Dolomites and Alta Badia
Six days in the Ladin valleys, walking under the Sella massif and eating at 2,000 metres.
Mountain Trekking · 6 days · June to September
The Dolomites are usually approached from Cortina or Bolzano and done as viewpoints from a car, which turns one of the great mountain landscapes into a series of car parks. Alta Badia is the better base: a Ladin-speaking valley with a lift system that works in summer, a rifugio culture where the mountain huts are genuine restaurants, and the Sella massif directly above it. The week is built on the huts - you walk between them, eat at them, and the cable cars mean the descents are optional. Tre Cime is the one day worth driving for.
Day by day
- Day 1
Into the valley
Three hours up from Venice, arriving with enough light for the first lift.
15:00Passo Gardena
2,121 metres, with the Sella's south wall on one side and the Cir spires on the other, and the first proper sense of the scale of these mountains.
One of the four passes round the Sella. Motorbikes are numerous on summer weekends.
17:00Piz Boe cable car to Vallon
Straight up to 2,550 metres from the village, onto the Sella plateau, on the first evening rather than the third day.
Summer lift hours are shorter than they look; check the last descent before going up.
- Day 2
Around the Sella
The classic circuit of the massif, done on lifts and on foot rather than in a car.
08:30Sass Pordoi cable car
It lands you on the roof of the Sella at 2,950 metres, on a stone desert with Marmolada's glacier directly opposite.
The lift climbs 700 metres in four minutes. The plateau at the top is bare rock and the weather changes fast on it.
12:00Rifugio Boe and the Sella plateau
A hut at 2,873 metres serving canederli and strudel, which is the Dolomite rifugio tradition in its purest form.
Marked trail across the plateau, rocky but not exposed. Around three hours to the Vallon lift down to Corvara.
- Day 3
Alpe di Siusi
The largest high alpine meadow in Europe, and the Sassolungo behind it.
08:30Alpe di Siusi from Ortisei
Rolling meadow at 1,800 to 2,300 metres with hay barns scattered across it and the Sassolungo and Sciliar standing over the whole thing.
The access road is closed to cars during the day; take the cable car from Ortisei or Siusi. Fifty-seven square kilometres, so pick one loop rather than trying to cross it.
16:30Ortisei and the Val Gardena woodcarvers
This valley has carved wooden figures for export since the seventeenth century, and the workshops on the main street are still doing it.
The Museum de Gherdeina explains the trade properly and is small.
- Day 4
Tre Cime di Lavaredo
An hour and a half east for the most recognisable rock formation in the Alps.
08:00Tre Cime circuit from Rifugio Auronzo
Three vertical towers on a ridge, with the north faces only visible from the far side: the whole point of walking the loop rather than photographing it from the car park.
The toll road to the refuge is expensive and the car park fills by nine in August. Ten kilometres round, mostly easy, with one steeper section.
16:00Lago di Braies
A green lake under the Croda del Becco with the wooden boathouse on it, and the start of the Alta Via 1 traverse.
Access is restricted in high summer and requires a booked slot or the shuttle bus. Late afternoon is when the day crowds go.
- Day 5
The Fanes plateau
Into the natural park behind San Cassiano, which is the emptiest walking in the region.
08:30Rifugio Fanes and the Lago di Limo
A limestone plateau of high pasture and karst at 2,000 metres, the heartland of the Ladin fairy legends, and quiet even in August.
Around 16 kilometres return from Capanna Alpina with 800 metres of climb. Jeep shuttles run part of the way for those who want them.
- Day 6
Out over the passes
One more lift, one more hut lunch, and the road south.
09:00Piz La Ila and the Gran Risa
The gentlest high meadow in the valley, with the Sella, the Sassongher and Marmolada all in one arc.
The Gran Risa is the World Cup giant slalom piste and in summer it is a green field you can walk down.
12:30Lunch at a rifugio above Corvara
Ladin cooking is neither Italian nor Austrian, and a last plate of turtres and barley soup is the point of having stayed on this side of the range.
Most huts stop serving at two. Cash is still useful at the smaller ones.
Questions
- How long is the Dolomites and Alta Badia itinerary?
- The Dolomites and Alta Badia itinerary runs 6 days and covers 11 stops across Corvara, Ortisei, San Cassiano, Cortina d'Ampezzo.
- When is the best time to do the Dolomites and Alta Badia itinerary?
- June to September is the best window for the Dolomites and Alta Badia itinerary.
- What happens on day one of the Dolomites and Alta Badia itinerary?
- Day one is into the valley: Three hours up from Venice, arriving with enough light for the first lift.
Sources
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