In supplier order. Some entries may cover multiple days; optional experiences are described by the supplier.
Fly to Italy
Fly to Italy, meet your tour manager and transfer to your hotel. Settle in and unwind, before an included welcome drink before dinner brings the opportunity to meet with fellow guests, no doubt looking forward to a wonderful break ahead.
Included Trento and Riva del Garda excursion
Today’s included tour begins with a visit to the former Roman settlement of Trento, the principal town of Italian Trentino, with its wonderful mountain-backed setting looking all the more special during the festive season. Wander the colourful streets and visit the Christmas market, which is held in two places: the Piazza Fiera square and Piazza Cesare Battisti square. The foodstuffs on offer, at the market and in the surrounding restaurants, fuse the flavours of the north with the tastes of the Mediterranean south. If you have time, don’t miss the chance to visit the ancient Duomo cathedral or the vast Buonconsiglio Castle.
This afternoon the tour continues to delightful Riva del Garda, nestled on the northern shore of Lake Garda. Its elegant, pastel-painted buildings surround a little port, and its promenade is the perfect place for a wintry afternoon stroll. Visit the traditional Christmas market before returning to your hotel.
Christmas Eve – Included Merano and Bolzano tour
Christmas Eve begins with a morning visit to Merano, a celebrated spa town that was once the favoured refuge of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Here there will be time to enjoy a morning coffee and slice of traditional apfelstrudel in a cafe before the tour continues to Bolzano, a delightful town set amongst slumbering vineyards in the heart of the wine-growing Alto-Adige region, surrounded by the towering, craggy peaks of the scenic Dolomite Mountains.
Bolzano is the undisputed ‘Italian Capital of Christmas’, and the wonderful Christmas market on the central Piazza Walther lives up to this reputation. Local crafts folk – including glassblowers and wood-carvers – ply their wares to a wonderfully scenic backdrop. Every inch a wine town, Bolzano offers countless opportunities for sampling the excellent local vintages, and the chance to take a bottle or two home with you.
This evening, start your celebrations in earnest back at the hotel with a special Christmas Eve dinner, as is customary in continental Europe.
Christmas Day – Grand Dolomite tour
Merry Christmas! This morning you’ll head into the dramatic winter landscape of the Dolomites on a wonderful included excursion. As well as the chance to enjoy some of Europe’s most spectacular mountain scenery on the Pordoi and Sella passes, you'll also soak up the warm festive welcome of some Alto-Adige towns and villages, as you stop at Ortisei to visit the Christmas market and traditional wood crib exhibition.
Christmas lunch will be served at a restaurant, followed by afternoon tea and cakes when you return to the hotel this afternoon.
Boxing Day – Optional Innsbruck tour
Today you’ll have time to rest and relax at your hotel, perhaps making use of the spa facilities in the hotel wellness centre, or joining the optional excursion to Austrian Innsbruck. With its onion-domed churches and historic old town surrounded by scenic mountains, the city is the perfect winter wonderland. Explore the many stalls of the delightful Christmas market held underneath the famous golden roof, and on elegant Maria-Theresien-Strasse, before returning to the hotel for dinner and a final evening in the Dolomites.
Fly back to the UK
Transfer to the airport and return to the UK today at the end of a wonderful Christmas in the Dolomites.