Experience the dolce vita as we explore the beauty of the Italian Lakes District, ranked by the Huffington Post as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. Christine Jenkins shares how she enjoyed that sweet life in Italy, hiking stunning trails overlooking lakes, kayaking on them, eating good food, and drinking divine wine. Laying down her itinerary for that trip, Christine gives us a taste of what we could experience in this sweet place. She also takes us to her trips to the UNESCO World Heritage site, Valsesia, as well as Alagna and Val Grande National Park.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Adventure on the Italian Lakes of Lake Como and Lake Orto

Who says adventure travel means you have to rough it? Today we are heading to the Italian Lakes District, named the most beautiful lakes in the world by the Huffington Post.

Located in the Italian alps, the Italian Lakes District has spectacular pristine lakes surrounded by the majestic alps! No wonder so many celebrities like George Clooney, Madonna and Sir Richard Branson have purchased homes here.
On today’s Active Travel Adventures podcast, we interview Christine Jenkins, who went on Active Adventure’s ‘Dolce Vita’ fully guided ten day adventure travel holiday. Christine explains that each day, she thought if she had to go home that day, her expectations were exceeded, and still every day got better still!
She hiked stunning trails overlooking the lakes, and kayaked on Lake Como and Lake Orta (the latter being her favorite since it is less crowded).
Of course, in Italy, all the food and ample wine was divine – and plentiful!

Italian Lakes Villages

Of course, you’re not always hiking or kayaking.  You’re also here for the ‘Dolce Vita’ the sweeot or good life, and that means lots of great food and wine.  Christine says she didn’t have a single meal that wasn’t outstanding!  Christine also enjoyed having wine with both lunch AND dinner as is typical in Italy.

On Christine’s trip she visited the utterly charming villages of Stresa and Alagna, checked out the UNESCO World Heritage site of Sacro Monte di Varallo, explored the relatively undiscovered valley of Valsesia, hiked through the Bors valley and so much more!

Christine got a great view looking towards the Swiss alps at the Madonna del Sasso Sanctuary – don’t miss this!

Bellagio Boat Tour Video

This is a brief video that takes you on a boat tour of Bellagio

Kayak the Italian Lakes

You can of course hire a boat to tour the lakes, but isn’t it better to get up close and personal?  Why not kayak so you can slip in to the coves.  Plus you can avoid the crowds better this way!  Christine preferred Lake Orta over Lake Como because it was quieter, but she loved kayaking both!  She also found the boat garages built into the sides of the mountains particulary interesting.

Hike Italian Lakes

In this picture postcard area, there are wonderful opportunities to get spectacular vistas!

Earn your view by hiking to the top of Mottorone!

You’ll get striking views of the Po Valley and the summits of the alps – including a fabulous view of Mont Rosa!

If you don’t want to hike back down, simply take the Funivia (gondola) down to the heart of Stresa!

Active Adventures, while the name sounds similar to Active Travel Adventures (ATA), is a completely different company.  However I do have an affiliate relationship with them and you’ll often hear me recommend them.  I do not accept any advertising on my podcast, website or downloads.  However, for the companies that I choose, and that I choose  to affiliate with and recommend, I may earn — at NO additional cost to you — a small commission, a break on costs, or sometimes just a pat on the back and a thank you:)

Using my links is a great FREE way to show your support for ATA.  I offer unbiased recommendations only of fine companies that I know, like and trust.  Many thanks!  Kit

Italian Lakes Refugios

Sometimes you just need a break – especially after a steep uphill climb! Check out one of these darling refugios for a delicious break!

Offering up only the finest local ingredients, you will be rewarded for your hiking efforts with a delicious meal featuring fresh from the local valley meats, cheeses and beverages.  This truly is the Dolce Vita!

Italian Alps

Even though it may be warm in the summer down by the lakes, don’t forget that you are peering up at the magnificent Italian Alps!

Take a gondola ride up to see a glacier, and ice hikers with their crampons.

Top photo of woman at the lake courtesy of  Patrick Carr on Unsplash

Hike Italy Adventure : Italian Lakes with Christine Jenkins

I remember saying to my roommate, my neighbor, “If I have to go home tomorrow, I am still ecstatic. I have had the best time ever.†Each day was like a bonus day. It can’t get any better. It kept getting better. That is all I can say.

