This is Italy with a Tyrolean accent. Pressed against the Austrian border, Trentino-Alto Adige climbs from the orchards of the Val di Non and the warm shores of northern Lake Garda to the sheer limestone walls of the Dolomites, the mountains that glow rose and amber at sunset.
Go in June to September for hiking, December to March for skiing.
- Fly into
- Bolzano (BZO)
- Capital
- Trento
- Size
- 13,605 km² (5,253 sq mi), about the size of Connecticut
- People
- 1.1 million
The region is bilingual to its core, Italian in Trentino to the south, German-speaking South Tyrol to the north, where towns answer to two names and a single mountain culture.
The table follows suit. Speck and rye bread, canederli dumplings and apple strudel sit beside the crisp whites and Lagrein reds of the valley floors, while the orchards yield the prized Mela Val di Non and the cellars distill clear fruit grappas from pears and bilberries. In a Bolzano museum lies Ötzi, the Copper Age hunter who walked these passes 5,300 years ago.
Come in winter for the great ski arenas, or in summer and early autumn, when the high meadows flower and the orchards hang heavy.
What to see in Trentino-Alto Adige
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Brenta Dolomites
Madonna di Campiglio The westernmost Dolomites, its towers strung together by the ledge paths of the Via delle Bocchette.
Sass Pordoi
Canazei A cable car from Passo Pordoi to a 2,950-meter plateau, the Terrace of the Dolomites.
Seceda
Ortisei A high pasture above Ortisei, where the Seceda ridge, Odle peaks and two distinct mountain walks meet.
Trento Cathedral
The Romanesque-Gothic cathedral where the Council of Trent met, on Trento's frescoed Piazza Duomo.
Buonconsiglio Castle
Trento The prince-bishops’ castle in Trento, home to the medieval Cycle of the Months frescoes.
MART Rovereto
Rovereto's domed museum of Futurism and the Italian moderns.
South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology
Bolzano Discover Ötzi, his original clothing and equipment, and the research behind the Copper Age story at Bolzano’s archaeology museum.
Trauttmansdorff Castle Gardens
Merano's eighty terraced garden worlds around Sissi's neo-Gothic castle, with palms thriving beneath the Alps.
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How many nights in Trentino-Alto Adige?
Choose your nights and the route redraws: where to sleep, what to see, and the towns an easy day out from each base.
3 nights in Trentino-Alto Adige: Bolzano for 2 and Ortisei for 1.5 nights in Trentino-Alto Adige: Bolzano for 2 and Ortisei for 3.7 nights in Trentino-Alto Adige: Merano for 2, Bolzano for 2 and Ortisei for 3.10 nights in Trentino-Alto Adige: Trento for 2, Merano for 2, Bolzano for 2 and Ortisei for 4.
Add your first day and each link opens on that stop's dates.
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Where to stay in Trentino-Alto Adige
Each stop with what to see and, where we have them, a day out and the hotel we'd book.
The regional capital on the Adige, an elegant city of frescoed Renaissance facades where the Catholic Church convened the Council of Trent.
- Day out
- Rovereto · Madonna di Campiglio
A modern hotel on the edge of Trento run by the Burlon family, with design rooms and a suite with its own private spa.
Check dates: Hotel Be PlaceMore in Trento
Built against an old rock face by the Castello del Buonconsiglio, a hotel with a sizeable spa and rooms with private jacuzzis.
Check dates: Hi Hotels TrentoA family farm stay among vineyards and woods on the hill above Trento, with terraces over the vines, five minutes from the centre.
Check dates: Agritur Casteller
65 km from Trento as the crow flies
A genteel spa town, Meran in German, set in a sheltered basin where palms grow beside Alpine peaks.
25 km from Merano as the crow flies
The capital of South Tyrol, Bozen in German, a city of arcaded streets and Tyrolean gables where Italian and Alpine worlds meet.
A small guesthouse with just a few rooms on Via Rosmini, a short walk from Piazza Walther, for a simple city-centre base.
