Travel news around the world: A Step By Step To Vacationing In The Mountains

By Maurizio Bono

Reinhold Messner, the famous mountain climber and writer, already said it 20 years ago in a small manual, Salvate le Alpi (Save the Alps): for skiers and snowboarders the mountains mean snow, for climbers they mean rocks and for tourists they mean a postcard. Instead it is – and should be – all this and more, as long as you understand and respect them. If you look at them together as clearly as the astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti did recently from space, white with snow and forming a wavy line from France to Slovenia, curling at the beginning and swirling north at the end, the Alps are actually a pathway, a difficult and complicated road that has always had to be traveled, given their location in the heart of Europe. The 300,000 square kilometers – nearly 116,000 square miles – of valleys and passes have been continuously crossed from prehistory until today. (Let’s forget the peaks for the moment, as they’ve only become a recent destination: the 150th anniversary of the first expedition to the Matterhorn was celebrated a short time ago and it’s been nearly 230 years since Paccard and Balmat climbed Mont Blanc on August 8, 1786.) It is a “chain” made up links that are tightly knit but not impenetrable, so unique and imposing that it is simply called “mountain” – if that is the true meaning of the pre-Celtic word Alb.

ImageContent(562e49d2e4b0aac0b8fd8190,562e46951400002200c7ad0f,Image,HectorAssetUrl(562e46951400002200c7ad0f.png,Some(),Some(png)),Getty Images,)

The worldwide tourist organization provided official data on vacations and sports for the Alps: 100 million visitors, representing about 12 percent of worldwide tourism. The latest report on the status of the Alps published by the Alpine Convention, the international treaty signed by the eight European countries linked by the mountain chain, is dedicated to “sustainable tourism,” while other efforts go to the ecology of transport and defense of the Alpine population (17 million people). Messner keeps saying it: the mountain must be seen as a whole. It is a bit like climbing: the only things that save you are balance and wisdom.

ImageContent(562e49d2e4b0aac0b8fd8192,562e46c21400002b003c91ba,Image,HectorAssetUrl(562e46c21400002b003c91ba.png,Some(),Some(png)),Getty Images,)

HOTEL CRISTALLO – CORTINAA D’AMPEZZO – BELLUNO

Founded in 1901 and still run by the same family, Hotel Cristallo has the same charm it had in the Belle Époque, with the addition of modern luxury. The suites are furnished with great elegance, the spa is an ode to relaxation, and the golfing club boasts a stunning panorama.

ImageContent(562e49d2e4b0aac0b8fd8194,562e470c1400001b013c91bd,Image,HectorAssetUrl(562e470c1400001b013c91bd.png,Some(),Some(png)),Getty Images,)

HOTEL ADLER DOLOMITI – ORTISEI – VAL GARDENA – BOLZANO

The landscape is what dreams are made of, nestled in the Dolomites in Val Gardena, one of the most sun-drenched of all the Alps. In addition to five-star amenities, the Adler Dolomiti Spa & Sport Resort offers an award-winning wellness center, which is the largest and most spectacular in the Alps (3,500 square meters, or nearly 38,000 square feet) with indoor, outdoor and saltwater pools, sauna and relaxation areas.

A weekend for two costs 500 euros, including half-board.

ORESTESHÜTTE – GEESSONEY – VALLE DEL LYS – AOSTA

OrestesHütte is not so much a hotel as a very unusual and sophisticated refuge. You get there on foot in the summer and ski there in the winter down one the most beautiful free-ride slopes of the Monte Rosa Ski area, the one that starts at the Passo dei Salati- Punta Hindren cable car station. These are the mountains of the Walsers, the Germanic tribe that colonized these peaks, arriving from the Canton of Valais starting in the thirteenth century.

The refuge has meticulous single, double and dormitory rooms, and traditional but vibrant fare made with totally organic ingredients. Prices start at 60 euros a person per day for half-board.

ImageContent(562e49d2e4b0aac0b8fd8196,562e473b1400002b003c91be,Image,HectorAssetUrl(562e473b1400002b003c91be.png,Some(),Some(png)),Getty Images,)

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.