Dolce Vita. The good life. The sweet life. We are going to explore the sweet life in Italy. We are going to the Italian Lakes District, an area in Italy you may not be familiar with.

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If you could start by introducing yourself and perhaps telling us your age.

My name is Christine Jenkins and I am 66 years old.

How did you first get into adventure travel?      

Probably started several years ago. I’ve always wanted to travel. I’ve always wanted to see the world. I got that from my mom who never had that opportunity. She always was encouraging. I also love the outdoors and I connected my two loves.

How did you make the leap say, “I want to do that kind of travel,†versus the tour bus or go to the cities and all that? What was the thought process? How did you finally say, “This is what I’m going to do?“ What did you do?

I have done the bus tours. I did too with my mom. This was before the internet was popular. I knew there was a hiking trip in Nova Scotia, Canada. I decided to sign up for that and flew to Halifax in Nova Scotia. My husband was a little worried about me going by myself. That was my first test and I loved it ever since. I love the outdoors. I love the sounds when you’re by yourself. I love getting off the beaten track. Usually, you’re with a group of like-minded people. I’ve met some fabulous people on all my hikes.

That’s one thing that’s a recurring theme in this show is that you meet people. Usually each trip I make one or two lifelong friends.

From that trip, I still keep in touch with two people. One couple lives in North Carolina. It was my second trip. It was to Newfoundland and there’s a couple. They are both doctors and they’re in Raleigh, North Carolina and I still keep in touch with them.

We’re going to be talking about the Italian lakes. Of all the different trips that you’ve taken, what made you say, “That’s where I’m going next?â€

It’s a funny story. I knew I was looking around to see where I wanted to go next. I happen to be on Facebook. One of my Facebook friends kept saying he liked Active Adventures. He’s an outdoors guy. He teaches physical education. He’s a historian. I said, “Let me check out this Active Adventures.†I checked it out and I saw the different hikes, but the one that drew me was the Italian Lakes district partly because of the length of time. It was eleven days, which was nice. We could fly in from Toronto to Milan. It was a direct flight. It was easy to get to, but the kicker was we got to kayak for two days, which broke up the hiking and I love kayaking and it was perfect. I asked my neighbor, “Do you want to come?†She said, “Sign me up,†and away we went.

One thing I like about Active is it’s usually not just hiking. They usually mix in some cycling, some paddling or something like that. It’s multisport but predominantly hiking.

If you didn’t want to hike in a day, that’s fine too. We had a lady who had a meniscus issue. She had a torn meniscus. She had come in from Iceland. She was a photojournalist. They accommodated her and she got to do what she wanted to do during the day. They were accommodating, flexible.

How difficult is this because there are different degrees of difficulty for some of these adventures. On a scale of one to five, where would you place this particular adventure?

I would probably put it between three and four. I’ve certainly done more challenging hikes, but there were a few days it was challenging, as our first full hiking day because where I live we don’t have mountains to climb. I thought it was challenging, but it wasn’t beyond. None of us had to say, “I can’t do this. I give up.†We all did it, we all pulled together and we had a great time.

It’s almost like a team building experience as well.

It was and a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. When you got to hike through some of these beautiful alpine valleys, it was worth it.

We didn’t tell folks exactly where the Italian lakes are. This is northern Italy. You’re in the Alps.

You are in the Alps. It doesn’t take long for you to leave Milan and you can see the Alps in the background. For a couple of places where we were, Switzerland was across the lake. That’s how far north we were.

What training did you do to prepare for this?

I kayaked because I live near Lake. I did a lot of kayaking. I have two dogs. I walk them every day. That’s seven kilometers. I did small day hikes in my area. I’ve always had good cardiovascular health. I didn’t find it a problem. I kept active. In the winter, I snowshoe and I cross country ski. I always had my heart rate up and that’s the key and pacing yourself. If you pace yourself too, you don’t have to feel like you have to be at the head of the line all the time. If you do a steady pace, it works out.

Was elevation an issue for you or for any of the other hikers?

