Rewilding Adventure in Italy's Abruzzo Mountains

The trip exceeded expectations! We travelled to Italy in the hopes of finding of seeing wildlife and were lucky enough for that to happen. Chamois, bears, deer, foxes, wolves and more! Umberto and Simone were exceptional, knowledgeable guides who went above and beyond - an expected birthday surprise included!

Amazing trip with fantastic guides!

Our guide Umberto was very knowledgeable about the natural world, wildlife, birds, flowers … I learnt a lot about the efforts to improve the coexistence of man and wolf/bear, but also he was very friendly and looked after us well. We had some delicious lunches in the town. The night in the mountain refuge was very special. A fun dinner and an atmospheric pre-dawn walk to watch over the meadow. We saw Chamois, wild boar, deer, golden eagle and one evening we were able to watch a male and female bear pursue each other. We also visited a wolf sanctuary. I really enjoyed the trip and would definitely recommend.

This was such a good trip, I loved every minute. The area and the village of Pescasseroli are beautiful and the hotel was really comfy. We hiked through some spectacular terrain; mountains, valleys and forests, and spent lots of time sitting quietly watching for animals. We saw loads of deer (it was rutting season so they were very active and loud), wild boar, chamois, mountain hare and various birds. But the highlight was 5 wolf cubs playing in a meadow, which we watched for about half and hour. Our guide, Umberto, was excellent; very knowledgeable and always willing to answer our many questions. If you like mountains and wildlife I would highly recommend this trip.

Umberto was an excellent guide for this trip, is knowledge of and love for the mountains and its wildlife was infectious. The walks in the mountains were stunning, and did get the heart pumping and the lungs working. The wildlife spotting was comfortable enough if you paid attention to the kit list and Umberto's instructions. Disappointed to not see bears, but seeing wolves in the wild was well as the deer, chamios, wild boar and birdlife made it a greatly enjoyable experience. Would highly recommend to wildlife lovers.

A really enjoyable trip overall. The hiking was accurately marked as moderate, with a decent amount of ascending. You were rewarded every time with breathtaking views of the Abruzzo National Park, where we’d have an hour or 2 to sit quietly and watch whatever wildlife appeared. September was an excellent month for hearing the stags call, of which there were many. We were also lucky to see a pack of young wolves playing in a meadow. Among other things were chamois, wildboar and a white-backed woodpecker. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable on the area and his passion shone through when answering our many questions. The hotel was clean, with friendly staff and nice food. The packing list was accurate and our group were a lovely bunch of people. A super trip for anyone with a good level of fitness and an interest in the natural world.

This trip was a wonderful experience, well organised with a very experienced guide. There is no guarantee of seeing specific animals, however with good conditions, luck, minimising our presence and some patience, we were rewarded with seeing two bears, a wolf, chamois and plenty of deer in their natural habitat doing their own thing and living their own lives with less human impact affecting their behaviour. Our guide Valeria was fantastic, super knowledgeable about all the aspects of the area and history, the research and rewilding work, and the animals and their habits. She adapted our activities based on the conditions and our feedback on how we were managing, and her experience of what wildlife we may be able to see. The area is beautiful and glorious to walk in. The packing list is helpful, we had some wet cold weather and a couple of hours wildlife watching while not moving got colder than I had expected. The itinerary gives a good indication of the type of hikes and elevation involved, although the day-to-day will change depending on the conditions and group. The moderate fitness rating sounds about right, the hikes we had were a couple of hours long with breaks and wildlife watching in between. I would definitely recommend this trip for those wanting to spend time in nature with a chance to see animals in the wild, can appreciate patience and have an interest in coexisting with wildlife, and can enjoy an organised trip where the hard work planning everything is done for you!

