Italy Activity Holidays

For holiday-makers who want to do more general sightseeing or lazing around a pool, Italy offers many varieties of activity to stimulate the body, mind and soul. High mountain ranges and beautiful countryside for the skiers and walkers, lakes and seas for those with nautical inclinations, world-topping cuisine for foodies, designer outlets for shopaholics, cookery courses, painting lessons, study trips....

Walking in Italy

There are many types of appealing terrain for walking, hiking and trekking in Italy. For tamer pleasures, many enjoy walking along the pretty Cinque Terre coastline. The Amalfi Coast also offers sea views, including some strenuous walks at high levels. As Italy is so mountainous, you can select your own level of difficulty. The Alps and Dolomites in the north have good, marked hiking trails and you can base yourself in a ski resort; most of these are very good for walking in the summer months. The Apennines, the spine of Italy, run for hundreds of miles, with a variety of landscapes and many picturesque towns and villages.

National parks in Italy include the Abruzzo, home to bears and wolves, where you can stay overnight at high-altitude rifugi (lodges).

Several travel firms offer walking packages from the UK, some in groups, and some where you are self-guided. Your luggage can be taken from one hotel to the next for you, which is a big help if you're planning to move on each day.

Skiing in Italy

There are a number of good ski resorts in Italy, two of the most famous being Cortina d'Ampezzo and Courmayeur. As the map of Italy is so mountainous, winter provides a good choice of places to hit the pistes. The alps bristle along Italy's northern borders, and the Dolomites also have a generous share of resorts. The Dolomiti 'Superski' area consists of a huge network of places to ski, with hundreds of lifts.
> Skiing in Italy
> Skiing in the Dolomites

Spa Resorts in Italy

There are many natural hot springs in Italy, visited for reasons health and relaxation for hundreds of years. Nowadays many of these areas have developed full-scale resort facilities for a relaxing holiday.
> Spas in Italy

Other activities in Italy

Of course, there are a huge range of alternative activities in Italy. Possibilities include: golf; cooking; shopping; windsurfing, sailing; diving; eating; history and art study tours; climbing and mountaineering; garden tours.