Not here. I’ve had it in Peru. I did not experience it and I don’t believe any of my other fellow hikers experienced it. They didn’t mention it at all.

Most of the higher mountains are surrounding you. I’m trying to get a visual. Tell us a little bit about the landscape so we can get a picture of what it looks like.

In the beginning, at our first full hike, we went up through the alpine meadows. There was snow up higher in the mountains. You went through these little lush valleys. It’s like a picture postcard you would think of as for Switzerland, but you were still in Italy. You come to a little hamlet in the middle of nowhere. The people were lovely. We’d have our lunch at a refugio somewhere. We’d have local meats and cheeses and you’re looking at the mountains and the waterfalls. All you can hear when you’re hiking is a bit of a breeze. The cowbells, because all the cows have bells around their necks, and there was no other manmade sound. It was beautiful. Priceless.

That first valley you go to is a UNESCO World Heritage site, Valsesia. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

It was nice because as far as the landscape, it was stunning. I’m going to use that word a lot in my descriptions probably, but everything was stunning, spectacular. At the main center was Varallo and it was beside a river. We hiked up to a UNESCO World Heritage site. There is a monastery there and you can come out over edges and look down over the town of Valsesia. It was incredible. Some of the oldest religious structures in Italy are located there and it’s on the side of the valley.

I see here in my notes that the Franciscan friars built that in 1491. For those of us here in the States were like, “That’s old.â€

That’s a year before Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

That sounds like a great way to start your adventure. Any other favorite memories from that day?

One of the memories I have is looking at the ledge over the town below and we can see this huge thunderstorm coming down a valley across the way. That was neat to see it approaching us. The thunder in the mountains they bounce the echo. The echoes of the thunder bounce off the mountains, it sounds a lot louder than it was probably.

You mentioned refugios. For those that may not be familiar with that term, can you explain that please?

It’s a small hamlet or a refuge would be the English way. We went to a couple of them for a couple of hikes. One in particular, we had to hike up to this place where we were going to have our lunch. It was uphill. It was a challenging hike and it was by this wildly raging river. We get to this refugio you and it’s like a little hamlet there.

I need some more clarification there. I think of a refugio as a mountain hut.

There were several huts. You can stay there, but they’re privately owned. They had this restaurant and there’s no road in and the food was outstanding. You couldn’t believe it. You could have fresh cheeses and meats from the local valley. There was a fresh rabbit. There was fresh fish. Nothing was deep fried. In North America, we would not hike or walk our way to a restaurant like that. If we did, people would complain but everything would be deep fried. Everything here is fresh. You could sit out in the patio and look at the mountains and the rivers. It was beautiful.

After your lunch, what did you do?

We had a bonus because we get to go downhill the whole way. We hiked all the way back into Alagna. That’s where we stayed for three nights in Alagna. One of our guides, Andrea, he was from Alagna. He was able to give us the inside scoop on Alagna.

Tell us a little bit about Alagna.

Alagna looks like a little Swiss town but you got to keep reminding yourself you’re in Italy. There are all little café shops where we stayed at the Hotel Monterosa. It was right beside the church and the church rings its bells every hour and half-hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It was a beautiful little hotel where we stayed. The town was old. Alagna is off the beaten track for North Americans to go over especially in the winter. It wasn’t difficult to get by when you were talking to a shopkeeper or in a little café. You are understood or you figured it out. There were all these little side streets. There was a beautiful little river going outside of town, which we can hear from our hotel. It was a lovely time. We were there for three nights. We had fabulous breakfasts in the morning. It was great.

What kind of foods do they have for breakfast? It looks like that whole area was populated by German people that moved there in 5th century AD or something.

The Valser people. The hotel we stayed at for the three nights is owned by a couple from Sweden. It’s been a couple of generations in their family. In breakfast, we had fresh fruits, granola, homemade bread, homemade jams, coffee, tea, yogurt. You didn’t starve. Probably the best granola I’ve ever had in my life was there. They made food right. It’s all fresh. That whole trip we did not have one bad meal anywhere. It was hard to come home.

We could sure learn how to do food better from the way they do things we do. They eat seasonally too. They wouldn’t think of having strawberries in the middle of winter. They eat what’s locally produced and available then.

