A Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol

Copyright: IDM South Tyrol / Valentin Pardeller. The Dolomites are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The rose garden glows impressively in the evening glow on the horizon of the regional capital of Bozen.A Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol.

A Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol – Sudtirol.

South Tyrol (or Sudtirol) is open for visitors this summer. On June 3^rd, borders will start opening for regional tourism within the EU and Schengen countries (all depending on Covid-19 cases keep on being down), so, I’ve thought I could put together a Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol.

A classic South Tyrolean village with the impressive Dolomites in its backdrop. Photo: © IDM Südtirol. A Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol.

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South Tyrol is the northernmost province in Italy, bordering the Tirol and Östirol regions in Austria. Actually, it used to be part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire as part of the Tirol region (it was actually called Mittletirol). It changed hands to Italy after the defeat of the central powers on WWI in 1918.

How to get to South Tyrol

Fly to Innsbruck in Austria or Verona in Italy. If not, you have the options of Bozen/Bolzano airport, that is a smaller regional airport, or Bergamo, Venezia, Milano Linate, Milano Malpensa or Munich.

Copyright: IDM South Tyrol / Harald Wisthaler. Rowing boats at the Lago di Braies Nature Park, one of the most beautiful lakes I've seen in my life, worth a visit and a walk around the lake, which is easy for anybody! A Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol. — .Copyright: IDM South Tyrol / Harald Wisthaler. Rowing boats at the Lago di Braies Nature Park, one of the most beautiful lakes I’ve seen in my life, worth a visit and a walk around the lake, which is easy for anybody! A Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol.

Driving to South Tyrol

Coming from Austria, just pass Innsbruck and take the Brenner Pass, and you’ll be there. From Verona, go up the Brenner Motorway (A22 Autostrada del Brennero) and drive north. South Tyrol is part of the Trentino Alto Adige province, located in the northern side (the Alto Adige side).

Copyright: IDM South Tyrol / Clemens Zahn. From St. Zyprian in Eggental there is an impressive view of the rose garden, here against a clear blue sky. A Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol.

Languages in South Tyrol

70% German, 25% Italian and 5% Ladin. The Ladin is a mountain language, what is considered a Romansh language spoken in the Dolomite valleys of Val Gardena and Alta Badia.

Photo: IDM South Tyrol / Clemens Zahn. Autumn is colorful in the Meraner Land, like here at Lebenberg Castle above Tscherms, where thanksgiving is celebrated. A Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol.

What to do in South Tyrol in the Summer.

Go to the area of Kronplatz and Brunico.

Kronplatz is a mountain in the border of what is Dolomites and Alps. The mountain itself has a shape of a Panettone with a punch in the middle. It is a very interesting mountain, which is connected with four villages around and lifts to each one on each sides.

Kronplatz in the summer. Photo: Kronplatz. A Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol.

Kronplatz is not only interesting for skiing in winter or hiking and mountain biking in the summerr. There is a good reason to go to the top of the mountain all year round, even if you don’t ski, ride, hike or bike! It is the only mountain, that I know of, with two really grand museums on its peak! These museums are Lumen Museum and MMM Corones.

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May 12, 2020

Courchevel’s plans to reopen in the summer season.

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Most of European ski resorts are planning to reopen with social-distancing measures this summer. Courchevel is one of them.

Right now, you can only visit if you live within 100 km away from Courchevel. Starting today, May 11th, people can visit and enjoy three sports in the great outdoors:

🎿 Ski touring: there is a lot of snow in the Saulire massif (Alt. 2710m) and the surroundings.

Rando trace and ski poles. Copyright: Courchevel Tourisme. Courchevel’s plans to reopen in the summer season.

🚴‍♂‍ Cycling: The Col de la Loze (Alt. 2304m) has been cleared of snow.

Copyright: Courchevel Tourisme. Cycling with views of the Montre Loze. Courchevel’s plans to reopen in the summer season.

🏃‍♂‍ Rando / Trail: the summit of the Dent du Villard (Alt: 2284m) is accessible.

Copyright: Courchevel Tourisme. Crete de Mont Charvet. Courchevel’s plans to reopen in the summer season.

The Silva MOONtain Races are coming back to Courchevel this summer.