I would highly recommend this trip for obviously those into wildlife who want to see wild bears and wolves (no guarantee of specific creatures of course, for the record we saw a brief glimpse of a wolf at our first binoculars session morning of day 2, and two bears at our last on the evening of day 4). These animals were still a very long way away. But I'd also recommended this tour of Italy's Abruzzo Mountains for those who enjoy hiking through various habitats, as we went up and over many a mountain with the scenery and underfoot constantly changing from woodlands, thick forests, spaced out forests, open plain grassland, snow/ice (yep we went up that high) and everything in between. If you missed the word in that review - up, there's lot of hiking up. I'm usually around middle of the fitness level of a tour group, but in this I was at the bottom of the rankings. But you can't plan that when booking as you don't know who else will be on your tour. But with the group I was in I found I drifted behind when ascending, and I did have to stop at times. There is a lot of ascending, but I never felt unsafe or anything like that. So it's a basic long walk as other than fitness angle you might face, you're not crawling over boulders, wading through rivers, rock climbing up cliff faces, repelling down on ropes, jumping over crevices or anything like that. You'll enjoy the hikes, as I said awesome scenery. The binocular sessions, even our guide Valeria told us they were going to be boring (although this to her is a fun hobby she regularly does, and you've got to admire someone who has made a career out of something they enjoy. The old find something you love you'll never work a day in your life thing. But there's lots of 3hr standing or sitting (depending on location) or even being hemmed into cracks in rocks interrupted by Arctic levels of cold wind gusts, so uncomfortably that it makes flying economy from Australia to Italy to get to the Rome airport pickup seem enjoyable in comparison. On that pickup, waiting until 2pm is a bit of a waste of most of the day, it would be better if it was 10am or something like this. The Iris Hotel, our base in Pescasseroli, was a nice basic hotel. Plenty of space both in the room and common areas. Better than other hotels used in rival company like minded travelers' tours. I mean it has comfortable beds, hot water and good water pressure. Very friendly and helpful staff. Room is cleaned by housekeeping daily. You get free breakfast (a basic buffet) and a three course dinner every night (unless you choose to do a late night binocular thing then you get a packed dinner (sandwich, a couple of apricots, bottle of water, yes I agree they could have done a better job of that one). Lunch you do your own thing as around the middle of the day is free time. With our group this was going into town, although I didn't go to one as you're just so full from the breakfast and know the dinner will be very filling. Town (and places to buy food) are about 15 - 20 minutes walk from the Iris hotel. It's a laid back quiet not too touristy town. One of the nights (day 3 on our trip) you stay at a lodge you've hiked up a mountain to reach. It's a backpacker hostel type dorm you sleep in (everyone in the same room). Dinner isn't as good as at Iris, still three courses though, but you've got to remember its hard to transport stuff up there. We had a vegetarian in our group and of course only one meal is prepared due to the lugging stuff up there factor. I had no issue with that although I think they could have come up with a bit more creative dish. Breakfast is a basic buffet (although not as all you can eat as Hotel Iris of course as there is only a set amount of food up there). You can buy soft drinks, alcohol, t-shirts up there though. I'll also briefly compare it to a second bear orientated Much B Adventures trip I just completed called Hiking and Bear Watching in Romania. I'd recommend both tours, but if seeing wild bears up fairly close is what you are after, you're better off to do Romania. Italy tour has more hiking, and you see a lot more scenery and a variety of ecosystems. Italy packs more into each day. Both are worth doing if you've got the time.

We had a great time during this trip. It was our first time with much better adventures and our first time in the Abruzzo region, but we're looking forward to come back in the future. Our guide was nothing but exceptionally helpful, friendly and motivating. The area is incredible beautiful. The accommodation was nice with great food and present even for our very early mornings. We did not find the hikes to challenging, there is one bigger trip but with very rewarding views and there was always time to make a small pause to adapt the clothing and drink or eat something. The packing list was very helpful and did not note anything we did not use during the trip. 10/10 overall, love to come back in the future!

We had a great time in the Abruzzo mountains and enjoyed every moment. The guides went up and above to let us feel cared for, gave great insights into the rewilding projects, behaviour of the animals and interaction between humans and nature, which made the trip even more unique. It was a nice mixture of hiking and wild watching, and the time in the mountain hut was the best experience.