Check dates: Adv HomeMore in Bolzano
Castel Hörtenberg
A restored Renaissance castle ten minutes' walk from Piazza Walther, with an outdoor pool, a spa and dinner down in the old dungeons.
Check dates: Castel HörtenbergA family-run hotel on Via Grappoli in the old centre, with a breakfast of regional and homemade produce and an underground car park.
Check dates: Feichter Hotel & Living
25 km from Bolzano as the crow flies
The main town of Val Gardena, St.
- See
- Seceda
- Day out
- Bressanone · Canazei
A spa resort in its own landscaped park right in the centre of Ortisei, with guided hikes and outdoor activities folded into the stay.
Check dates: ADLER DolomitiMore in Ortisei
Cavallino Bianco Family Spa Grand Hotel
A family resort in central Ortisei with indoor and outdoor pools, a spa and a kids' club that takes even young babies.
Hotel Albion
On a panoramic slope just outside central Ortisei, a spa hotel with an infinity pool, natural bathing pond and Dolomite-facing saunas.
Check dates: Hotel Albion
Other places to stay
Hotel Be Place
A modern hotel on the edge of Trento run by the Burlon family, with design rooms and a suite with its own private spa.
Check dates: Hotel Be PlaceForestis Dolomites
High on the Plose above Bressanone, forest-wrapped suites look out to the Dolomites, with a Celtic-inspired spa and cooking built on foraging.
Check dates: Forestis DolomitesHotel Rovereto
A late nineteenth-century townhouse on Corso Rosmini, run by the Zani family, with its own art collection and homemade pasta at Ristorante 900.
Check dates: Hotel RoveretoAKI Family Resort Plose
An ADLER family resort below the Plose summit, with full board, an indoor water world and childcare even for babies, so parents rest too.
Check dates: AKI Family Resort PlosebyHaller Suites & AO Restaurant
A family-run hotel among the vineyards above Bressanone, with terraced suites facing vines and mountains and relaxed fine dining at AO.
Check dates: byHaller Suites & AO Restaurant
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A traditional dinner from Trentino-Alto Adige
Every course is one the region actually serves. Change any of them and the wine, the timing and the shopping list follow.
First course
Canederli in Brodo
The Dolomites’ bread dumplings, studded with speck and chives, poached and served in clear broth. Thrift turned into Sunday lunch.
Main course
Carne salada e fasoi
Briefly seared Trentino cured beef with borlotti beans, onion, sage and rosemary.
Side
Tortel de Patate
Trentino’s tortel de patate turns raw grated potatoes into thin fritters with crisp, golden edges.
Dessert
Strudel di Mele
Apple strudel with hand-stretched pastry, pine nuts, raisins and cinnamon, served barely warm.
What to pour
A light Alto Adige Schiava (Vernatsch), served cool: its soft tannins and red-fruit freshness suit the speck without weighing down the broth.
Alto Adige
Start the Carne salada e fasoi the day before: 13 hr 45 min, most of it waiting.
Taste it there
Bolzano's table, with a full meal
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What Trentino-Alto Adige is known for
You will find these here and nowhere else.
Reinhold Messner put his mountains inside a ruin: Werner Tscholl's rust-coloured walkways link the towers of Sigmundskron, on a porphyry rock above Bolzano.
Renzo Piano shaped MUSE after Trentino's peaks, then hid a humid Tanzanian garden inside, loud with its own waterfall.
Teroldego in the Piana Rotaliana
North of Trento, the Piana Rotaliana gives the region a particular wine-country chapter. Mezzolombardo, Mezzocorona and San Michele all’Adige are reference points for Teroldego and its cultivated landscape. Begin with this defined area before widening the route: it is a local wine geography, not a description of every vineyard in Trentino-Alto Adige.
The year in Trentino-Alto Adige
The rituals, races, and processions the region still keeps.
At Christmas
Plan an Alpine Christmas journey around the markets you most want to visit: Trento, Bolzano, Merano and the smaller towns each need their own time. Dates and holiday hours differ, including on Christmas Day. Use the market guide for the confirmed schedules and leave room between town visits for the journey and a meal.
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