Italy
Dolomites
7 days, ~30 miles, September 2024
Self Guided / Guided
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We booked our self guided trip Alta Via 1 North via Mac Adventures about 9 months in advance.
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We choose to work with an agency as we were told it was difficult to get a spot in the Refugios (limited space, very competitive, difficult to know when they open their books for the time we want, and if a Refugio isn’t available, need to know how to pivot and adjust itinerary).
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Note: We did meet some folks that did book it themselves so it is possible, cheaper, and definitely time intensive.
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We met lots of other people on trail with different agencies - both self guided and guided (Mount Trek, Trek trails, …) so look around if you are going to use an agency, and find one that is best for your needs.
Overall
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Tougher hiking than we anticipated due to some technical sections (e.g., cables, rock scramble), decent ascents and descents and rocky terrain. There are some exposed sections but in general path was wide enough so not super scary
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We trained so we’re able to comfortably complete each day
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Views were fantastic
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Trails took us through valleys, mountain passes,
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In general trail markings very good but there were occasions where we were glad we had our digital map from Mac Adventures
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Crowded at times with some very large groups of 10 or more to pass (more in the earlier part of day) as well as a few hikers coming opposite direction
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Started most days 8am - 9am we’re at our next Refugio by 1pm - 3pm
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Weather is a factor and changes constantly as you look at the mountain forecast. On the second to last day of our hike (Sept 12) we got 6 inches of snow ….
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Highly recommend this experience. Truly enjoyed the hiking, views, Refugio’s, all the friendly hikers we met
Clothes
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Need to pack house shoes for Rufugios as you can’t wear your hiking shoes inside
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Need layers it can get very cold when you are not moving and very warm if sun is shining doing a long ascent
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Be prepared for rain - rain jacket and rain pants
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Comfortable (warm) Lounge outfit to change into after hiking
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Pack light it’s okay to wear a pair of hiking pants and bring only one other pair to change into. Same with shirts. Wash your underwear and socks at night ensuring they are dry wick so they are dry by the next day ~wring out, then dry with a towel, then hang in the sun or breeze, if possible.
Refugio
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All had charm, were clean, warm and welcoming
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Most had a separate bar, restaurant and outdoor decks
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Very limited number of private rooms. Mostly dorm rooms with up to 10 people with shared toilets and showers
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All had hot water for showers . Towels and soap/shampoo were provided
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Some have standup toilets
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Bring ear plugs, eye mask for dorm rooms
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Sleep sack for all accommodations as there are no sheets. Warm comforters provided
Food / Beverages
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All Refugio’s provided delicious and plentiful meals
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Our breakfast and dinners were included
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Sometimes we bought lunch at a Refugio on the way to our Refugio or we discreetly took some fixings from our breakfast for lunch
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Breakfast: hard or soft boiled eggs, a large assortment of different rolls/breads, meats, cheeses, baked goods, yogurt and granola. Some were buffets others food was on your particular table
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Dinners 4 courses: choice of a soup or pasta type dish, salad, meat entree, dessert. Vegetarian options available
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We were always assigned a particular table for our meals
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If there was not a Refugio along the way the next day to purchase your lunch at … bag lunches were available for purchase the night before
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House wine was reasonable and good. Beer, spritz’s widely available
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Starting on day 3 water was no longer drinkable so needed to buy water
Day 1: Arrive in Cortina from Venice
ATVO runs 3 buses daily to Cortina D’Ampezzo. We booked our tickets online weeks in advance (assigned seats). Caught the 10:20am bus from Piazza Roma (was not full). Transfer at Marco Polo Airport to Cortina 11:05am bus. Bus stop Bay A - two bays down from where we arrived. No chargers or toilets on bus, so prepare for the 2 hour 20 min scenic ride.
Cortina is a very picturesque alpine town- buildings with flowers overflowing from their windowsill planters. Town surrounded by large sharp majestic mountains with a clean glacier fed river flowing by. Pedestrian street with lots of shops and restaurants.
Town is bigger than we thought with lots of construction in preparation for the winter 2026 Olympics.
2 hours walking around followed by a spritz at one of the outdoor cafes and then dinner at Il Vizietto Di Cortina was perfect.
Not sure there is much more to do if you aren’t joining the throngs of day trippers both hiking and biking, mostly ebike mountain bikes, but some non-electric and road bikes. Given the tight windy roads with no shoulders and lots of traffic, including big busses, it seemed like you’d want to get off the road ASAP. Saw some gravel trails next to the road. Someone we met took the cable car up and said the views were spectacular.
