Luxury Family Adventure

PACKAGE AVAILABLE ONLY ON REQUEST!

Venice is a fabulous place for adults and kids alike! Stay in a Venetian palace, explore maze-like passageways with new delights (and gelato!) around every corner, and enjoy the surrounding islands – you'll find there is something here for everyone in the family! Wild alpine meadows, deciduous and evergreen woods, high altitude lunar-like terrain soaring peaks, dramatic walls and towering heights alternate with the refined South Tyrolean towns and hidden delicious mountain inns that you encounter during your daily hikes.
This adventure showcases the beauty of the Dolomites in all of their grandeur.

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS

• Visit the iconic Saint Mark's Square and the Doge's Palace and prisons,
  plus explore the hidden aspects of Venice – the city of water – that most tourists
  never get the chance to experience
• Visit a traditional hiker's hut, whiz past the forest canopy on a zip-line,
  take a cooking class and explore a canyon full of fossils!
• Options, options, options! There's always something for everyone in the family to enjoy!

You'll pack a ton of activities into this incredible family trip. Stop for gelato at one of Venice's most famous gelateria's on the Zattere waterfront and hike on the moonlike landscape of the Dolomites' Sella Massif. Ride the chair lifts and gondolas high into the mountains and visit a rifugio – traditional mountain hiker's hut! Play at an environmentally friendly adventure park. Explore World War I tunnels and military artifacts – even climb on a via ferrata (iron path) that was once used to traverse these great mountains! Experience the geological wonders of the dolomitic formations, from their breathtaking spires that dominate the landscape to their fossilized ocean creatures embedded in the rock walls. And learn how to cook pasta like the Italians do!

TRIP DETAILS

Length: 10d / 11n
Start / Finish: Venice / Dolomites
Activity Level: For everybody in good and active physical health.
Note: hikes and walks can be adapted based on your requests.
Difficulty Level: Easy to Moderate
Cost: on request

Includes: Trip briefing, maps of the areas, accommodations and meals as noted in itinerary, luggage transfers, local transportation, local medical and evacuation insurance,
Italian mobile phone for emergency calls during the trip.

Airport transfers available on request.

ITINERARY
Trip itinerary may vary based on weather conditions, fitness levels and abilities of participants, and/or the recommendations of your guide.

Day 1 ~ Arrival & Private Walking & Boat Tours of "Venice for Kids" (Guided)
Arrive in Venice, Italy, and check in to your luxury hotel overlooking the Grand Canal.
Once you are settled in, spend the morning exploring the main islands of Venice on your own.
In the afternoon, you'll take a private tour of "Venice for Kids" – including both a walking tour
and boat tour.
(2 hour private guided walking tour plus 1 hour private boat tour.)
Dinner on your own. ... Bauer Luxury Hotel, Venice (5-Star)

Day 2 ~ Murano, Burano & Torcello Islands, Venice (Self Guided)
Enjoy the day visiting three of the charming outer islands of the Venetian lagoon: Murano, Burano and Torcello. Take a "vaporetto" (water bus), to the island of Murano, perhaps the most famous of the Venetian Islands thanks to the world renown "Murano Glass" produced here.
From Murano you'll again take the vaporetto to the Island of Burano, one of the most picturesque of the Venetian lagoon, and to Torcello, famous as an archeological site.
Dinner on your own. B... Bauer Luxury Hotel, Venice (5-Star)

Day 3 ~ Redagno, Dolomites
In the morning take your private transfer you to your hotel in the Dolomites
(4 hour car transfer – 227km / 141 miles). Upon arrival, have lunch at the hotel and then take a self-guided hike through meadows and pine forests, enjoy the swimming pool of the hotel,
or take a sauna in the private cabin outside the hotel.
B,L,D... Hotel Villa Berghofer, Redagno (4-Star Superior)

Day 4 ~ Redagno, Dolomites (Guided)
With your mountain guide, hike up to the summit of the Corno Bianco/Weißhorn massif
(2,317m / 7,602'), which has a spectacular 360° panoramic view on the Brenta and Ortler mountain chain, including a view of the Val di Fassa (Fassa Valley). Picnic lunch at noon.
(4-5 hours hiking, 800m / 2,625' ascent and descent)

Day 5 ~ Canyon of Bletterbach (Guided) & Cooking School
Close to the village of Redagno lies a breathtaking and even mystical place: Bletterbach Canyon, the "Grand Canyon" of South Tyrol. This canyon is 8 kilometers (5 miles) long, and as deep as 400m (1,312') in places; it exposes the geological development of the area like a "stone-turned book of geology." Midday picnic lunch. (3 hours hiking, 300m / 984' ascent and descent)
B,L,D... Hotel Villa Berghofer, Redagno (4-Star Superior)

