We wanted to start this road trip in the Dolomites, which was the inspiration for the first week of our trip (my husband’s choice). We thought of flying into Venice, Italy and driving North, which is a typical route to this area of Italy. But being that we were traveling with kids (aged 9 and 8) we opted for a direct flight to Munich and to drive South. We were only in Munich for a short time before picking up our car and heading South, but Bavaria was a great intro to our European adventure!

We had a 3 hour drive from Munich to our hotel in the Dolomites, and would be passing right through Innsbruck, Austria. We couldn’t help ourselves from checking out this charming city in the Alps, as our first glimpse of the Alpine region. It was a perfect stop midway to stretch our legs, walk around and get some lunch and take a break from the drive, especially for the kids. We spent the afternoon in its historic core, Innsbruck's grand boulevard which goes past shops, sidewalk cafes and restaurants. Much of which was pedestrian-only. There happened to be the end of a Spartan-style race ending in the square on this day and it was a lively heartbeat of a place to people watch and mingle with the locals.

It is hard to believe we only spent 3 nights here, because the Dolomites made such an impression on us. We centered ourselves in Kastleruth / Castlerotto to be close to the Alpe di Siusi, the largest alpine meadow in Europe. This area is so unique in that the German influence is stronger than the Italian influence, and everything has two names (German and Italian). Kastleruth was a quaint, wonderful home base with plentiful markets, restaurants, and hotels via its quaint cobblestone streets and back alleys, but also well connected on the bus line to get anywhere in this region that you wanted to explore. We parked our car at the hotel and used the great transport system to get to Alpe di Siusi, Ortesei and Seceda.