Images of Cogne, Val D’Aosta, Italy

I recently wrote about my visit to the lovely village of Lillaz in the Italian Alps last weekend.  Well, down the road from Lillaz is Cogne – which has, apparently, been discovered by the Russians.

Cogne is larger than Lillaz and is not short of a few good eateries and hotels either.  According to one of the locals I met at the weekend, Cogne is very popular with Russians.  The Russians are very welcome in these parts, seeing as they stay in 5 star hotels and push the boat out too.

So what makes the Russians keep coming back to Cogne?  Here are a few images which attempt to understand just why they flock to this mountain village all the way from mother Russia. Read more

Snow Shoe Hike, Lillaz, Near Cogne 2009

Last weekend I escaped to the mountains to stay with a couple of friends in a dinky little apartment they have rented in a tiny little village called Lillaz in the Valle d’Aosta area of Italy.

Lillaz, which sits at around 5000 feet above sea level, is just down the road from another somewhat larger mountain village known as Cogne, to which I’d been about four years before.

Cogne is a charming place, even if when I was first there what most struck me the most was the extreme cold which descended on the place after the sun hid itself behind the surrounding mountains.  My ‘reward’ for having underestimated the cold on that occasion was a two day stay in bed with something resembling bronchitis.

This time though, the cold was nowhere near as intense, and I was better prepared.  Winter in this area is now starting, albeit a little reluctantly, to give way to spring.  Not that you would think so initially, for the area is still covered by five feet of snow.

We spent our time drinking wine and a few other mountain brews, sampling the local cuisine, and going for a snow shoe equipped stroll in the mountains.  I took my camera, and came back with more than a few shots, some of which you will see if you read on. Read more

Hostels in Italy

Like much of Western Europe, accommodation in Italy can be on the expensive side.  But right across the country, from fashionable Milan in the north to the Sicilian capital of Palermo, there is a range of hostels and low cost hotels in Italy offering cheap dorm beds and private rooms.

Accommodation on a Budget

Hostels aren’t all about drunken students and bunk beds any more, either – modern facilities and more luxurious features are increasingly common. HostelBookers has a wide variety of accommodation to suit travelers heading to Italy on a budget.

What follows are a few examples of hostels and low cost hotels from around Italy which really show the quality of such so-called ‘budget’ accommodation. Read more

Next Page »