Northern Italy with a Toddler in September: Mountains, Lakes, and Endless Playgrounds

Italy is always the perfect vacation destination, especially with kids. The food is always amazing, the scenery is breathtaking, the coffee is superb, and nature is simply stunning. Spending 12 days exploring the Dolomites, Milan, and Lake Garda without stumbling upon a single bad restaurant or an unimpressive trail is truly an achievement!

The only downside I can think of is the cost—Euros definitely seem to slip through your fingers the moment you step out of your hotel room. However, the sheer convenience and the incredible experience make it worth every penny.

This was actually our third time traveling abroad with Tomer (who is one year and eight months old), so we’re relatively experienced by now. Italy is incredibly welcoming for toddlers, with plenty of stroller-friendly paths and food that is super easy for them to love.

In this post, I’ll take you through the itinerary of our September 2025 trip, highlight the places we visited (not in chronological order), and share some practical tips on how to plan your own adventure. If you have any tips of your own, I’d love to read them in the comments!

Our 12-Day Northern Italy Itinerary

Day 1: Landing in Milan and driving to Lake Garda
Day 2: Lake Garda, driving to Lake Tenno, and visiting Riva del Garda
Day 3: Lake Garda, driving to the Tommasi Winery, and exploring Sirmione
Day 4: Driving to the Dolomites, stopping at lakes and Bolzano along the way, overnight in Cortina
Day 5: Hiking and exploring Tre Cime
Day 6: Driving to Val Gardena, checking into the Monte Pana hotel, and exploring the surrounding area
Day 7: Cable car day! Exploring Seceda and Alpe di Siusi, followed by Ortisei
Day 8: Hiking and relaxing around the Monte Pana hotel
Day 9: A morning in the Dolomites and driving back to Milan
Days 10-12: Wrapping up in Milan and flying back home

Distances and Roads in Northern Italy

While there are quite a few toll highways in Northern Italy, traffic is still relatively slow and traffic jams are common. Lake Garda, for instance, suffers from an eternal traffic jam during peak tourist months. The road wrapping around the lake is just one lane in each direction, and the traffic is super heavy—not to mention packed with energetic cyclists!

Another crucial thing to keep in mind when planning your time around Lake Garda: at every single destination, you’ll need to park in paid parking lots and walk a bit to get to the main spots. It’s not terrible, but it definitely slows down the pace of the trip and means you can’t easily pack your days with too many sights.

The distances themselves are also relatively long. For example, the lakes around Cortina are at least a 30-minute drive away, and sometimes even an hour. If you’re traveling only with adults, that’s nothing. But with kids—and especially kids who get restless or carsick—it’s something you absolutely need to take into account.

For us, staying at the Monte Pana hotel was the perfect solution. It allowed us to step right out of the hotel directly onto nature trails and playgrounds, without ever having to get into the car.

Where We Visited: Our Northern Italy Highlights with a Toddler

Val Gardane and Monte Pana Dolomites Hotel

Without a doubt, the absolute highlight of our trip was the three nights we spent at this gorgeous hotel, perched right above the Val Gardena valley. It is incredibly family-friendly and stroller-accessible, with endless activities both inside and around the property. I have to give credit to the blog Check in Out—I discovered this place through one of their articles, and it was an amazing recommendation!

We booked half-board (breakfast and dinner included) and made daily visits to the heated pool, the toddler pool, and the jacuzzi overlooking the stunning views. On top of that, right before dinner, we would hang out in their massive indoor playroom. But our favorite part was simply walking around the hotel grounds, playing at the fantastic playgrounds, and exploring the super convenient, stroller-friendly trails that start right at their doorstep.

Stroller-Friendly Hiking Trails in the Dolomites

The most famous trail here is called Pana Raida. It’s completely free and open to everyone, and in my opinion, if you have kids under 10, it’s an absolute must-visit. It’s a 4-kilometer, stroller-accessible loop featuring 12 different stations: playgrounds, a lake, a super cool bridge, a treehouse, interactive activities, a stunning viewpoint, and plenty of other adventures.

You can also take a cable car right from the parking lot near the hotel down to the town of Santa Cristina, or take another cable car up toward the Sella Ronda. However, those options required more advanced hiking, so we decided to skip them.

On our final morning before driving back to Milan, we did the second stroller-friendly loop in the area, called Troi Unika. It’s a 1.5-kilometer trail with a bit of an incline at the very beginning that challenged our stroller a little, but the path flattened out pretty quickly and rewarded us with gorgeous views.

Seceda Peak: Panoramic Views at 2,500 Meters

The most beautiful viewpoint of our entire trip required taking two cable cars up to the summit of Seceda, the highest mountain in the Val Gardena area. It’s a wonderful place to explore, and surprisingly, it was actually very stroller-friendly!

We drove to Ortisei, parked in the parking lot, and set off on a bit of a journey involving escalators and elevators just to reach the first cable car and the ticket office. The first cable car ride takes about 15 minutes. The second one is more like a massive gondola—there are only two cabins (one going up, one coming down) where about 50 people, strollers and all, pack in together for a quick ride straight to the peak.

Once you’re at the summit, it’s all about taking photos and marveling at the breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and valleys—or taking a nap, which is exactly what Tomer did! When he woke up, we treated ourselves to coffee and tiramisu at the restaurant up there before heading back down.

My tip here is pretty obvious, but crucial: head up early in the morning, check the weather forecast to ensure it’s a completely clear day, and make sure to bring something warm to wear!

