The Sanctuary of San Romedio

San Romedio is a place about 40 mins away by car from Trento.

You need to park your car near the Museo Retico at Sanzeno or near the restaurant, then follow the indications for the Santuario di San Romedio, apparently one of the most beautiful in Europe. It lies on a rock 90m tall. The walk takes you through this very picturesque canyon and hills of apple trees. During the walk you will sometimes have to lower your had but other than that it's an easy and safe fenced off path.  Apart from the first steep part all the rest is on the same level. It probably isn't good for buggies but small children (for example ours aged 3 and 5) could manage the walk which took us about 1.5 hrs one way. For those who don't want to walk you can get there by car but you'd miss a very nice stroll. On the other hand, even if you choose the car to get there you can still go for a short stroll if you choose directions towards Sanzeno. I reccomend this walk particularly in sprintime when the apple trees blossom (around May I'd say).

The map we found during our walk.

From the San Romedio Sanctuary it's only a short walk to Coredo.

Duration: 2-3 hours round walk

Level: easy, although the footpath from Sanzeno to San Romedio is not suitable for strollers.

Refreshments and toilet facilities: you'll find a bar near the car park at San Romedio or you can buy something from a small shop within the Sanctuary itself. 
Toilets are available there as well.

Useful websites:

http://www.comune.sanzeno.tn.it/uk/sanromedio.html

 How to get there: take A22 towards Brennero, come out from the highway in San Michele all'Adige/ Mezzocorona, follow SS343 towards Mondola, then Sanzeno, finally follow the directions for San Romedio.

la Baselga di Pine'

La Baselga di Pine is about 20 mins away by car from Trento. 
This nice and quiet little town is located at 970m above the sea level and it has a lake called Serraia. The lake is a popular destination for families in all the seasons and the walk around the lake is very easy and it's accessible for buggies as well.

In the immediate vicinity to the lake you'll find various bars, restaurants and a playground. What you could do as well is from the car park follow the signs for the ice stadium (stadio di ghiaccio) where you'll find a bigger and nicer playground. It takes about 10-15 mins to get there and it's a little road with hardly any cars. In winter the ice stadium is a good place for indoor and outdoor ice-skating.



Here you'll find a link to the website with a map of the walk around the lake. The walk takes about 1 hour on foot, 25 mins by bike and it is 4.0 km long. http://www.altopianodipine.com/utility/passeggiata_num.asp?cod=girolagoserraia 

You could go as well for a walk around the  two lakes: Lake of Serraia and the Lake of Piazze. This one is a longer walk, 9.4km and it takes 2 hours 20 mins on foot and 1 hour by bike. There are plenty of places to rest and have a picnic on the way. Here's the website: http://www.altopianodipine.com/utility/passeggiata_num.asp?cod=girolaghi

And here's the website with some information about Baselga di Pine and the surroundings.

http://www.tr3ntino.it/it/zone-del-trentino/altipiano-di-pine-cembra/baselga-di-pine.html

If you are around here in winter we recommend a visit  to Miola di Pine', a little village neighbouring Baselga where every year there is an exhibition of various nativity scenes. It's always around Christmas and it is called El Paes dei Presepi. Apart from lots of lovely nativity scenes to admire you'll find there traditional dishes and sweets to try, live music and farm animals on display. There is a little competition in which you can win  one free entry ticket to the ice stadium. The way it works is at the beginning of your walk around Miola you get the booklet with the snippets of some of the figures from the nativity scenes. During your walk you must spot the figures and put the correct stamp next to the picture in your book. My kids loved collecting all the stamps in their booklet and it added an interesting twist and some thrill to going and seeing the nativity scenes.

Opening times: 

4-5-6-7-8-11-12-18-19 December 2010 and from 26 December 2010 to 6 January 2011. If you go there between 2pm and 6pm you should be able to see something.

How to get there: from take the SS47 towards Pergine/Padova, then turn right into SP71  towards Baselga di Pine'. Follow the road that will take you up until you arrive in Baselga di Pine'. You can park your car in the car park near the lake.

Trento and Sardagna

The first and most important thing we should tell you about Trento is to avoid coming here on Monday, if you can that is. Most of the shops are closed until 3pm and most restaurants remain closed throughout the day. The same goes for museums. If you have no choice and you are around Trento on Monday than you can always go and visit Pergine as Pergine's shops etc are open on Monday and closed on Wednesday. Sounds confusing? Welcome to Italy!

