Can you suggest a Swiss or Italian hotel for a five-day alpine escape?

December 5, 2025 — 5:00am

Before visiting Sicily in June, my sister and I want to spend five days somewhere in the Italian or Swiss alps or perhaps Italy’s Dolomite region. Can you recommend a spa or thermal hotel we can use as a base to do some easy day hikes, catch gondolas and experience the natural beauty of the region?
I. Lavery, Hunters Hill, NSW

The best location for what you have in mind is Italy’s Dolomites. If you’re looking for something high end, the Adler Spa Resort Dolomiti would be a prime choice. Located in Ortisei, not far from Bolzano, the Adler offers a classy, luxurious, wellness-focused experience. The spa menu is 40 pages long and guests can also enjoy a full range of activities, including day hikes, yoga and e-biking. On the downside, this is a large resort, and it can feel a little impersonal. If you want something smaller and more intimate, a better choice might be the 26-room Hotel Saltus, which breathes in harmony with its setting high above Bolzano. Crafted from local timbers and raw stone, the hotel sits among the forests of San Genesio in soft tones that echo the colours that drift across the treeline outside. The rhythm is slow by design. Guests are encouraged to experience forest bathing amid larch and fir, yoga sessions and guided meditation. The wellness area offers two saunas, a steam room and a cocooning relaxation space. For a more design-forward experience, you might consider Forestis Dolomites, set on a mountainside above Bressanone. This is ideal for travellers who want a sharp-edged but tranquil base with easy access to nature and hiking. The spa features indoor/outdoor pools, saunas, steam rooms and wellness rituals rooted in nature.

I am planning to rent a car from Belfast City Airport. I previously booked a rental car through Sixt from Belfast City Airport and the service from Sixt was excellent. How can I tell whether a rental car has built-in satellite navigation?
G. Glover, North Willoughby, NSW

Before you book, check the vehicle category. Some rental companies specify “with GPS” or “satnav included” in the vehicle description, but many don’t, they simply list “similar models”. Generally, a premium vehicle or an SUV has a high likelihood of built-in satnav. At the booking website, check if there’s a navigation icon, which might be hidden under “features” or “inclusions”. To confirm your choice, call or email the rental agency and ask if this specific car group has satnav. When you pick up your hire car make sure your satnav is programmed in English. If not, get it changed immediately as language settings can be difficult. If you rent from Sixt, you will be asked on the booking page “Which add-ons do you need?” and a navigation system is top of the list.

I am travelling to Gallipoli next Anzac Day with my 18-year-old son who is interested in military history. Do you have any recommendations for good local tour operators, potentially with an accompanying historian, and a recommended itinerary for eight to nine days in and around the region?
S. Andrews, Newtown, NSW

You’ll probably want to attend the Dawn Service at Gallipoli, and for that you must register online for a free individual attendance pass through the official Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) website. While you can book a tour package that includes transport and accommodation, you are still responsible for registering your own pass, the tour company cannot do it for you. Check travel advice on the Smartraveller website. In 2024, in response to a similar question from Traveller reader Rob Dawson, I suggested the services of Kenan Celik. Here’s a few extracts from Rob’s email to me following his visit: “Kenan was very helpful prior to our visit … he advised us to stay in Canakkle that was much closer to the battlegrounds … Kenan met us in the hotel lobby, and we used our car to visit all the relevant sites where the campaign was staged. He gave an excellent perspective from both the Turkish and Allied Forces.” Kenan Celik can be contacted at his website. An itinerary of eight to nine days is rather long to devote to this corner of Turkey. A couple of days will suffice. You’d have a more satisfying experience if you were to spend the rest of your time in Istanbul, Ephesus and possibly Cappadocia.

Two families with four kids aged between five and 12 are keen to meet up and spend a week in a beach resort. One family lives in Sydney and the other in the UK, so a holiday resort somewhere mid-way would be ideal. Not looking at high-end resorts, but somewhere the young families can relax and enjoy after many years apart.
H. Yu, Sydney, NSW

One place that might work well for both families is Sri Lanka. It’s about midway between the UK and Australia, there are non-stop flights from London and from Sydney, Sri Lanka is well-equipped with beach resorts at various budgets and within easy reach of Colombo Airport and there’s plenty of variety in a relatively small island. Raw ingredients in the Sri Lankan mosaic include glorious beaches, ruined cities entwined with mythology, a culture that leavens the frantic fizz of India with Buddhist serenity, wildlife reserves with elephants and leopards and highland tea plantations. Enclosed by towering, fortified walls, the old city of Galle is a majestically crumbling grid of streets still pungent with memories of the time when the sahibs drank pink gins on the verandah of the Grand Hotel. Sigiriya is the ruined city straight from a fairytale. Fifteen centuries ago Prince Kasyapa built a fortified capital on a 200-metre-high granite pillar that rises almost sheer from steaming forests. Udawalawe National Park is Sri Lanka’s elephant central, a lush savannah home for several hundred wild elephants. You can also expect buffalo, macaque monkeys, chameleons and water monitors. December to March is the sweet spot, when the weather is dry and relatively cool, but this is also the time when prices peak.

Travel advice is general; readers should consider their personal circumstances

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