Experiences
What we actually did, how long it takes, what it costs and where you reach it from.
A day at the Acqua Village in Cecina
a seventeen-metre fake volcano, seven slides and five pools inside the pine wood
Marina di Cecina · Toscana · full day
The Roman amphitheatre of Tarragona
the arena looking out over the Mediterranean, and the Gothic cathedral a little higher up
Tarragona · Catalogna · full day
The basilica of San Zeno Maggiore in Verona
Veronese Romanesque, the bronze portal and Mantegna's triptych
Verona · Veneto · 1.5-2 hours
The Masi winery at Gargagnago, in Valpolicella
vineyards, drying lofts and ageing cellars at the Serego Alighieri estate, with a guided tasting
Gargagnago, Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella · Veneto · 2.5-3 hours
The Zeni winery and the Wine Museum in Bardolino
five generations of Verona wine, with a tasting counter and an olfactory gallery
Bardolino · Veneto · 1-1.5 hours
The Caves Patriarche in Beaune, five kilometres of cellars under a convent
the vaulted galleries under the convent of the Visitandines, two million bottles by candlelight and six wines to taste at the end, with young people getting in free
Beaune · Borgogna · 1 hour
The Maremonti cycle path from Levanto to Framura
five flat kilometres along the old railway line, through lit tunnels and down to the coves
Levanto · Liguria · 20-30 minutes by bike, an hour on foot
The Non-Catholic Cemetery of Rome
the lawn under the Pyramid where Rome buried the people who could not lie in consecrated ground, and where Keats, Shelley and Gramsci ended up
Roma · Lazio · an hour and a half
The Cité des Climats in Beaune, Burgundy wine explained to young people too
the route through the climats and the wines of the Côte, with the vineyard huts for children, grape juice at the end and the free terrace over the Côte de Beaune
Beaune · Borgogna · 45 minutes to 3 hours
The Château du Clos de Vougeot, the cellar of the monks of Cîteaux in the middle of the grand cru
the fifteenth century presses, the great cellier and the hall of the Chevaliers du Tastevin, in the middle of fifty hectares of vineyard enclosed by a wall on the Côte de Nuits
Vougeot · Borgogna · 1-2 hours
Falerii Novi and the abbey of Santa Maria di Falleri
two kilometres of almost intact Roman walls in the middle of the fields, and under the fields the city
Fabrica di Roma · Lazio · half a day
The star fortress of Bourtange, on the border with Germany
the bastions, moats and drawbridges of a stronghold of 1593 rebuilt as it was in 1742, with the captain's house, the synagogue and the powder magazine, and in December the Christmas market within the walls
Bourtange · Groninga · 2-3 hours
The Frasassi Caves
an underground hall big enough to hold Milan cathedral whole
Genga · Marche · half a day
The Coves de Sant Josep at Vall d'Uixó
by boat along the longest navigable underground river in Europe, at a steady twenty degrees
Vall d'Uixó · Comunità Valenciana · half a day
The Menkemaborg in Uithuizen and the churches of the Ommeland
the Alberda family's country house within its moats, furnished as in the eighteenth century, with the Baroque garden and the maze, and along the road from Groningen the brick churches with painted vaults and seventeenth century organs
Uithuizen · Groninga · 2-3 hours
The MMM Ripa in Brunico castle
Reinhold Messner's museum of the mountain peoples, from the cellar to the panoramic tower
Brunico · Trentino-Alto Adige · 1-1.5 hours
The two museums on Plan de Corones
Lumen, on mountain photography, and Zaha Hadid's MMM Corones, at 2275 metres, four hundred metres apart
Plan de Corones · Trentino-Alto Adige · half a day
The civic museums of La Spezia
from Amedeo Lia's picture gallery to the CAMeC's twentieth century to the statue stelae in the castle, a day on the civic museum card
La Spezia · Liguria · a full day
The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel
a whole morning of corridors to reach a single room, and the room is worth every corridor
Città del Vaticano · half a day
The Museum of Medieval and Modern Art in Arezzo
twenty rooms in Palazzo Bruni Ciocchi, from Margaritone's gold-ground panels to Vasari's Banquet
Arezzo · Toscana · 2-3 hours
The Banditaccia necropolis at Cerveteri
a city of the dead built like a city of the living, with its streets and its houses
Cerveteri · Lazio · half a day
The Oceanogràfic in Valencia
forty-five thousand animals of more than five hundred species, nine themed areas and the longest underwater tunnel in Europe
Valencia · Comunità Valenciana · a full day
The archaeological and nature park of Vulci
an Etruscan city turned back into open country, with a Devil's bridge and a castle over the gorge
Montalto di Castro · Lazio · half a day
The Parco dei Mulini at Bagno Vignoni
four medieval mills carved into the rock, and the thermal water that turned them all year round
Bagno Vignoni · Toscana · full day
A horseback ride in the Crete Senesi
classical country riding at ASD Il Destriero, among the clay ridges and white roads of the Crete Senesi
Buonconvento · Toscana · 1 hour
The Lazaun toboggan run at Maso Corto
a gondola up to the mountain hut at 2,427 metres, then 3.3 kilometres down through the larches of the Val Senales
Maso Corto (Kurzras), Val Senales · Trentino-Alto Adige · 10-15 minutes a run
A day at PortAventura World
six worlds in one park, from the Far West to China, a step away from the Salou motorhome area
Salou · Catalogna · a full day
The Sacred Grove of Bomarzo
the monsters a duke had carved into the boulders of his wood, and that nobody then looked at for three hundred years
Bomarzo · Lazio · two hours
Schiermonnikoog for the day, with the motorhome at Lauwersoog
three quarters of an hour by ferry across the Wadden Sea to the car-free island, the village, the red lighthouse, the dunes and one of the widest beaches in Europe, by bicycle or by bus
Schiermonnikoog · Frisia · a full day
The trail from Vernazza to Monterosso
three and a half kilometres of the Sentiero Verde Azzurro between terraced vineyards and sheer drops to the sea
Vernazza · Liguria · 1.5-2 hours
The Aquardens thermal baths at Pescantina
a thermal park with salt-bromine-iodine water between 30 and 40 degrees, and a free motorhome car park a hundred metres from the entrance
Santa Lucia di Pescantina · Veneto · 6 hours
An afternoon at the Pré-Saint-Didier thermal baths
open air pools fed by water at 37 degrees, facing Mont Blanc, in the 1838 bath house
Pré-Saint-Didier · Valle d'Aosta · 3-4 hours
The painted tombs of Tarquinia
you go down a steep little stair, you look through a pane of glass, and behind it is a banquet from two and a half thousand years ago
Tarquinia · Lazio · half a day
Valdichiana Designer Village at Foiano della Chiana
an open air shopping village, over a hundred and thirty brands beside the A1 Valdichiana Bettolle exit
Foiano della Chiana · Toscana · half a day
By bicycle on the Voie des Vignes, from Beaune to Santenay
twenty-two signposted kilometres among the vine rows of the Côte de Beaune, through Pommard, Volnay, Meursault and the Montrachets, with the motorhome parked in Beaune
Beaune · Borgogna · an hour and a half one way
The zipline at San Vigilio di Marebbe
three kilometres of steel cable above the Val Badia, up to 80 km/h and a hundred metres off the ground
San Vigilio di Marebbe · Trentino-Alto Adige · 1-2 hours
ZOOM Turin, the biopark with two beaches
ten habitats on foot between Asia and Africa, and two pools where you swim beside penguins and above hippos
Cumiana · Piemonte · a full day