Alpe Di Siusi

Time for a quick confession: we actually ended up here completely by accident! We had planned to start our morning at the Seceda summit, but a temporary lapse in concentration on my part led us to the cable car heading up the opposite peak…

Of course, it turned out to be a fantastic spot. In hindsight, I was actually sorry we didn’t bring the stroller up with us, because there are plenty of accessible, smooth paths that wouldn’t have required using the baby carrier at all.

Alpe di Siusi is the highest alpine meadow in Europe (sitting at 1,900 meters), and it’s packed with cycling and hiking trails that lead to gorgeous hidden gems. The endless, rolling green spaces here will genuinely make you feel like Heidi in the

Unlike the trips we took to the US where we carried Tomer in a baby carrier, this time he was already much heavier and definitely more impatient! Because of that, we only hiked the first 30 minutes of the trail (an hour round-trip), plus a few side paths where he could walk a bit on his own. Even during this short stretch, Tre Cime revealed itself to us in all its majestic glory.

מסלול Tre Cime מעל קורטינה

In recent years, Tre Cime has become one of the most famous trails in the Dolomites—a 10-kilometer loop around three massive, stunning rock formations in the heart of the mountains. Everywhere I read, the top tip was to arrive at the upper parking lot before 8:30 AM to get a spot close to the trailhead. However, we discovered that you now must book your parking in advance on their website (and by the morning of, everything was already sold out!).

As a result, we parked in the lower lot and took the shuttle up to the trailhead. For context, booking the upper parking online costs €30, the round-trip shuttle is €10 per person (toddlers ride for free), and the lower lot charges an hourly rate of your choice. Taking the shuttle wasn’t bad at all, but I still highly recommend arriving as early as possible on a clear day before the clouds roll in.

I must admit, I was really surprised by just how popular and crowded the site was with hikers and visitors—especially for a weekday in September. If you’re looking for a quiet, secluded trek, this might not be the best option for you.

Once we finished our loop, we took the shuttle back down to the car and drove just two minutes from the parking lot to Lake Misurina, where we stopped for lunch. The rain started to come down, which made us skip our original plan to walk around the lake. Instead, we headed back to our hotel in Cortina for some well-deserved rest.

Lago Tenno and Riva del Garda

In my opinion, the most beautiful part of the Lake Garda area is actually the small lake just north of it—Lake Tenno. It’s a small, stunning turquoise lake located about a 10-minute drive from Riva del Garda, the northernmost town on Lake Garda. You can walk all the way around the lake with a stroller relatively comfortably (though there were a few challenging spots along the path), and if the weather permits, it’s absolutely worth going for a swim.

What I loved most about Lake Tenno is how uncommercialized it is. There are no restaurants or roads right on the shoreline—just a lovely, one-hour walking trail with a suspension bridge and perfect spots to lay out a picnic blanket or a beach towel. Don’t worry, though; the restaurants and souvenir shops are located just above the lake, in a tiny village where you’ll also pay for parking.

We only visited Riva del Garda itself for a few minutes because Tomer was napping in the car, so we just pulled over and I grabbed a coffee. It has a beautiful, pedestrian-only promenade along the lakefront, packed with shops and restaurants—a perfect place to catch the sunset after spending the day at the lake.

Next time we’re here, we definitely plan to visit the town of Limone and walk its famous cliffside path over the lake. We watched cyclists and strollers thoroughly enjoying it while we looked on from our spot in the traffic jam!

Sirmione and a Visit to the Tommasi Winery

The most famous town on Lake Garda is Sirmione. Its most interesting part is located right at the tip of the peninsula that stretches into the southern part of the lake. We parked in one of the parking lots about a kilometer’s walk from Scaliger Castle, which marks the entrance to the old town and the heart of all the tourist action. We skipped going inside the castle itself since Tomer’s patience wasn’t at its peak, but we made sure to check off the main attraction here: eating gelato from one of the countless stands (which he absolutely loved) and picking up a souvenir. Afterward, we sat down for a cocktail with a view and played with pebbles on the lakeshore at sunset.

Before heading into the old town, we spent some time at one of Sirmione’s beaches right next to the Silk restaurant, which charges a small fee for parking to use the beach. It was a pretty warm day, so of course we took a dip in Lake Garda. I even rented a paddleboard (SUP) for half an hour for €10 and had a great time paddling around.

We had actually started our morning at the Tommasi Winery, located about a 30-minute drive from Sirmione. They make high-quality wine that we actually love drinking back home. You need to book tours in advance on their website, and if you ask me—it is definitely not recommended to bring toddlers along…

Milan: Shopping, Smooth Sidewalks, and Pure Joy for Toddlers

I feel like I don’t have much new to add about Milan, since the famous sights are well-known to everyone. Obviously, during a visit to the city, it’s worth heading to the Duomo Square to see the cathedral and the surrounding highlights. The city also offers unlimited shopping options (countless clothing and shoe stores, Uniqlo, Primark, Decathlon, Mango, Zara, Sephora, and the list goes on).

What I will say is that the city is incredibly easy to navigate with a stroller because it’s completely flat. Plus, it has some fantastic playgrounds that we personally tested out. One of our favorites was Parco Giochi Castello, located inside Sempione Park right in the heart of the city. It featured a little amusement park for tiny tots, complete with a cute train ride and bumper cars, which were pure joy for Tomer.

We rented an apartment in the city center, just a few minutes from the Duomo, and walked everywhere. That said, there’s also a great metro and tram system, as well as the option to rent e-bikes through an app. As for our rental car, it waited safely for us in an organized parking garage; we didn’t even attempt to figure out the local parking laws (it’s pretty obvious that without a resident permit, it’s not even worth trying).