This is amazing!NOTE: I ended up writing a lot more than I expected to, rather than just listing our rifugios. (I'm sure I could write a ton more.) When I have time, I'll include some photos (of my thousands). Here's one from Cinque Torri (5 Towers) to tease you.
View attachment 119050
As I wrote earlier, we worked with a small company, Distant Journeys, who did all of our booking and provided us with detailed trail notes. (Prior to making the arrangements, they discussed with us our timing and what we wanted to do.) There are a lot of rifugios to choose among (although some may be full now), so your route may vary slightly from ours.
FYI, we decided in May 2021, when it seemed like covid was getting better, to do the trip in July 2022. We paid our deposit (and then covid exploded again...) and the company was able to book for us very early, which was really helpful because we've been quite cautious covid-wise and didn't want to share a bunkroom. (But I did get covid at the very end of the trip - midway through we let down our guard and stopped asking to eat meals outside etc.).
Anyway, here's what we did:
Pre-Dolomites - I had never been to Italy so we explored in Venice for 1.5 very full days. That was great, and for us that was the right amount of time in the city. Then we took a bus to Cortina D'Ampezzo, which is just east of the Cinque Torri middle section of the Alta Via.
Day 1 - we were driven (pre-arranged) to Lago Di Braies, which is a big lake, aka Prager Wildsee - FYI, a lot of places/mountains in the northern part - south Tyrol - have multiple names that are totally different from each other because this area used to be Austrian so there's German, Italian, and Ladin (that's not a typo) all mixed up together. Once I understood this, I was better able to wrap my head around the details of where we were going. We did a long and beautiful hike to our first night at RIFUGIO FODARA VEDLA, which was a bit off the regular route but a wonderful place.
Day 2 - We did another long and beautiful hike to RIFUGIO SCOTONI, and that was great, too. For the last part of the hike, we had instructions about two different ways to go, depending on the weather. We had good weather and went up the pass/saddle (Forcela di Lech/Forcella di Lago) and then down, down, down toward Lago (lake) Lagazuoi on constructed switchbacks that were so tight I actually started feeling queasy. It was worth it though - quite unique!
Day 3 - We went back up to the lake and then up up up some more to Lagazuoi, which is at the top of a ski area with unbelievably magnificent views. Part of me wondered why we hadn't stayed there instead of going down to Scotoni, especially since I love sunsets and I'm sure the sunset would be incredible from way up there if it's not raining or heavy clouds. However, there aren't private bunkrooms (which we definitely wanted) and it is very very very crowded there. In the middle of the day, it was just like a restaurant at the top of a super busy ski mountain. If you end up there, I'm sure you'll enjoy the incredible scenery, and just know to expect crowds. We walked around up there for awhile and looked across to the switchbacky pass we had hiked down the previous day. Btw, on the switchbacks going up to Lagazuoi, there are awesome WW1 remains that I highly recommend you take time to check out. There was fighting there between the Italians and Austrians. I have very little interest in war history, especially WW1, but this was fascinating. To get back down from Lagazuoi, we went through the amazing tunnel that the Italians built in the mountains. I highly recommend that. To access that you walk on something that seems like a knife-edge, but it really was fine (my husband doesn't like that sort of thing and he had no problem) but I guess if it's raining or storming you should think twice. (There are other ways to get down.) For the tunnel, you need a headlamp and warm layers. It's remarkable and highly memorable. Anyway, after getting down down down to Passo Falzarego we went back up up up to RIFUGIO CINQUE TORRI. This was an awesome day but very long and I was definitely losing steam by the time we arrived just a few minutes before the typical 7:00 dinner.
Day 4 - We did a long day hike from Cinque Torri and stayed there again that night. It was a perfect location for two nights, as there is a lot to explore in that area. Cinque Torri (5 Towers) is fabulous and has lots of climbers to watch, plus there's an open-air, walking around "museum" of WW1 to check out. In addition to that, we hiked up to Rifugio Nuvolau. That would have been an awesome place to stay (high up with magnificent views) but didn't have private rooms so even though I would have loved the sunset, we were glad not to share a room. Also that day we hiked around Averau and with GaiaGPS in hand we had a lot of fun doing a tiny bit of off-trail stuff we wouldn't have done otherwise.
Day 5 - We did another long and beautiful hike (I should stop saying that - they were all long and beautiful) to RIFUGIO STAULANZA. This day had many different parts that were varied and stunning. For several days prior to this, we had been seeing in the distance a formation that we named "Sinking Ship". On this day, we went around the other side of the sinking ship and really enjoyed that, as well as views of Mt. Antelao and Mt. Pelmo. Btw, someone at dinner on Day 2 told us about the PeakFinder app. I downloaded that and really loved using it to identify mountains near and far and see the list of all the visible peaks (visible to the GPS, at least), some of which were many miles away.