Trento is a nice small town in the north - east of Italy. When we say small, we should mention that the town population is more than 100 000 inhabitants so maybe it is not such a small town for some. Anyway, we often hear from people born and bread here that it's a place where not much goes on, but personally we prefer it that way. It's quiet and beautiful, and it's easy to get on foot to most of the places.  On Thursday there is a market in the main Piazza Duomo (near the cathedral, the focal point of Trento) where you can find clothes, shoes and fresh food.

We are not going to list all the attractions because you can find those on any official town website. What's more, the purpose of this blog is to show what you can do with your family here.

Your first stop should be a Tourist Information Office in via Manci 2, surprisignly open every day from 9am to 7pm. Don't worry if they don't seem very friendly, it's just the way people are here, and a good customer service is often lacking here. 

If you are tired of walking, right in the centre of the old town in Piazza Lodron you will find a playground for kids. A nice stop from walking and shopping, and in summer you can get a bit of shade here as well.

There is a Science Museum/ Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali which has a website in English as well. What's interesting is that it it has a soft play area for kids, called Area Bandus, open Tue-Sun from 10-18. It's got interesting toys, not the usual plastic things, a book corner and a table where you can play with playdough and sand. The age limit is not mentioned but I would reckon it is for children between the ages of 3 and 10 years old. The price is included in the museum ticket, or if you live in Trento you can buy a CARD for 1.50 euro and then each visit is 1 euro just for this area.

Here's the link for the Area Bandus: http://www.mtsn.tn.it/eventi/dettaglio.asp?id=54

Winter and the Advent time is nice in Trento because that's when the city hosts a Christmas market. The place offers mulled wine, traditional food from Trento and South Tirol and lots of hand made crafts, good for Christmas gifts although the prices of the latter can be a bit high. 
If possible avoid the busy time which falls on Sunday around December the 8th. That's when Italians have a long weekend so many of them choose this period to come to the Christmas Market. It gets so busy that it's impossible to walk and you feel like you are a tiny particle of water in a big river.

Father Christmas visits Trento in December and stays in this hut. (Last year it was Piazza Lodron)

February is the time of the Carnival which hasn't got a fixed date so you have to consult the calendar. Normally the celebrations last from Saturday until Tuesday. On these days you can find street performances, lots of children all dressed up and a big merry-go around in Piazza Fiera in Trento. Careful though because many shops are closed on Tuesday of the Carnival. My friend once wanted to buy some of those special sweets they eat here for Carnival but she could only watch the shop windows because the "pasticerie" shops were closed.

June is the month of Feste Vigiliane, when the locals celebrate their patron saint. Consult the official website of Trento but that's when there are stalls with local food, music and fireworks at night. Here's the link to the official website although it's only in Italian. http://www.festevigiliane.it/index.php

Here's the website of the Tourist Office of Trento, Monte Bondone and Valle dei Laghi:

http://www.apt.trento.it/en/Home.htm

useful websites: http://www.visittrentino.it/en/ all about the region of Trentino

http://www.meteotrentino.it/ the weather forecast for Trentino

Sardagna

From Sardagna you can get a very good view of Trento and the souroundings.

You can get there by car but it's much more fun to take the cable car from near the car park San Severino, just off the town centre, next to the Adige river. The ride only takes about 3-5 mins and you need a valid bus ticket (you can buy it there as well or you can find it in any tabaccheria).

****For groups with children only: if you come to Trento and want to take the bus, remember that you can get a special Family Bus Ticket/ Biglietto Famiglia. It's for a family of 2 adults and up to 4 children and it costs 1.80 euros at the time of writing. You can get the tickets at the tabaccheria and remember that you must validate your ticket on the bus.****

Here's the link with the timetable, mind though that it doesn't operate during windy weather.

http://www.bebtrentino.info/attrattive/Sardagna-terrazza.htm
http://orari.ttspa.it/TestTTOrariWebApp/pdf/ORARI_FUNIVIA.pdf

Funivia Trento Sardagna Srl Via Marconi Guglielmo 3 38100 Trento (TN)

Tel: 0461822075

Why the blog

Our blog offers many itenaries of day or half day trips for all the family in Trentino and South Tyrol.

We have lived in Trentino for over 2 years now. It's a beautiful part of the world. There is so much to see that you could visit a new place every day of the year.

When we first arrived here, we made a list of 100 things we wanted to see during our stay. We've managed to do a lot and we keep on adding new places.

In order to do our list we had to do a lot of reseach. We found that there was not much information for families available on internet. We have small children, we want to know where we can take them for a gentle walk or hike. We are not so much interested in places like Gardaland, although we are sure it's great fun for bigger kids. To us living in Trentino is all about outdoors and therefore we prefer going to the mountains.

We hope you can find some useful information on our blog.


Kind regards,

trentinoblog

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