To celebrate my 75th birthday my oldest son and I are planning a day hiking trip to northern Italy and western Austria. We plan to spend about three weeks. We will rent a car. We have some books and some maps and have ordered and received material from tourist offices to help us plan hikes. I know that Summit Post is a mountaineering site but mountaineers often walk through some very nice hiking areas to get to summits. We have found some very helpful information on Summit Post.
I would appreciate receiving suggestions for day hikes in mountain meadows and the like that an old guy can handle. I don't go uphill too well anymore and as a skier I do appreciate the benefits of lifts. Besides recommendations for specific hikes we would welcome suggestions of general areas in western Austria or northern Italy that would be good to focus on.

Hi, I´ve just had 2 weeks in the Abruzzen - great area to walk in!
Just one suggestion.
Cheers
Charles

Val Gardena has some nice areas. There is a gondola not too far out of St Christina that takes you up into the Odle Valley near the Fermeda peaks. My recollection is that there is a trail along the valley bottom after the gondola that is not super steep (hard to find "flat" walking in the Alps). I think you can also walk around Langkofel after taking trams or driving up high. This is on the other side of Val Gardena. St Christina and/or St Ulrich has nice places to stay.

Same is true for the Cinque Torre and Tre Cima di Lavaredo. Especially the last is very scenic.

Thanks for taking the time to make some suggestions. I know that the Alps do not have much flat space but remember the sidehill gouger who walks across the mountainsides instead of up and down. Quite at odds with the apparent philosophy of many SummitPost members.

oldandslow wrote:Thanks for taking the time to make some suggestions. I know that the Alps do not have much flat space but remember the sidehill gouger who walks across the mountainsides instead of up and down. Quite at odds with the apparent philosophy of many SummitPost members.

A traverser!