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Find and book hotels in Italy. With location maps and guest reviews.


Windsurfing on Lake Garda

Cycling in the Dolomites



Italy activity holidays and study courses

For holiday-makers who want to do more than sightseeing or lazing around a pool, Italy offers many varieties of activity to stimulate the body, mind and soul. The country has high mountain ranges and beautiful countryside for skiers and walkers, lakes and seas for those with nautical inclinations, world-topping cuisine for foodies and designer outlets for shopaholics. You can travel alone or choose an organised group trip. There is also a good range of cookery courses, painting lessons, study trips and photography holidays, located in some of the most beautiful regions of Italy.

On this page you'll find an overview of different kinds of activity holiday in Italy, and a selection of organisations offering various kinds of study holiday, from cookery to photography.

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 but crowded 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 there are ski resorts all along this northern band of the country. also have a generous share of resorts. The Dolomites '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 sites have developed full-scale resort facilities for a relaxing holiday. If you prefer to go it alone though, there are quite a few spots where you can just turn up with a towel. Among the more adventurous options are the mud baths of Vulcano in the Aeolian Islands, where you simply pay an admission fee then dunk yourself in hot radioactive mud.
> Spas in Italy

Photography

Italy is an extremely photogenic country, and most visitors are happy to potter about with their cameras capturing whatever appeals to them. However, if you want to try something more ambitious, to have expert advice on call, or simply to learn more about your camera and hang out with like-minded enthusiasts, Italy is also a good destination for a photography holiday; there's plenty of material and the weather is fairly reliable.

> Read more about photography holidays in Italy
> My photography trip to the Abruzzo - I travelled with a UK company called Frui.

Painting and art holidays

Painting courses are a good way of combining learning with enjoying Italy. There's quite a good choice of landscape painting holidays, mostly in Tuscany. Some trips cater for beginners and others are an opportunity for more experienced artists to practise their skills with expert guidance.

Painting holidays in Italy

Frui - 'Painting for the petrified' in the Abruzzo

Authentic Adventures - painting holidays in Tuscany and Umbria

Studio Paradiso - In a less well-known part of Tuscany

Painting in Italy - Courses in Umbria, run in parallel with cookery classes

Painting Holidays in Puglia - on a converted farm

Il Collegio - Puglia, in accommodation featured on 'Grand Designs'. September.

Other activities in Italy

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

Tour companies and organised holidays

If you are booking an organised holiday, please note that Italy Heaven takes no responsibility for the holidays or companies suggested here. You should check the small print and find out what is included, what extras you might have to pay, how much you have to pay in advance, what your insurance will cover and what registration (e.g. ATOL) the company has. Some courses are aimed at solo travellers, but others charge single supplements. On activity holidays such as painting courses, it is sometimes possible for a non-participating partner to join the holiday at a cheaper rate.



Walking in the Dolomites

Photography in the Abruzzo

Painting Venice

Making pasta: a cookery demonstration
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Lake Como walking

Cinque Terre

Dolomites




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This site provides tourist and visitor information for Italy, from Piemonte to Sicily. Designed for travellers from around the world who want to plan a trip, take a holiday, book accommodation in Italy, or just learn more about the country: its geography, art, football, culture and entertainment options.

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