They do eat seasonally and the other thing they do is they eat as local as possible. Our two guides Andrea and Jo might prepare and pick up some stuff from little stores or grocery stores and they’d put out this fabulous picnic lunch with cheeses that were from that valley only. That was the only place you could get it or salamis, that type of thing, bread and fresh fruits. It was incredible. We had wine at lunch.

What about dinner?

When you got to hike through some of the beautiful Alpine Valleys, you know getting there was worth it. Share on X

I was going to say that was one of the things that were outstanding for this trip was the food. All our meals were covered and nothing was skimped on. We ate the best you could possibly have. We had wine with lunch usually. We had wine with dinner. What was interesting is after we’d finish our hike for the day or our kayak, we go back to our rooms, change and eat for dinner. We’d always have an apertivo, which is a tray brought out and it had meats, cheeses, crackers and wine. I thought, “That’s our dinner.†No, it’s not and then we still go to a restaurant. I’m glad we were hiking because I’m sure I’d come home at about ten pounds more than I normally am.

You’re in Italy and you know everything’s going to be good.

Everything was beyond my expectations. Everything was fresh, nothing was processed. It was awesome.

Now you’re using this as your base camp. What things did you do each day?

If we didn’t do hiking, we did the kayaking on Lake Orta and Lake Como. We didn’t kayak on Maggiore. There was one day we decided as a group and we had a small group that was five hikers. That was nice. We decided one day we didn’t want to hike and we are in Stresa, which is on Lake Maggiore. We went and walked into town. Some of us went to the islands and we did a bit of shopping. The guys were flexible. We decided we didn’t want to hike that day. The days we went kayaking, we’d be out by the water’s edge at 9:00 in the morning. There was a gentleman by the name of Juliana who came up from Genoa, Italy. He brought the kayaks. All the people had kayaked before, that was good. He gave us safety instructions. We got fitted with our life jackets.

Usually by 9:30 we were out on the lakes. We stopped about maybe 10:30, 11:00 in a little village and stopped for an espresso. We get back in our kayaks, kayaked a bit more and then stop in another village and maybe have lunch or stop at a beach. Our guides would put lunch out. Between that we would go swimming in the lakes. In the afternoon we might stop at about 2:30 or 3:00 in another little village and have gelato. It was civilized. Swimming, the lakes were clear and it was too hard to believe you weren’t at the ocean. The colors of the lakes were beautiful.

Tell us about the lakes itself. Is it the fact that the lakes are surrounded by mountains or the lakes are particularly pretty in and of themselves?

The lakes are like jewels. There was one day we did hike to the top of one of the mountains. We could see Orta and Maggiore on both sides. We had a good view. Orta is the smallest then Maggiore then Como. The lakes were aqua blue color, clear. Especially in Como, the sides had these old Italian homes that they’ve probably been in families for generations. There are piazza’s nearby. George and Amal Clooney live on Como, but we didn’t see them. There were steep sides on a lot of the lakes, but there are some beaches. Two of the lakes, Lake Como and Lake Orta are what they call crypto depression. That’s the one word I took away from that trip. A crypto depression means the bottom of the lake is below sea level. There are a few other ones in the world, the Finger Lakes up in New York state. Orta is not a crypto depression. Maggiore and Como are crypto depressions. They’re below sea level and the lakes are usually long and narrow, and their shores are steep. It was in Maggiore that they believe Mussolini hit his gold and it might be lying at the bottom of the lake. He had a hideout on one of the islands on Maggiore. That’s a local legend.

When you’re doing the hiking, are you in pastures, forests? What are you hiking through?

We’re doing it all. We’re in pastures and forests. There was one day we went through for about an hour-and-a-half. All there was were chestnut trees and it was quite a challenging hike. It was steep and it was hot. It was pretty and quiet. We came out to a pasture area and then we had to go under some fences. We had a real variety of landscapes for hiking. There was another day when we went up in a gondola, we went up on a series of three gondolas until we got up to where the glaciers were and that was an interesting day. It was cold and there was a lot of ice hikers. They had the crampons on their boots and they were doing some ice hiking, but we had to take three sets of gondolas to go higher. If you have a fear of heights, you may not want to take it. I found that a challenge, but it was a barren landscape with rock and ice and we’d be going along. You’d think that the gondola was going to hit the side of a rock face and then suddenly it will go up and then you were in your station where you could get off, walk to the next one and keep going higher up. That was quite incredible.

