Italian Alps - Hiking in the Aosta Valley

If you want to enjoy walking in the mountains and experience Italy’s culture, culinary highlights, and excellent wine, but don't want to take on long days of heavy-going ascents and descents then this holiday is ideal for you.

It’s a tour designed to make the mountains accessible to a wider range of walkers and not only those with extensive alpine hiking experience. Walk through the famed Aosta Valley on the easy to moderate stages of the well-waymarked Cammino Balteo path. The length of the stages gives you enough time to visit the many historical sites along the way, such as Fenis Castle and you have a free day in Aosta mid-way through your holiday.

Most of the time you are at an altitude of 800 to 1,000 m, although on the penultimate walking day, it goes up to around 1,920 m to make the most of the incredible mountain vistas. The stages are between 6 and 13 km long and the daily ascents and descents are manageable with most ascents below 500 m and most descent below 655 m (there are a couple of walks that have more than this, but they could be skipped if needed).

Slower Adventures | Where walking and cycling meet easy-going exploring, our Slower Adventures are the perfect combination. Most days are filled with picturesque journeys with some free time to dive into the destination and experience the people, local food and culture as you go.

Multi Centre Walking | With a mix of loop and point-to-point walks stay 2 or 3 nights in one place which offers the chance to slow down and really explore a destination.

Solo Travellers, Families with Teens

The minimum age for this tour is: 10 Years

This tour is graded as easy to moderate and has a free day in Aosta mid-way through. The difficulty is determined based on the entire trip, so individual days may be slightly harder or easier than the overall grade. Most of the time you are at an altitude of 800 to 1,000 m, on the penultimate hiking day it goes up to 1,920 m.  To get the most from this trip you should be comfortable walking on undulating terrain with frequent ascents and descents.  To get the most from this trip you should be comfortable walking on undulating terrain with many ascents and descents. 

It’s a tour designed to make the mountains accessible to a wider range of walkers and not only those with extensive alpine hiking experience. You don’t need to be an experienced hiker, but you should be in good physical condition and sure-footed.

The stages are between 7 km/4 mi and 13 km/8 mi long and the hiking time is around 3 - 5.5 hours. Due to the mountainous terrain, there are frequent ascents and descents to contend with. Most of the walk is on mountain and forest trails, where there are short sections that are a bit steeper and/or stonier underfoot.

This holiday includes overnight accommodation in small hotels, guest houses, and B&B’s. We hand-pick the accommodation to ensure you enjoy every minute of your stay. A warm welcome, traditional hospitality, and delicious local food and drink come as standard.

Details of the accommodation we normally use are detailed below. These are subject to availability, and early booking is recommended.

We book en suite rooms as standard. If there are no en suite rooms available in an overnight location, we may book a room with shared facilities, but we'll always let you know first if this was the case.

Alternative Accommodation

We'll always try and accommodate you at the locations detailed in your itinerary. On the odd occasion, due to limited availability, there may be an option to be accommodated at an alternative location. In the unlikely event that we must accommodate you elsewhere, we'll let you know before confirming your booking. In this case, you can change your trip dates, or we can arrange taxi transfers to and from an alternative overnight accommodation (supplement payable).

Single Rooms & Solo Walkers

This self-guided trip is available to solo walkers for a supplement and is subject to availability. If you require single rooms within your party, we'd be happy to accommodate you although there is a single room supplement payable.

Meals

Breakfast is included each morning. In Italy this is generally a light continental breakfast. Lunch and dinner aren't included but are available from your hotel or nearby restaurants. Your accommodation may be able to provide a packed lunch on request and this can be booked on arrival. The food in Northern Italy is strongly influenced by its neighbouring countries so as well as wonderful Italian wines and cheeses, you’ll get pastries and bread more similar to those found in France and hearty sausages and stews that are reminiscent of Germany. Traditional specialties include matured Toma di Gressoney cheese melted onto polenta and Jambon de Bosses, a cured ham that has been stored in hay at high altitude for several months before being flavoured with local herbs and spices.

Additional Nights

You may want to spend some extra nights along the route, either to rest or for those with plenty of energy to explore some of the other walking opportunities nearby. We recommend extra nights in Aosta, as there is so much to see and do here.

You will be walking on a well-signposted walking trail on which you can discover a fascinating, culturally influenced mountain world. Navigation is straightforward as you can use the Macs Adventure app which has maps, GPS tracks, and daily route info. Simply download the GPS tracks for offline use and follow the route on your phone with the assurance that navigation will be simple, and you can’t get lost.

