Italian Walking Help

May 23, 2006 2:45 AM

My wife & I will be spending 4 days in Northern Italy this weekend and would like to do some walking - does anyone have any recommendations or know of any sites where I can find itineraries for day or half day walks?

We'll be in the region between the Mont Blanc tunnel and the lakes. We have no fixed plans or accomodation booked, and will probably use the tourist offices to find hotels and walking guides etc but if anyone has done this sort of thing before I would like to hear about any tips you might have, or somewhere online where I could find more information.

posted by jontyjago to travel & transportation (5 comments total)

There's a Lonely Planet on Walking in Italy.

Search inside on Blanc suggests it probably has some walks that would suit. I've got an earlier edition of this book at home (but that's not very helpful, is it.).
posted by sagwalla at 3:38 AM on May 23, 2006

Try searching for walking Podcasts. Those seem to be the hip travel accessory of late.
posted by k8t at 3:47 AM on May 23, 2006

It might be a little too far to get there by car or by train, but Cinque Terre deserves the hype it gets. If you go, make sure you see Vernazza.
posted by fuzz at 5:14 AM on May 23, 2006

I don't know the Mont Blanc region - towards the west? - but the Dolomites is criss crossed with walking trails. I have stayed in the Cortina d'Ampezzo region and the region is made for walking.
posted by bluesky43 at 5:35 AM on May 23, 2006

There's lots of websites with walking itineraries in Northern Italy (ie. Aosta and The Gran Paradiso National Park; the lakes), just search for those keywords, or walking trails or walking tours, you're likely to get pages of UK or US travel agencies offering full tours but they're useful too since they outline the itineraries. It's all information you'd find locally anyway, so yes, just check the tourist offices once you're there for maps and guides.

These from Touring Club Italiano (English version, not sure if the guides themselves are all available in English, here's one of those on Amazon) are the best local maps/guides (the link is for the guides related to your area), you will very likely find them in local bookshops if not in the tourist offices themselves.

That Lonely Planet guide looks great too.
posted by funambulist at 7:26 AM on May 23, 2006