Did you get to walk in the glacier or look at it?

We got to walk on the snow. It was cool considering down below it was probably in the upper 80s to low 90s. Up there, it was a bit of a reprieve.

What month did you go?

July.

You’re in the heat of summer.

Yes, but apparently it was warm there in June. They had a trip in June. I understand it was warm then. It wasn’t an oppressive heat. It wasn’t humid, it wasn’t dry, but it was manageable. If you’re dressed appropriately, I would strongly recommend a sun hat especially to cover the back of your neck and your face. The other thing I would suggest to people is to take hiking poles. Some people didn’t. That is helpful for steadying yourself and pulling yourself up on steep parts or giving you some stability on the way down the mountain.

I like poles too for going downhill because they take a lot of pressure off my knee. I’m clumsy. I cannot tell you how many falls they have stopped by having that extra appendage to me or crossing a river or creek. They gave you that little extra stability. I don’t think I’ve ever fallen in a creek. I don’t want to jinx myself though.

I haven’t either. One never knows.

Any other special memories from that area?

One of the days that stick out in my mind was on Lake Orta and we went over to San Giulio Island. There’s a monastery there and abbey. It’s easy to walk around this little island. There are several spots where you look down like it’s old, cobblestone streets, narrow. I don’t think there were vehicles on it. I don’t even recall any vehicles. You could go swimming. In our group, we went down the small passageway to the lake and four of us didn’t have bathing suits on, but they were in our packsacks. We lost all modesty. We went into a little dip in the wall, threw caution to the wind, stripped down, put on our bathing suits and dove in the lake. We thought, “If there are cameras out there, there are cameras out there.†The water felt beautiful against your hot skin. It was the most incredible feeling. You can feel yourself cool down. We were laughing like crazy. We felt like kids. It was fun.

In your group, you said there’s a small group of five. Is it a men and women combination?

All women. My neighbor came. There was a lady from San Diego, a lady from Manhattan and the lady from Rochester.

What would you say the age group range was?

I would say the age group would have been maybe 52 to the lady from San Diego who was in her early 50s and two about in the upper 70s. These ladies, all of them are in great shape. They did their age group proudly. They had nothing to be ashamed of. The lady from Rochester was in her 70s. She was in fabulous shape.

Those are my role models. I interviewed a guy by the name of Stan on the Annapurna episode. He’s in his 70s and has already planned his adventure for a couple of years out. That’s how I want to age.

That’s good for him. I’m planning to go to Mont Blanc. I’ve already booked my trip.

Any other thoughts about that area before we go to the Val Grande National Park?

Reiterate the whole atmosphere. I was thinking about what I was going to say. The whole trip in combination, I remember my roommate, my neighbor, I said to her, “If I have to go home tomorrow, I’m still ecstatic. I’ve had the best time ever.†Each day was like a bonus day. It can’t get any better and it kept getting better. This has been no doubt the best hiking trip I’ve ever had. I’ve been to a lot of places. There was nothing I have to say bad about it. I’d consider going back again and do it again.

It hadn’t even been on my radar, but then I started doing some research and I said, “It looks nice. That’s now on the radar.â€

It hadn’t been on my radar either. I have looked at other places. I’ve looked at Scotland, I’ve been to Scotland before. I thought about Iceland and I do know Active Adventures does Iceland now, but I was supposed to go to Montblanc with another company a couple of years ago but I badly broke my arm. That put a kibosh to that.

When you're in Italy, you know everything's going to be good. Share on X

The Mont Blanc episode is probably one of my most popular ones. If you forget, go to the Directory Page and then you can either use the search bar or scroll down and see what rocks your boat. On the website, you can either directly download and/or listen to the podcast. Plus, you’ll also find more details on the trip itself including itineraries, tons of photos, often videos, and there’s a lot of information there. If you need either even further details, you can download for free the travel planners that have clickable links that can get you directly to the information or places that you need in order to plan your trip.