Afternoon Cooking school - Pasta che passione!! It is a great satisfaction to make your own fresh pasta, and also to cook it properly "al dente." Nothing tastes better! You'll learn to prepare tagliatelle, ravioli, and tortelli, and see how it tastes mixed with different types of sauces.
Dine on a Redagno farewell dinner in the 500-year old gothic stube
(a traditionally wooden room in a building where the stove is located and meals are prepared).
B,L,D... Hotel Villa Berghofer, Redagno (4-Star Superior)

Day 6 ~ Helicopter ride to Alpe di Seceda – Alpe di Seceda Hiking (Guided) – Alta Badia
After breakfast you will be picked up near your hotel by a helicopter, for a 15 minute panoramic flight over the Dolomites. You'll have lunch along the way at a charming Rifugio (mountain hut),
and taste some delicious local specialties. After lunch you will be transferred again by helicopter for another 15-20 minute flight to Alta Badia, your home for the next 5 nights.
B... Relais & Châteaux Hotel & Spa Rosa Alpina, Alta Badia (5-Star)

Day 7 ~ Via Ferrata Gran Cir or Averau (Guided)
Via Ferrata Gran Cir
The Gran Cir (2,592m / 8,504') is the highest peak in the Puez Group, and thus has a wide panorama. It provides a splendid viewpoint, both north into the Puez National Park, and to Piz Boe and the Sella Group to the south. It is absolutely indicated for someone with little experience of mountain scrambling, who is, nonetheless, keen to try their hand at climbing via ferrata.
(3 hours climbing an easy via ferrata – 450m / 1,772' ferrata ascent.)

OR

Via Ferrata Averau
This via ferrata is a good confidence builder for beginners, and the views of the Tofane Group to the north are outstanding on this route – Cinque Torri, the historic training ground of generations of rock climbers is just below the imposing bulk of Averau.
(1 hour climbing an easy via ferrata – 100m / 328' ferrata ascent.)
B... Relais & Châteaux Hotel & Spa Rosa Alpina, Alta Badia (5-Star)

Day 8 ~ Hiking on Mount Lagazuoi (Guided)
In the morning you'll ride the cable car almost to the top of Mount Lagazuoi (2,778m / 9,114'),
to Rifugio Lagazuoi, one of the highest rifugi in the Dolomites at 2,752 meters (9,029').
On its patios you feel as though you're sitting at the edge of the world – its spacious deck offers 360° view of the Dolomites! From Mount Lagazuoi, hike mostly downhill on a lunar landscape across Lagazuoi, reach Lago and Rifugio Scotoni and Capanna Alpina (1,726m / 5,663'). Transfer back to your hotel. (5 hours hiking – 1,052m / 3,451' mostly downhill so it is perfect for the children.)
Tonight you'll enjoy dinner at a Michelin-star rated famous restaurant!
B,D… Relais & Châteaux Hotel & Spa Rosa Alpina, Alta Badia (5-Star)

Day 9 ~ Zip-Lining in Alta Badia
The kids will enjoy an exhilarating zip-line ride,
where they'll whip past the canopy of trees from platform to platform (ages 7-14).

Overnight stay at a private mountain cabin. This is a fun experience for the entire family!
The private chalet sits at 2,000 meters (6,562'); here a private evening for just your family awaits.
Rosa Alpina staff will deliver a candle light dinner, as well as breakfast the next morning,
leaving guests their freedom to enjoy the peace of the mountains in solitude.
B,D... Private Mountain Cabin, Alta Badia (5-Star)

Day 10 ~ Hands on cooking
In the morning, the cooks will return and deliver breakfast. After breakfast, hike (or mountain bike) down to your hotel through Val Badia's scenic mountains, filled with conifer forests and flower-carpeted fields, surrounded by a fantasy-land of lofty rock towers.

Hands on cooking: How nice is to "steal" the secrets that make the dishes of our Chef Norbert Niederkofler and his staff a masterpiece of flavors and simplicity combined with the class of the two Michelin stars, that accompany our Restaurant St. Hubertus since several years.
You will receive the apron and cooking hat "Cooking School St. Hubertus" and all the recipes.
B,L... Relais & Châteaux Hotel & Spa Rosa Alpina, Alta Badia (5-Star)

Day 11 ~ Depart
Breakfast and private transfer to the Venice International Airport. B...

PACKAGE AVAILABLE ONLY ON REQUEST!