This famous race will return after five years of being absent. It entails an original trail, at night on full moon Wednesdays – dates are August 5, September 2 and 30).

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April 26, 2020April 26, 2020

For fanatics of Architecture, plan your multi-stop visit to Austria post Covid19

For fanatics of Architecture, plan your multi-stop visit to Austria post Covid19

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Now is the time to start dreaming of what we’ll be doing once the gates of the world re-open. So you can start dreaming, why not?

Once the lockdown lifts and travel returns, these five architectural hotspots will be waiting for you in Vienna, Salzburg, Graz, Innsbruck and Vorarlberg. Where will you visit first: an 11th century fortress with golden halls, an art gallery inside a ‘friendly alien’, or a ski jump designed by one of the industry’s most influential figures?

Austria Neustattalm, Styria. Photo: TrekEarth. For fanatics of Architecture, plan your multi-stop visit to Austria post Covid19. — Austria Neustattalm, Styria. Photo: TrekEarth. Bartek Rozanski. For fanatics of Architecture, plan your multi-stop visit to Austria post Covid19.

Kunsthaus Graz
Built: 2003
Location: Graz, Styria
Architects: Colin Fournier and Peter Cook
Fun fact: The Kunsthaus, also known as the ‘Friendly Alien’, played an undeniable role in helping Graz to secure its UNESCO ‘City of Design’ status in 2011. (featured photo)

The river Mur meanders through the Austrian city of Graz in Styria, winding past traditional gabled houses with red-tiled roofs and green copper turrets. On the river’s right bank, one building stands in stark contrast to its neighbours. The Kunsthaus Graz demands one’s attention with its biomorphic form, made from 1,066 pieces of acrylic glass, waxing and waning under rounded nozzles on its roof.

One aim of the Kunsthaus construction and its expressive, futuristic architecture was to reinvigorate the city’s less prosperous district opposite the historic centre. It’s now home to three major exhibition galleries, a viewing platform, a restaurant, media lounge, shop and a magazine house, welcoming a vast number of visitors from across the globe each year.

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April 25, 2020April 30, 2020

The plans for reopening the mountain huts (rifugios) during summer in the Italian Alps in times of COVID19

Club Alpino Italiano- Photo by giorgio Rodano - Rifugio Bonatti with views to the Monte Bianco. The plans for reopening the mountain huts (rifugios) during summer in the Italian Alps in times of COVID19.

The plans for reopening the mountain huts (rifugios) during summer in the Italian Alps in times of COVID19.

This article may contain affiliate/compensated links. For full information, please see our disclaimer here.

There are plans to start relaxing the lockdown in Italy, starting gradually on different weeks starting on May 4^th. Some people are starting to think on how they will vacation on the mountains and the beach. Beach private clubs are thinking on how installing the different tents with social distancing.

Photo by Giorgio Rodano- Rifugio Giogo Lungo- Lekjöchlhütte at 2603 m over the valico Giogo Lungo in the Sudtirol (South Tyrol) province. Club Alpino Italiano. The plans for reopening the mountain huts (rifugios) during summer in the Italian Alps in times of COVID19.

In the mountains, I’ve read that at first, they were thinking on not opening the rifugios, but today I’ve read on the Corriere della Sera that the Club Alpino Italiano is planning on how to open during COVID19 times.

Summer in the Italian Mountains

The Club Alpino Italiano has 326 facilities in all the country. They are planning in putting Covid kits with oximeters and ozonators to purify the air.

The ozonators are very quick and easy to use and is a product that does not leave odours such as chlorine or alcohol. These are now in phase of production now.

The CAI is thinking of getting everyone to bring their own sleeping bags and light tents, and for big rifugios to allow people to eat in different times, and clean thoroughly between seatings, and clean sanitaries often. They are talking also of providing baskets with dinners to the different tents, so as to avoid people being in cramming conditions indoors. Shelters with two or four rooms for families could be used for a family group.

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July 14, 2019July 14, 2019

Our summer in the mountains – one week in Courmayeur.

Since I first went to Courmayeur, having stopped there for breakfast, on our way home from our annual ski week in Pila, driving through the scenic SS26, I fall in love with the place. When we were coming up, just after coming out the Mont Blanc tunnel, you see the gondolas and the tram on top of the route, plus the town with all its buildings very prettily aligned around the route and I knew I wanted to check it out! Being working in the ski biz for almost all my life, before moving to the UK (in the US/Canada and Argentina/Chile), I knew about Courmayeur as a name, but I have not visited many ski areas outside America.

