We are spending 4 days in Castelrotto in September. When we leave, our next scheduled stop is Bellagio. We can go north/west through St. Moritz, or we can go south through Trento, Verona, Lake Garda, and west through Brecia, and Bergamo. We have built in a night without reservations so that we can be flexible. Any suggestions on which route is best and where you would stay?

Hi anneeby,

Since you have a night to stay for this, my suggestion (this is in no way a direct route!) would be from Castelrotto, to Meran/Merano (go around Bozen/Bolzano) and west throught the Vinschgau/Val Venosta. From here you could either go via St. Moritz or via Bormio (Italy) and Sondrio (Italy). I have to say we never drove further west in the Vinschgau/Val Venosta than a brief crossing into Switzerland to see Kloster St. Johann in Muestair. Our friends did some drives around Bormio and Sondrio and thought it was teriffic. We don't have "first hand" advice on this.

You would include driving the Stelvio Pass/Stilfserjoch Pass from Malles/Mals to Bormio.

I recommend the Vinschgau/Val Venosta route due to the scenery (vineyards and alpine peaks, the amount of castles along the way (Churburg is our favorite anywhere after Burg Eltz) and some charming towns (Silandro is the main one) plus the very small, medieval walled town of Glurns/Glorenza. We stayed at the Hotel Panorama in Malles/Mals and loved it. Beautiful place, terrific views, vast buffet breakfast and excellent dinners w/dessert (incl./half-board).

www.biohotel-panorama.it

www.churburg.com/willkommen_engl/index.htm

This is the website for the Vinschgau/Val Venosta:

http://www.suedtirolerland.it/en/sou...as/val-venosta

Other castles (and places of interest) along the way in the Vinschgau/Val Venosta include:

Tirolo, including Castle Tirolo.
www.schlosstirol.it

Castle Juval in Castelbello, which is the home of world famous mountaineer Reinhold Messner.
http://www.suedtirolerland.it/en/hig...juval-mmm.html

http://www.messner-mountain-museum.i...5,first,1.html

Glurns/Glorenza
http://www.ferienregion-obervinschga...rts/glurns.php

http://www.suedtirol.info/South_Tyro...za_Glurns.html

Kloster Marienberg near Malles/Mals.
www.marienberg.it

Just across the Swiss border is Kloster St. Johann.
www.muestair.ch

Hope this helps.

Paul

If you have ever heard of Top Gear a British TV hit then they define the Stelvio Pass as one of the greatest driving roads in the world - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZm8VFCKNj4

We did that drive last year and decided to take the scenic north route as Paul describes above. However, we did stop for 2 nites in the Engadine valley in Guarda. The drive all the way to Bellagio would be a long hard day. I would stop near St. Moritz.

Thanks for your help. Paul, you are a wealth of information!
Bob, do you have any suggestions where to stay?

We enjoyed Hotel Messner in Guarda, but that will be a bit out of your way. I would look in Pontresina, but the Swiss experts know better than I. Here are some pics in the Engadine

http://www.slowphotos.com/photo/show...at=4441&page=2

Oooops !
Make that Hotel Meisser

If you like to drive, you might be interested in the route we took from Ortisei to Bellagio in 2007, covering 4 of the great mountain passes of the Alps: Stelvio, Umbrail, Ofen, and Maloja. It involves a few kilometers on unpaved (but smooth) gravel road.

You can read the details under day 4 of my trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...f-the-alps.cfm

topping

hausfrau, one good report! ES