The ultra-fast dynamics of He nanodroplets (103-105 atoms) in intense (1...7 × 1014 W/cm2), few-cycle (∼10 fs), infrared (∼790 nm) laser pulses has been investigated as a function of the number of dopant rare-gas atoms, the laser intensity and the rare-gas species. We find the "ignition" behaviour predicted by theory for 20 fs resulting in the complete ionisation and disintegration of the droplet, otherwise entirely transparent, initiated by just a few, less than 5 dopant atoms. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012.