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.