Those come automatically with the monthly newsletter. I do not spam you or sell your name. You can download them as you need them from the website. I know from the pictures that you sent and from my research that the Italian lakes area is absolutely gorgeous. To put that also in perspective, residents have included George and Amal Clooney, Richard Branson, Madonna. These are folks who can buy and live anywhere where the money is no object, yet this is where they choose. That demonstrates how beautiful it is there.

There are some beautiful mansions and you can tell they’ve been in families for a long time. They’re old architecture but beautifully maintained. What was neat is the boat pulls into a garage at the side of the cliff. It’s like a boat garage. These beautiful old wooden boats are fabulous.

Obviously, this is a ritzy area.

It is private, exclusive, especially at Como. You’ll also see a lot more North Americans there too. English, British and North American accents are common. My flight over to Milan, there were people saying they were going to Bellagio on Lake Como.

A Huffington post article once ranked the Italian Lakes district as the most beautiful lakes in the world.

Orta is not as busy a lake. It’s smaller of the lakes. I preferred that lake because it was less busy.

Let’s switch gears and now you’re going to the Val Grande National Park. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

That was the day we decided not to hike. That was the hooky day. A couple of us walked into Stresa which is a small village, a beautiful old boardwalk from where we were staying all the way into Stresa. Some of these beautiful old hotels are along the lakeside. They’re something you would see from the 1920s or ‘30s. I’m sure they’re wildly expensive. There are three islands on the lake. You could take the boats to them and we all met on this one island for lunch.

It sounds like that was a well worth it hooky day.

It was well worth the hooky day. Everything was fine. We enjoyed our day. I can’t comment on Val Grande National Park except to say apparently there’s a lot of hiking trails in there. They did suggest you have a guide or a proper map because there are people who have gotten lost. They have never been found there. That struck the fear of God into us.

A lot of times when you’re hiking in some of these particularly remote areas, it’s good to have a guide with you.

You learn so much too especially somebody local.

Flora and fauna too, you might see an animal you have no idea what it is or a pretty flower and it’s something you take a picture of. Whereas they can tell you what it is. When people ask you, “How was your trip?†What’s the story that comes to mind?

I did something on the trip that was accommodated for me and for the lady from San Diego. We were able to do it. It’s not so much fun, but it was fun. We were able to do it because we had a small group and we went paragliding. That was in Alagna. Two of us went paragliding one morning. We went with a pilot. We went separately and we had to take a gondola up to the site which was about 8,800 feet and we were up for about twenty minutes. We come in and we landed over in Alagna. I remember the pilot saying to me, “Do you want to touch the steeple of the church as we go by?†I said, “I’ll pass on that one.†That’s not in the plans and I don’t think if they had a big group they could do that. We were able to do it because we could do it early in the morning and the weather was right. The wind was right. The other thing we did that was a lot of fun as we went down LP Land and it’s Mottarone Mountain. It’s up at the top. You start at about 1,490 meters and it’s a go-kart. You go down the mountain in a go-kart by yourself or with somebody else and it zigzags down. You can reach some pretty high speeds. You get a beautiful view of the lake, although you’re trying not to scream as you’re going down and not die and hang onto your water bottle. That was fun.

Does any funny story come to mind?

I do have a funny one. We were on Lake Orta. We were out for evening dinner one night. We were at a restaurant right on the lake. Beautiful meal as usual. We see this boat going by and there are three naked men in it. They’re raising their glasses of wine to all the patrons at the restaurant. Everybody’s stunned and we thought we’d wait for them to come back. We’ll have our camera’s ready, but they never came back. We all had a good laugh over that one. That was funny.

Europeans have a different mentality about nudity than North Americans.

I saw a lot of ladies who would be in their ’50s, 60s, probably 70s and they wore bikinis and I thought, “Good for you.†I almost thought about buying one for myself, but Jo, our one guide, she said, “Their attitudes over here are different.†I thought it is what it is. They were out there in their bikinis.

I’m surprised they had tops on, but maybe that’s the south of France.

I saw all with tops if they were standing up or sitting up. Their menfolk were attentive to them. They were draped in gold jewelry and all that.