Of all places in our first family ski holiday in Europe, we’ve finished in Ollomont – a small ski ‘field’ – I would say, in the end of the road where mountaineers go to ice climb – but I will write more of this in another post.

But back now to Courmayeur. Since our first breakfast there, we had a second one on the following trip with my friend Claudine from the Tourist Office of Courmayeur and her baby – and then again we’ve been up the Skyway coming back from Lago di Como, and finally we’ve stayed for some nights in winter for two years now – and managed to ski the mountain! First time only one day and the last time, for two (even though my knee was not up for skiing!).

But last summer, I’ve convinced my husband to go at least one week during our summer holidays. I would love to uproot my family there, (to the answers of my husband of what will I do, I don’t speak the language – and me telling him to just learn it!) I wanted to stay in the summer, to see how it is life in Courma in the summer. I’ve been in the fall, seeing at all the hotels – for my Must-Read Guide to Courmayeur. Even many hotels were closed, they’ve opened them to me, and I could see them while many of the maintenance and upgrades were taking place.

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June 29, 2019June 29, 2019

An ‘ephemeral lake’ appeared on the Mont Blanc massif due to warm record temperatures

The Rochefort group with the distinctive Dent de Gént viewed from Courmayeur. An ‘ephemeral lake’ appeared on the Mont Blanc massif due to warm record temperatures.

An ‘ephemeral lake’ appeared on the Mont Blanc massif due to warm record temperatures. The phenomenon, witnessed by a guide of the Società Guide Alpine Courmayeur has been reported by the “Montagna Sicura” foundation about the repercussions of the hot temperatures of these days. The training is near the Rochefort group.

From AostaSera.it, Montagna Sicura and Guides du Mont Blanc

The canicular temperatures of these days have shattered the primates of heat in the valley floor, but their effects in altitude still worry those who deal with climate. On the Mont Blanc, due to the effect of a zero thermal that reached a height of four thousand meters, in addition to having created the sporadic conditions for which at least 150 paragliders managed to land on the summit the other day, a lake was formed in recent hours due to of the rapid melting of snow .

Technically speaking, we are seeing an “ephemeral lake”. The “Montagna Sicura” foundation reports this on its Facebook profile , sharing a photograph of the guide of Courmayeur Gianluca Marra (author of a video), which reproduces the unusual phenomenon, testimony to the “many repercussions on the high mountains” of the “Record temperatures these days” .

In the post, the foundation remembers that it is “the same place” (in the Rochefort group, whose most significant peak is the Dente del Gigante) ” in which it had already been observed in 2016 , when our technicians carried out an inspection of land that had not highlighted any problems “. An effect certainly suggestive from the point of view of landscape, but which can only give to reflect on the climatic evolution.

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June 19, 2019

25 Years of St. Anton Film Festival

St Anton Film Festival. Photo: Simon Rainer. St Anton am Arlberg Tourism Office.

25 Years of St. Anton Film Festival

”Mountains, People, Adventure“ Film Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary in St. Anton am Arlberg in late summer this year. The international mountaineering elite will convene in St. Anton am Arlberg from 28th to 31st August 2019 to offer an exciting insight into expeditions that have taken place around the globe.

A total of 20 screenings will be made, twelve of them premieres. St. Anton Film Festival has firmly established itself as a hot spot for the outdoor film scene over the past 25 years.

The atmosphere of a professional major event combined with a family atmosphere impresses guests and locals time and again, with the festival garnering record numbers of visitors last year. In addition to films with fascinating imagery, international endurance athletes, directors and impressive personalities talk live about their experiences and adventures and comment on their films. The entertainment begins each evening at 20 hrs.

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June 6, 2019

Cliffhanging restaurant opens for the season in Switzerland: Äscher Mountain Restaurant

Äscher Mountain Restaurant. Photo: Switzerland Tourism. Cliffhanging restaurant opens for the season in Switzerland: Äscher Mountain Restaurant.

