The Dolomites are the best mountain scenery in Europe. Below the snowline, coastal trails above the Ligurian Sea and a volcano that erupts while you hike it. Italy rewards going vertical.
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4 experiences · Dolomites, Liguria, Sicily, Gran Paradiso
Eighteen groups of vertical limestone towers reaching 3,000m, turning amber at sunset in a phenomenon called enrosadira. The Alta Via 1 traverses the full range in 8 days — rifugio to rifugio, via ferrata to via ferrata, with nothing between you and the rock but a steel cable and a harness. No mountain range in Europe has the same combination of extreme verticality and comfortable infrastructure.
Read guide → Liguria · Ligurian SeaFive villages painted into cliffs above the Mediterranean, linked by a trail network that climbs between olive groves, terraced vineyards, and sea views that drop 200m straight to the water. The high route above the villages — the Alta Via delle Cinque Terre — is quieter and harder than the coastal path. Worth every extra metre of elevation.
Read guide → Sicily · Eastern CoastEurope's highest and most active volcano, erupting dozens of times a year with lava flows visible from the coast below. The summit craters at 3,350m are reached on foot from the cable car station at 2,500m — a 2-hour ascent across black lava fields. On clear days, the view takes in the entire eastern coast of Sicily and, occasionally, the Aeolian Islands.
Read guide → Valle d'Aosta · Western AlpsItaly's oldest national park, established in 1922 to protect the ibex from extinction. Today the population has recovered to thousands. The glacier approach to Gran Paradiso summit at 4,061m is the most accessible 4,000m peak in the Alps — a 6-hour ascent that doesn't require technical climbing, only crampons and a rope. Below the snowline, high valleys full of ibex and chamois.
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