Day 6 - We went to RIFUGIO TISSI. The early part of this day was very crowded with dayhikers going to Lake Coldai (kid groups, etc.) which was clearly had lost water and was much smaller than it used to be. After the lake, the hike along Mt. Civetta was fabulous, and there were many fewer people than earlier in the day (and nobody was up at Tissi except for people staying there). Going up up up to Tissi was hard but awesome. The views from the top are fabulous, and we literally followed our trail note instructions to lie down on our bellies by the big cross at the top and peer over the edge down down down to the town and lake below. (Lying down on belly so you don't plummet to your death trying to look over the edge.) We had a private room at Tissi but it was tiny!
Day 7 - We went to RIFUGIO CARESTIATO - more amazing scenery, wildflowers, and pollinators on this long day. Great sunset and sunrise.
Day 8 - Instead of going to one of the rifugios and ending at the bus stop, we were routed to MALGA PRAMPER, a working farm. This was our only shared bunkroom, but we lucked out with no one else there, except for some girls who were staying in an adjacent room that we didn't really see otherwise and weren't sure what their situation was. (Very little English was spoken there.) The hike was very hot with the rocky scree baking in the sunshine, but we saw almost no one and really enjoyed the solitude. When we got to Forcella (pass) Mochesin, we were so hot and sweaty I was thrilled to let the strong wind cool me off. Then the walk down to the farm was lovely.
Day 9 - Before leaving the farm, we watched the cheesemaker make cheese. It was fascinating to see him stick his bare arms into the huge vat of yellow liquid! Then we walked through woods where there was a lot of wonderful forest art (trees turned into sculptures, etc.). We made it to Forno di Zoldo in the early afternoon, got some lunch, and went to our hotel there, where our extra suitcase was waiting patiently for us after having been transported there from Cortina d'Ampezzo. We had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant there, La Tana D'lors.
Day 10 - The next morning we were driven to the Venice airport and flew home.
Some notes:
1) Some parts weren't too busy, but solitude is NOT the focus of this trip. In general, people were very nice, but there are some parts where there a LOT of people doing day trips that overlap with the trek. It wasn't a problem for us, but it's good to know ahead of time. For those who are doing it in September, I assume it will be less crowded.
2) Every day there are rifugios along the way where you can stop for a drink (we got in the habit of lemon soda), snack, and/or full meal. I can't eat a lot while hiking, and my husband didn't want full meals either, so we occasionally bought strudel to eat, but mostly we ate trail snacks during the day.
3) Many rifugios have shared bathrooms even if you have a private room.
4) The food varied from rifugio to rifugio. Some was fabulous, others were ok.
5) Our dates were July 14-24. We saw sooooooooooooo many gorgeous wildflowers and pollinators!
6) I'm super slow when hiking uphill, and there was a lot of uphill, so what took us all day would take faster hikers less time.
7) Try to do (weather permitting):
-Tight switchbacks going down to Lech (lake) Lagazuoi from Forcela Lech/Lagazuoi
-WW1 stuff in the Lagazuoi and Cinque Torri areas and explore in the middle of the Cinque Torri towers to see the climbers and cool rock formations
-Get to at least one of the super high points for fabulous views (Lagazuoi, Nuvolau, Tissi - or maybe there are others at other rifugios that weren't on our route)
I'm ready to go right now! Amazing!I had such a good time looking through my photos. It's been awhile, and I had forgotten how many fabulous scenes there were!