In France, most of the women didn’t have tops and it didn’t make a difference what shape your body was in. They’re in skimpy bathing suits.

We have a lot to learn in North America.

Any other things you want to tell us about your Italian lakes adventure?

We had two guides. I want to mention our guides Andrea, who is from Alagna, Italy and Jo. Jo was originally from Wales but lives in Auckland, New Zealand now. Those guys were outstanding. They were knowledgeable, they were patient, they were flexible. Andrea was a good van driver. He navigated all these little narrow roads. Sometimes we go through these little villages where the road was barely wider than the mirrors of the vehicle. We always felt safe with them. Jo was funny. We gave her a nickname. We called her ten-minute Jo. The reason was if we’d be hiking on a particularity challenging day, she would say, “There is a refugio up ahead.†I’d say, “How far is it, Jo.†She’d say, “It’s about ten minutes.†A while later we’re thinking, “Ten minutes.†She’d go, “It’s another ten minutes.†Everything was ten minutes with her. We ended up calling her ten-minute Jo.

That reminds me when I was doing a two-week section hike at the Appalachian trail with my girlfriends, Gerry and Jane. I had the elevation map and I would always know exactly how many more hills we had to climb. As we’re getting tired at the end of the day, everybody’s pooped and we’re ready to find a campsite and all that. I was saying, “You can do it. This is the last hill. I promise it’s the last hill.†We’d get up over that hill and there’d be another hill. I would say, “This is the last hill.†I’m not sure what they called me behind my back, but I doubt they were as kind as calling me ten-minute Kit. Sometimes to make it to the end, you got to fib. Anything else about your guides or transit?

One of the other little things I have to tell you about is Giuliano, the gentleman who drove up from Genoa twice with all the kayaks. The second time he came up he brought us some focaccia from a local bakery. He left at 5:00 AM in the morning from Genoa to get up to the lakes and he had this fresh focaccia. It was still a bit warm and we had it at our break. That was memorable and it was good.

I forgot to ask you accommodations. Are you in guest houses? Are you camping? I know you said you were in one place for a few days. Tell us a little bit about where you stayed.

We stayed in hotels for the first three nights when we were in Alagana. It was a beautiful old hotel run by a couple from Sweden. I love the wooden shutters because they could open up. We had clean rooms in Stresa. All the rooms were clean and had air conditioning. There were no complaints about the accommodation. It was close to everything. If we wanted to walk somewhere, the one place we stayed at, they would mostly have balconies or little doors that open up although we didn’t because it was quite warm. The accommodation was excellent. The one thing over in Europe, if anybody’s ever traveled there, the elevators are small. Maybe two people get on with one suitcase each, no more than that. That’s the one adjustment. The other adjustment is a lot of times in Europe, they don’t use face cloths. If you are big on using a face cloth, you might want to bring your own face cloth. Other than that, you don’t want for anything. If you need toothpaste, it’s easy to get. If you need wine, it’s easy to get. It’s not like you’re in a third world country. Little tips like that.

Is there anything you wish you’d known beforehand that you could share with us?

As you find there are other solo travelers, you end up connecting and looking out for each other. Share on X

Our gear guide, they suggested bringing a hat, gloves and long underwear. We definitely did not need to pack that. It was too hot. That took up room. Maybe what they have is a standard gear list they give to everybody. If I was going in June or July at the Italian Lakes district, definitely don’t worry about that. I would strongly suggest poles. I know some people don’t like them, but that’s a given for me too as well.

I don’t hike without them anymore. I don’t care where I’m going and it also keeps my rhythm.

It does get and it gives you a bit of an upper body work out too.

One final thing, you say you travel solo. Usually you’ll pair up with a group or something like that. Do you have any thoughts on solo travel?

As for how I usually travel, I happened to ask my neighbor. We had traveled once before together and she’s a great traveler. We had gone to Point Reyes National Seashore in California. We went for a week with a group. I like solo traveling because in the evening if I want to go to bed earlier, if I want to read until 1:00 AM, I’m not disturbing anybody. You meet some great people traveling solo. I used to be nervous about traveling solo, but not anymore. There’s a lot of women out there that traveling solo now. A lot more than one would think. As you find there’s other solo travel, you end up connecting and looking out for each other. That’s the other thing too as a group. You spend that much time together. You do become a big family and you do look out for one another.

