Est. 2026 · Innsbruck to Bologna

We believe travel
should change you.

Not just move you from place to place. But shift something inside. That's why we're building FOOTSTEPS – a new kind of travel company for the second half of life.

Read our story

1786

The year it began

The Origin

A restless man crossed the Alps.

In September 1786, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe left everything behind. He was 37, successful on paper, but inwardly lost. He traveled under a false name, stayed in modest inns, and spent his days walking, observing, sketching.

The road from Innsbruck to Bologna became more than a route. It was a turning point – a way to step out of his old role and grow into a new chapter.

We call this line the Goethe Route. And we believe it still has the power to transform.

"I am not here to enjoy myself in my own way, but to immerse myself in what is great, to learn and to develop."

— Goethe, Italian Journey, 1786

The Vision

More than a travel site.
A Grand Tours company.

We're building an ecosystem: a magazine, a network of hotels, a guild of visual storytellers, and a community of travelers who see this stage of life as a beginning, not a winding-down.

Edition Zero in progress

The Magazine

A printed and digital publication that tells the stories of the route – the hosts, the places, the quiet moments that make travel transformative.

12 of 50 confirmed

Founding Hotels

A curated circle of 50 family-run hotels along the Goethe Route. Not listings. Partners in a shared story.

4 of 12 founding members

The Visual Guild

Photographers and filmmakers who document the route with care. Their work shapes how travelers see before they go.

847 founding members

Grand Tours Society

A community of travelers who receive letters from our avatar Enzo, early access to routes, and invitations to shape what we build.

Phase 1 · The First Grand Tour

The Descent

450 kilometers from Alpine heights to Renaissance plains. Three landscapes, each with its own rhythm. You decide how long to linger.

This isn't a race. It's a descent – in elevation, in pace, in the way time feels. Some travelers take a week. Others, a month. The route doesn't mind.

Key stops

450km

One clear line

Distinct worlds

Discover your first morning

Three worlds, one thread

From 1,370 meters to sea level – the landscape transforms, and so might you.

The Alps 1,370m

Where the air thins and perspective shifts. Cross the Brenner as Goethe did.

Innsbruck Brenner Brixen Bolzano

The Lakes 65m

Where mountains meet water and time slows. Goethe called it "a magnificent spectacle."

Trento Riva Gardone Salò

The Plains 54m

Where history lives in every stone. Renaissance cities that might just reshape you.

Verona Venice Ferrara Bologna

Goethe in the Roman Campagna by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, 1787 — Goethe in the Roman Campagna · Tischbein, 1787

From Italian Journey, 1786

"Here, where the mountains open and the south begins, I felt for the first time that I was truly in Italy."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

At the Brenner Pass, September 1786

Goethe was 37 when he made this crossing — successful on paper, but searching for something more. The journey transformed him. We believe it can still transform travelers today.

The Manifesto

What we believe.

Travel should change you, not just move you.

The best hosts remember your name.

Slow is not a limitation. It's a choice.

The second half of life deserves its own Grand Tour.

A route is a story. We're the editors, not the authors.

Building in Public

Where we are today.

We're in the foundations phase. Every number here is real, updated as we grow.

of 50 founding hotels

of 12 visual guild members

847

Grand Tours Society members

450km

of curated route

The Founders

Built by travelers, for travelers.

FOOTSTEPS was born from a simple frustration: travel for people over 55 is either package tours or endless scrolling. Neither feels right.

We wanted something in between: curated, but not packaged. Independent, but not overwhelming. Beautiful, but accessible.

So we started building it. The Goethe Route is our first Grand Tour. If it works, there will be more – the Rhine Route, the Via Francigena, the Camino. A whole atlas of journeys for the second half of life.

Letters from Enzo

Our travel avatar writes to the Society

Join us from the beginning.

This is just the start. The Goethe Route is the first thread in a larger tapestry of Grand Tours across Europe.

We believe travel
should change you.

A restless man crossed the Alps.