Cliffhanging restaurant opens for the season in Switzerland: Äscher Mountain Restaurant

This summer the Äscher mountain restaurant had a weather delay that did not allow it to open in time. This restaurant is a bucket list place to go – nested by a cliff. One of the hiking routes up to the restaurant via the Blättli and Alp Bommen, are still closed due to high avalanche risk.

There are other paths to reach the restaurant that are still covered with snow. You should get the latest route information before venturing to the restaurant.

The restaurant is now under new management, because the people taking care of it until last year decided to cease their work there as the hotel had become victim of its own success, not being able to cope with soaring visitors’ numbers.

Cliffhanging restaurant opens for the season in Switzerland: Äscher Mountain Restaurant. Instagram photo.

The hotel is an Instagram sensation, and you can see by watching the pictures why. But it also got very well-known thanks to be named one of the world’s five most

The Äscher came to prominence in 2014 when it was named one of the five most interesting restaurants in the world in the Huffington Post.

Also, National Geographic featured it in the “Destinations of a Lifetime’ special. To reach the restaurant, you need to take a cable car and a short walk from Wasserauen in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden.

The foundation that owns the restaurant said last year that they were working on improving the establishment.

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May 10, 2019September 22, 2020

A Hike for your Bucket List: The Via Alpina crosses 14 of the most beautiful Alpine Passes in Switzerland.

The passes of the Via Alpina

The Via Alpina crosses 14 of the most beautiful Alpine passes and six cantons of Switzerland, with a great variety of cultures, geology and topography. Broad roads give way to exposed ridge paths. The variety of flora and fauna along the route is among the most diverse in the world.

The Via Alpina goes from Vaduz to Montreux in 20 stages, staying north of the Swiss Alps. Over 390 km, hikers enjoy the many highlights that Switzerland has to offer.

Vertical drops from the Via Alpina trek. A Hike for your Bucket List: The Via Alpina crosses 14 of the most beautiful Alpine Passes in Switzerland.

While the sections initially pass through relatively flat terrain in St. Gallen, the altitude being climbed increases quite steadily in the Glarnerland. When it comes to that Alpine feeling, the highlight of the route can be found in the Bernese Alps.

Day by day, hikers work their way through majestic mountain landscapes, with each pass crossed opening up a new world. This trail covers a total of 14 passes in six cantons and involves 23’600 m of ascent and 24’800 m of descent.

The route takes hikers to the secluded Surenen Pass, the famous Grindelwald, the Kleine Scheidegg pass with views of the Eiger, Mönch und Jungfrau mountains, the well-visited Blüemlisalp hut, perhaps one of Switzerland’s most beautiful lakes in Lake Oeschinen, the enchanting Bunderchrinde Pass and the sleepy Rochers de Naye mountains with unique views of Lake Geneva, to name but a few highlights.

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May 9, 2019

Our family hike in Pila during the past summer holiday

Last season we’ve had a holiday in the mountains, staying in Courmayeur. We tend to go to the Aosta Valley every winter, and we’ve passed by Aosta coming back from Lake Como a couple of times, but we never went up the mountain up from Aosta. My kids are very keen of Pila, as it is the very first resort where my youngest learnt how to ski, and the first European resort where my oldest skied. Pila is just on top of the city of Aosta, the capital of the Aosta Valley, in the border of Italy with France to the West and Switzerland to the North.

This week we have chosen to stay in Courmayeur was a bit unsettled, you had nice weather in the morning and torrential rain in the afternoon, so we needed to choose the gap when to go up in order not to get soaked!

We went in the morning, Pila is 30’ through the motorway from Courmayeur, and 40-45’ if coming through the scenic national route. We went through the nice route and left the car in the parking lot of Pila by the train station in Aosta.

On top of the Chamolé chairlift. Our family hike in Pila during the past summer holiday.

My kids were really excited, and so were my husband and myself, to get into the 18’ Leitner gondola ride up the mountain. It is weird to see all the mountain without snow, and weirder to see the landing of the gondola full of grass and nicely piquet fencing to direct the ‘pietons’ up or down the mountain.

We’ve started by going down to the start of the Chamolé chairlift. Walking down it seemed much shorter than going on skis – which I find weird, but I guess that not having to pass by all those ‘Interskiers’- (as we call the kids that come with Interski to Pila in the winter) who barricade the exit of the gondola, makes it a smoother walk down.

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Tag: Summer in the Mountains