Trekking in the Dolomites – the Italian Alps – should be on everyone’s bucket list! It’s just that good.
Ok, maybe not everyone’s list, but certainly on every hiker’s bucket list. Arguably, one of the world’s most beautiful and accessible regions for day-hiking and long-distance trekking, the Dolomites are a UNESCO World Heritage Center, offering a series of highly distinctive mountain landscapes that are of exceptional natural beauty.
This trek had been in the works for a number of years – of course, delayed further by COVID. We’d settled on a 6-day trek on a portion of the Alta Via 1 – a 75+ mile-long path – not really a single path, but a network of numbered and well-marked trails running south from Pragser Wildsee, near Toblach, to Belluno, and littered with Rifugios – mountain lodges – along the way.
WIth limited time off from work, we chose a northern section covering roughly 45 miles, beginning at Prager Wildsee – Lago di Braies. As the whole AV1 runs roughly north-south, we’d chosen to “approach” from the eastern side – having our start/end point in San Vito di Cadore – a small village just south of Cortina D’Ampezzo, site of the 1956 Olympics and a renowned ski resort, 2hrs north of Venice. As had been our custom, we found a wonderful hotel, Fiori Dolomites Experience, which served as our home base.
| Title | Distance | Time | Total Ascent | Total Descent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lago de Braies to Pederu | 11.2 | 5:34 | 3231 | 3,068 |
| Pederu to Fanes | 3.9 | 2:04 | 1,804 | 164 |
| Fanes to Lagazuoi | 10.4 | 5:30 | 3,927 | 1,801 |
| Lagazuoi to Averau | 2.7 | 1:33 | 1,171 | 171 |
| Averau to Croda de Lago | 7.2 | 4:00 | 1,864 | 3,261 |
| Returning to San Vito | 8.8 | 4:08 | 833 | 4,160 |
| 44.2 | 22:50 | 12,830 | 12,625 |
See some of the breathtaking scenery in the Dolomites and read more about each day’s adventures from the links in the table above.
Also read about our zero day in the mountains, and our side trip to Slovenia and the Istrian peninsula.
Browse the pictures below to get a sense of the beauty and ruggedness of the area AND a little taste of Istria!
Some final questions… Would we go back? absolutely! we just scratched the surface – there’s a bit of a kid in a candy store – plenty of outdoors, and there’s only so much you can grab in a handful. Hoping to one day return.
Ciao!