Two final questions for you. Number one, if somebody says to you, “I’m thinking about going hiking in the Italian lakes,†what do you tell them?

I say, “I’ll give you the name of Active Adventures. You will have the best time ever, I promise you. In fact, I’ll go with you.â€

The last question for you. Where’s next?

Mont Blanc next year in Switzerland, Italy where you fly into Geneva. I’m going to do that with Active Adventures. That’s my next one. In 2020, I always say I want to go back to the Italian Lakes, but there are many places to go in this world. I’ve been to New Zealand, but I’ve never hiked in New Zealand. There’s always that option. There are many places, little time and you want to do those things when you’re healthy.

This is not an ad for Active Adventures, but we’re both fans. When you’re picking out which trips, are you looking at their website and say, “Where do I go next from there?†How do you pick your next trip?

I had wanted to go to Mont Blanc a couple of years ago. I had already booked it and I was going with my neighbor, the one who went on this one, but I had broken my arm. She went on ahead. It was always in the back of my mind that I was going to go with another company. I saw through Active Adventures they did Mont Blanc. They also do a kayaking day, which I thought I liked that. It changes things up a bit. That’s why I’m going with Active. I’ve put my deposit down and I’m ready to roll next June.

Is that how you choose your trips is by looking to see where they go now that you’re a fan? How do you choose your next trip? Are you looking at their website to see where they go and choosing from there? Do you pull from different areas? How do you pick your next destination?

If I was going post-2019, I would see if they have any changes in what places they want or new additions. If there was a particular place I want to go, let’s say I wanted to go to Croatia or I wanted to hike in Portugal, I may look online and see about other hiking companies or if it’s doable. I explore a bit but see what others have to say. The only reason I found out about Active Adventures was through a friend on Facebook who Active Adventures kept coming up and say, “Jo Blow likes Active Adventures.†I thought, “I’m going to have to look into this because I know this guy and he wouldn’t just say that.†That’s how I got onto it.

Thanks, Christine, for your time. It’s been great. We sure loved learning about the Italian lakes with you. We’ll have to have you back on when you do your next adventure.

That’s for sure.

—

I love how adventure travel doesn’t always mean that you’re getting in the mud and all that stuff. Sometimes you can even go to luxurious locations like the Italian lakes district and live the good life. Regular readers will know that I don’t accept any advertising at all for this program so that I can keep it commercial-free. However, I do have affiliate partnerships with companies that I have selected that I truly believe in that I recommend to you. With these affiliates at absolutely zero cost to you. Sometimes I’ll either get a discount or I might make a commission or sometimes I’ll get some bonus travel and such as that. I want to mention that Active Adventures, even though the name sounds similar to Active Travel Adventures, we are two totally separate companies. Active Adventures is one that I highly recommend because my friends and I are true believers that it’s a great company. The people spend their time trying to give you a trip of a lifetime.

If like Christine you wanted to explore the Italian lakes district with a guided tour company, I would recommend Active. If you do so, please be sure to let them know that I sent you either by using any of my links or by letting them know when you book. Using any of my links is a great free way for you to show your support of the program. To get the free travel planners, be sure to sign up for the newsletter. You can do so by going to the ActiveTravelAdventures.com website and then clicking on the Newsletter tab or you can write to me at Kit@ActiveTravelAdventures.com and ask me to put you on. I would be happy to. A special shout out to Pat. Pat did that and then it wasn’t long before on the phone chatting and before you know it, we’re going to be roommates on a great trip to Egypt. I can’t wait. Reach out to me. I’d love to hear from you and I’d like to make this a two-way conversation. Until next time. I’ll be back with another great adventure. This time, we’re going to go a little bit further north. We’re heading up to Norway, which I can’t wait to share that with you. Until then, this is Kit Parks. Adventure on.

Important Links:

• Active Adventures
• Annapurna episode – Active Travel Adventures episode
• Mont Blanc episode – Active Travel Adventures episode
• Directory Page – Active Travel Adventures episode directory
• ActiveTravelAdventures.com
• Kit@ActiveTravelAdventures.com

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