After a long car ride, we started approaching the stunning Dolomite mountains, which were met by “ooohs” and “aaahs” by all of us. Our first stop was the cable car up to Alpi di Suizi, Europe’s largest meadow with the backdrop of jaw-dropping mountains, and it did not disappoint. A few ice creams (for the kids) and glasses of Prosecco (for me) later, we enjoyed the hike through the meadows, admiring the cows and the sound of their bells along the way. Next, we drove to Lago di Carezza, a stunning emerald lake where we hiked the easy loop trail. That evening, we enjoyed a wonderful meal at our hotel, Hubertustube near the town of Ortesei. Looking at the attire, hearing the language and reading the signs over a glass of Sangiovese, I marveled at how this mountain town felt much more like Germany than Italy.

The next morning, we took the cable car up to the Seceda mountains, another stunning sight where we hiked a few trails and the kids were thrilled to find a playground and rock climbing wall. The wonderful host at our hotel also shared tickets to an adventure park where the three of us rode the fly-line, a zig zag loop with us suspended by rope, down the mountain. We also zip-lined through the trees, the kids first real zip lining experience and we all had a blast! That evening, we strolled around the charming town of Ortisei, stopping at churches and playgrounds along the way. When we returned to our hotel, Ayaan and Nani enjoyed a game of ping pong followed by ayaan and me in a game of foosball, which I won by one point 😀. Ariana and I then befriended all the farm animals and Vera, the daughter of our host also let her ride the pony!

We drove the stunning Gardena pass to the town of Cortina d’ampezza , admiring the majestic mountain range along all sides of the route. We then headed to Lago di Braies, a stunning lake with row boats against the backdrop of the alps. The kids and I also hiked to Lake Misurina and enjoyed the playground overlooking the lake, where people admired Ariana’s strength and perseverance on the monkey bars just like they do back home!

On our last day, we took the bus to Tre Crim for the epic hike to the three mountain peaks. While the heat got in the way of the kid’s motivation to complete the entire 10km loop, we still got to take in some incredible views, before returning to the mountain-top restaurant for lunch. Once we returned to town, we stopped at Lake Misurina for the kids to play in the playground and ziplines again. That evening, we celebrated Ariana’s birthday before Nani returned to India. Nani has bought her a beautiful unicorn necklace and pendant, a tiara and a birthday sash which she adorned throughout the celebratory dinner and cake at a nearby patisserie.