Day 1 - Lago di Braies / Prager Wildsee (north end of AV1)
View attachment 119095
Seekofel/Croda del Becca - you can climb this if you have time and energy (zoom in where arrow is and you can see people)
View attachment 119094
Rifugio Fodara Vedla
View attachment 119093
Day 2 - Forcela di Lech/Lago up ahead (see arrow)
View attachment 119099
Coming down the top switchbacks (you can see my husband if you look closely)
View attachment 119101
Looking down the pass to the lake (Lagazuoi) and then seeing Rifugio Lagazuoi way up ahead at the arrow
View attachment 119100
Making our way down the constructed switchbacks
View attachment 119102
Rifugio Scotoni
View attachment 119103
Day 3 - Almost up to Lagazuoi, checking out the WW1 remains
View attachment 119104
Views from the top of Lagazuoi - Marmolada Glacier off in the distance at the arrow (it had collapsed a week or two before we came)
View attachment 119105
The pass we had come down the previous evening (see arrow) and the lake below
View attachment 119106
We explored around the top - the arrow shows Rifugio Lagazuoi
View attachment 119110
The sort-of knife edge you walk partway on to get to the top of the tunnel
View attachment 119109
Inside the tunnel
View attachment 119108
One of many windows to the outside from inside the tunnel
View attachment 119107
Sometimes you pop out of the tunnel for a little while and then go back in - you can see my husband standing a little below & right of the opening
View attachment 119111
View from the patio at Rifugio Cinque Torri
View attachment 119112
Day 4 - hiking near Cinque Torri - looking back toward it while heading up to Rifugio Nuvolau
View attachment 119113
Pano view from top of Nuvolau
View attachment 119115
Hiking around Averau
View attachment 119114
Day 5 - I forget what this part was called but we loved it - Mt. Pelmo off in the distance (left)
View attachment 119118
View attachment 119116
Town of Cortina D'Ampezzo down below
View attachment 119117
Tall, stately Mt. Antelao
View attachment 119120
Day 6 - Rifugio Tissi visible way up ahead at arrow
View attachment 119121
Mt. Civetta (you can see the trail we had come along in the green part near the bottom)
View attachment 119124
At the top (beyond the rifugio) - lying on our bellies to see the view below
View attachment 119123 View attachment 119122
Day 7 - sunset from Rifugio Carestiato
View attachment 119125
Day 8 - using the PeakFinder app to identify the mountains visible at the top of the final pass of the trip (Mochesin)
View attachment 119126
Day 9 - cheesemaking at the farm (Malga Pramper)
View attachment 119127
I have a zillion other photos that I won't include. But since I can never resist wildflowers and pollinators, here's a sample of my favorites, including the first one which is Edelweiss.
View attachment 119140
View attachment 119137
View attachment 119135.
View attachment 119136
View attachment 119147.
View attachment 119138.
View attachment 119132
View attachment 119139.
View attachment 119143.
View attachment 119130
View attachment 119133
View attachment 119134.
View attachment 119144
View attachment 119141
View attachment 119145
View attachment 119142
View attachment 119146
View attachment 119150
View attachment 119148
View attachment 119151
View attachment 119149
View attachment 119131
View attachment 119129
View attachment 119128
I'd love to hear your plans. Which rifugios have you booked?
Thanks. And I'm looking farther ahead...to summer 2026@Parma, yes it's really important to consider the difficulty for the rest of your group. Uphills are hard for me, and there's a lot of elevation gain (see below*), so each day was long and tiring for me. But I've gotten used to long, tiring days and therefore don't get upset about them, plus my husband is much stronger than I am and helps me. Because of the backpacking we've been doing, as well as the Haute Route a few summers back, I know how to eat (small amounts throughout the day) and use energy chews (we love the Honey Stingers lime with caffeine - super helpful!) to give me a boost when needed. Eye candy is highly motivating for me, and there is tons of eye candy on this trip, so I enjoyed it tremendously. But if the others in your group aren't ready for a strenuous trip, no one will have a good time.
There are definitely ways to enjoy the Dolomites that are less strenuous. Instead of doing all of the AV1, you can do just the northern part or southern part, or just do the middle with more of a base camp approach. In some places there are chair lifts people can use to get to the top for a great view. There are a lot of roads in the region, so in some parts (not all) people could get a taxi rather than hike. In addition to the AV1, there are other regions of the Dolomites that can be enjoyed. We happen to know other people who were there last summer who worked with a different travel company and had a totally different itinerary in the Bolzano/Ortisei area. They loved their trip, and it wasn't hut-to-hut the way ours was.
If you decide to do the AV1, it might be worth considering a 2024 trip (rather than this summer) so you can get preferred rifugios on a route that doesn't have really long distances to get from one hut to the next. Or if you decide to work with a company who plans and books for you, they can advise about ways to make things easier if necessary.
Have you hiked with the other couples and have a good sense of their fitness level, prior experience, willingness to train ahead of time, and attitude when the going gets tough?
*Prior to our trip, I plotted our expected routes and saved these elevation profiles. Our routes didn't always match these exactly, and staying at different rifugios would of course make your profiles different, but it can give you a sense of things.
Day 1 (two options) and Day 2
View attachment 119231
Day 3 (steep downhill was from tunnel line) and Days 5 and 6
Day 4 isn't shown because I didn't know ahead of time what we would do that day (since we stayed 2 nights at Cinque Torri) - that was the day we went up to Nuvolau and around Averau and through Cinque Torri.
View attachment 119230
Days 7-9
View attachment 119229
Got it - and as you consider this further, don't hesitate to get in touch!Thanks. And I'm looking farther ahead...to summer 2026
Don't like ads? Become a BCP Supporting Member and kiss them all goodbye. Click here for more info.