drink at the bar. There’s always live music at the hotel and the bar area is so beautiful.

DAY EIGHT

On our last day we enjoyed the incredible breakfast spread before grabbing a quick ferry to Bellagio. Looking back, we probably could have skipped this and gone to a smaller village like Varenna instead. But, we walked along the streets of Bellagio for about an hour, had a gelato and grabbed some gifts for the kids. It’s pretty but way too touristy IMO.

Something that we didn’t do but I wish we had was exploring the Villa Carlotta gardens. It’s RIGHT next door the Grand Tremezzo and I heard it’s beautiful. We were super hot after our stop in Bellagio so we came back to the hotel and swam the rest of the afternoon. For dinner, go to Il Gatto Nero.

DAY NINE

Take a car to Milan and fly home.

Ciao, Italy!