Alpine meadow-type walking holiday

[wildflowersplease]

Can anyone recommend a great base to do high-level walks through wildflower-type meadows - Sound of Music-style?!! 😁

I've got three teens and they certainly wouldn't want to walk every single day, so somewhere with close by historic towns (or based in one), lakes, beaches, other activities for alternate days would be great. And definitely shorts/t-shirts kind of mid-level hiking, not snow-capped summits where crampons are required!

Doesn't need to be the Alps, could be Pyrenees/Appenines or wherever. :-) But def don't want to stay in purpose-built 'activity' type accommodation - needs to be a real town or village. Tips gratefully received!

Zell am Zee would be a good base.
This is a nice alpine meadow hike https://www.zellamsee-kaprun.com/en/tour/maiskogel-hut-tour~10431
There’s a choice of lovely hikes here https://www.schmitten.at/en/Summer-on-the-mountain/Hiking
Lots more ideas here https://www.appartements-zellamsee.info/en/summer-holiday/hiking-holidays

Mayrhofen is a lovely base with lots of places nearby to visit and handy for Innsbruck, or Seefeld (Hotel Haymon highly recommended) where there are daily activities organised.

Slovenia might fit the bill. There is a lovely walk from the Vogel cable car which has Alpine Meadows.

www.amazon.co.uk/Julian-Alps-Slovenia-Mountain-Cicerone/dp/1852847093

This book has a good selection of walks all the way up to crampons and overnight mountain huts, but lots of less arduous ins as well.

Depending on what else you want to do, Slovenia has historical (WW1 mainly) walks, fabulous caves, rafting, canyoning and lakes for swimming and paddle boarding.

Achensee near innsbruck is nice. It is beside a lake where lots of watersports are available as well as loads of other teen friendly adventurous activities. The tourist office used to run an teen activity programme but I don't know if the still do.

And lots of high level meadow walking for those who prefer that.

Morzine is perfect for this. Massive lift network (biggest in Europe?) so you can do medium level hiking without the huge slog to get up there, stunning views across to mt Blanc etc, easy to get to from Geneva and not as pricey as some of the other alpine resorts. Walks are all well signed too. Been there many times and I love it!

Another vote for Morzine - a great base for alpine walking. There are lots of other activities in the area too to keep everyone happy. It's a really beautiful place to visit.

Slovenia is perfect for this - especially if you are coming in the springtime, when the alpine meadows are full of wild flowers. Golica is a famous example (located 15 minutes drive from the famous lake Bled, 45 minutes from Lake Bohinj, half an hour from Kranjska Gora, all of which also have some amazing high level walks, suitable for most levels of walkers.

I was going to suggest slovenia too, there's lots to do round Bohinj and Bled - but great walking too. And the food is lovely.

Ahh, these sound idyllic - I want to go to all these places! @PeatandDieselfan it would be July or early August, I'm afraid. But summer flowers just as lovely!😊 Researching hat firmly pulled on... thank you.

Interlaken & Meiringen in Switzerland are great bases for walking and sightseeing, and you can buy a ‘transport pass’ to cover the trains, buses, some mountain railways and cable cars from Swiss Tourist Office, which would cut down on transport costs.

Lake Annecy and around. Loads for teens to do and some beautiful scenery for walking.

With slightly reluctant teens I would definitely recommend staying somewhere with ski lifts so that the uphill part is done for you! Also ski resorts have the benefit that there are mountain restaurants to walk to (not all are open in the summer but lots are). Morzine as mentioned, Samoens, Chamonix, La Clusaz are all quite active in the summer and have lots of other outdoor activities too. These are all older, established mountain towns not purpose built ski resorts.

Same applies to Austrian ski resorts of course and probably the Dolomites too (Dolomites could combine with Lake Garda & Verona).

If you want to do lots of walking and outdoor stuff then Annecy is not a great base IMO as it’s very much a town/city, but it’s good to visit. Easy day trip from Morzine, Samoens etc.

This is all so helpful, thank you. A few people have mentioned Annecy. It's about getting that balance, isn't it - not too far from either 'civilisation' or active hilltop stuff. There will be a perfect place out there for us! 😁

Great ideas herec

Sounds like a heavenly holiday.