You will find more information on downloading the app in your Macs Adventure Account.

Our walks usually begin and end at a central point in town (such as a church, bus stop, etc.). Access routes to your accommodation are not included in our km daily figures. However, the Macs app will guide you to your accommodation. You just need to go to the ‘Itinerary’ on the applicable day, open the section about your accommodation, and click on the ‘Get Directions’ button.

The hike can be done from late April to late June and from early September to early November. You can start your walk on any day and date during this period. July and August can get very hot, so we do not recommend travelling on this tour during the summer.

Peak Season Availability

Early booking is recommended to secure the best accommodation for you throughout the peak spring and autumn months. If you're interested in travelling during these months, then we may require some flexibility regarding your dates and itinerary. We'll do our best to provide a suitable alternative in line with our usual tour. In the instance that our usual accommodation isn’t available, a supplement for alternate accommodation may be payable. We'll always try our best to get you confirmed on the date you wish to travel.

Time of Year

Spring in the Alps is normally sublime, and April, May and June are lovely, with most wildflowers blooming in May. Autumn is a perfect time of year as the landscape is made up of a gold and red pallet, so September and October are unmissable. The winter weather is starting to arrive in late October and November, but this is also the time with the fewest visitors so it’s great for gaining crisp fresh air and peace and quiet on the trails.

There are various websites that provide useful information about the weather and climate of your destination. A good website for climate information specific to towns and countries is: www.weather2travel.com

We recommend that you check the local weather forecast daily before starting your walk. TV and radio news and corresponding websites are ideal for this purpose. In addition, your accommodation hosts are usually well-informed and will be happy to help you.

Arrival into Turin: We recommend flying to Turin Airport. There are regular buses to the central rail station, which take approximately 30-45 mins. You can catch a train (trenitalia) from here to Ivrea (40min) and then to a bus to Pont-Saint-Martin (15min).

Arrival into Milan: Milan is served by three airports.

Milan Malpensa (MXP, 45 km from the city centre). The Malpensa Express train from the airport to Milan City Centre (approx.1 hr).

Milan Bergamo Orio al Serio (BGY, 50 km from the city centre). From BGY you can take a bus into central Milan taking around just less than an hour.

Milan Linate (LIN, 7 km from the city centre), this journey is more complex, involving 2 trains and a bus, taking around 3 hours in total.

From Milan City Centre there are various bus connections to Pont-Saint-Martin (2hr 10mins).

*** Attention: due to railway electrification works, the rail transport service along the Ivrea-Aosta stretch, from 3 January 2024 until 13 December 2026, is carried out by bus. You can find more information here.

To Turin: From Morgex take a local bus to Aosta (approx. 1hr) . From Aosta a bus/ train combination goes to Turin City Centre (Torino Porta Susa). From here you can take the bus to Turin Airport (40mins).

To Milan Malpanza: From Morgex take a local bus to Aosta (approx. 1hr) and then the take Flixbus from Aosta direct to Milan Malpanza.

To Milan Linate: The journey is more complex, involving 2 trains and a bus, taking around 4 hours in total.

To Milan Bergamo: From Morgex take a local bus to Aosta (approx. 1hr) and then the take Flixbus from Aosta direct to Milano Bergamo.

To make your departure as relaxed as possible, we recommend you spend an extra night in the city you are flying home from. If you want to extend your travel Courmayeur und Chamonix are easily reachable.

Your bags will be collected from your accommodation each day and moved onto your overnight accommodation. Except from Pont Saint-Martin, you will take your main luggage with you to Aosta on the train or bus. Don’t worry though this is a straightforward journey, and you can drop your bag off at your centrally located hotel on arrival, ready to spend your free day discovering the town. Please limit your luggage to one bag of up to 20kg per person.

At Macs Adventure, we work in partnership with many luggage transfer providers who set a limit on how many bags/suitcases they will transfer per person, and also the weight of the bag/suitcase. Your booking includes the transfer of 1 bag per person and the weight of your luggage allowed is specific to the destination you will be travelling to. This is why it’s very important that you read the luggage information specific to your tour before departure. If you don’t stick to these limits, there’s a chance you’ll be charged locally both for extra bags and/or if they're too heavy. This limitation can be a challenge, especially as airlines generally have limits that are higher. However, our luggage providers have reasons for these limits (usually due to the Health and Safety of their employees), which we must respect.