Italian Job (Alps, Dolomites & Lakes)

Six nights across the Italian Alps, Dolomites and Lakes, navigational rather than guided, in the guest’s own car, with the Eurotunnel included.

More than twenty tried and tested mountain roads is the claim, and in that part of Italy it is an easy one to make good on: the Dolomite passes alone run to a dozen, and the lake roads and the Alpine crossings add the rest.

The format is the operator’s own: a destination and a suggested route each day, delivered as a map, a satnav or local advice, with the choice of following it, improvising, or taking a recommendation from someone at breakfast. Everyone regroups at the same hotel in the evening, which is where the social half of the trip happens. The driving is split between the high passes of the Alps and Dolomites, which are technical and slow, and the lake roads, which are neither but are very beautiful.

The pre-booked return Eurotunnel crossing, five nights in four-star hotels and one in a five-star, all with parking, and a tour booklet with the suggested routes are included; fuel, the car, some meals and a single supplement for solo travellers are not. The price shown is per person sharing. Late spring to early autumn is the window, since the high passes close in winter and the Dolomite roads are busiest at August weekends. Seven days for twenty-odd passes means the days are full rather than leisurely, which is the point. No particular sort of car is required either, which keeps the format open to anyone who enjoys driving rather than only to the supercar set.