We stayed at Hotel Ponteschi. It was a short walk into town center and an even shorter walk to our bus for the morning of day 2. Staff was friendly and helpful, and happily stored our luggage until we returned from hiking five days later. Room was clean, decent size and had a nice sized balcony. Breakfast was bountiful. We brought some ziplock bags down with a small string backpack and discreetly made our lunch for later on the trail side.
Day 2: ~8 miles, 3200 feet. Moderate to Strenuous
Caught the 445 Bus, a 5 minute walk from our hotel to the hockey stadium. Bus left seconds before on-time at 8:05am. Cash only - 10 euros for both of us. Arrived at 8:50. Transferred to 442 Bus at Dobbiaco. Also ran on time at 9:01am. YOU MUST BUY YOUR TICKET ONLINE. Saw many people without online ticket turned away with cash and credit card in hand. Got to Lake Lago du Bries by 9:30am. Lake is lovely water, super clear and a beautiful blue. Saw several rental canoes paddling around.
After a short hike south along the west shore of the lake past small rock towers and several cows, up we went on trail 1 toward Refugio Biella. Pretty much up and up for the next 5 hours.
Views were beautiful. Scenery changed. Trail itself started out moderate but over time had some challenging rock sections, some rocky staircases as well as a section that required a cable hand railing. Without the railing Amy would probably still be on the mountain. Hiking poles were very helpful.
At the top, where you can see Refugio Biella down the trail to the left, there was an optional offshoot hike up another 1000+ feet climb to the right. Clouds were rolling in by then threatening rain, and certainly impacting any potential views, so we didn’t take the option - It looked to be quite steep along a ridge line. And instead had lunch at Refugio Biella on their nice deck views. Ordered a hot lunch, beer and use the WC (although squatters only, which certainly tested the quads).
From there it was a much easier 3.5 miles as some of the trail was gradual down or flat gravel road, followed by more up and down trails, but not super steep.
Made it to our place around 3pm, an extra mile past Refugio Sennes, which also looked nice, and seemed very popular. Our place, Refugio Fodara Vedla, was lovely with a large outside deck (that we couldn’t use as it is began raining cats and dogs shortly after we arrived)...
.... bar and a restaurant where they provide a fixed menu dinner at 7pm which was very good - choice of barley soup or vegetarian strudel, salad, meat and vegetables followed by homemade ice cream and fruit.
Bonus we were able to upgrade ($25pp) from our dorm sleeping / shared bathroom accommodation to the last available private room with bathroom. Room felt new. They also provided towels and shampoo/soap. Very luxurious, compared to what we were expecting.
Day 3: Mile: 5, 1600 ft, Moderate
Breakfast was good and typical. Cheese, meats, rolls, hard / soft boiled eggs, yogurt, sweets. Buffet, so we loaded up, including cheese sandwiches to go. And good coffee. Today was much easier than yesterday even though we had a steep downhill and another 1500 ft to climb. Trails/roads were small gravel and only a handful of sections with some bigger rocks.
We were so lucky with the weather as it rained all night and miraculously stopped at 10am when we started our walk.
Scenery was pine trees on the way down into a valley surrounded by high rock mountains that we climbed back through and up. We stopped at the lodge for coffee (tiny dot in the this picture) before climbing back out with amazing views.
Our Refugio Lavarella makes their own beer. Ends up it is the highest brewery in Europe. So, naturally, we had to try it - not bad. Wonderful to sit on their deck in the sun drinking our beers and talking to others. Lots of other Americans, large Norwegian group and a large German group. Everyone very friendly.
Day 4: Mile: 8, 3600 ft, Strenuous
Breakfast was a nice buffet with typical hard boiled eggs, rolls, cheese, meats, yogurt, muesli. Knew it would be a tough day, so we tried to get going early. Everyone else had the same idea. Hit the trail at 8:00. Beautiful 360 degree of the surrounding mountains. Cowbells dinging continuously.
Began with first couple miles across open meadow, before reaching the decision point to climb up 1000 feet to a pass, followed by steep down tight switchbacks; versus a longer around the mountain route.
We opted for the steep route after a guide advised it wasn’t that scary (only one point with a small height issue Amy got through) and offered stunning views.
After the tough climb up to a pass, where we saw the start of our long descent between two huge rock slabs. Further down, the steep got steeper and we were rewarded with a view all the way down to a lake.....
...... and then in the distance the long climb up the other side. (The climb that never ended)
The climb uphill was a climb that felt like it would never end. Toward the top you could look at remnants of the Austrian- Italian WWI front line ...
... and even more magnificent panoramic view, where we ate our lunch.
From there we took a cable car down (runs every 15 minutes, 18 euro pp pay on the cable car) to Falzarego Pass, and then walked 1.5 miles parallel to the road, past rock climbers, to reach our Refugio Valparola.
We were pleasantly surprised to find we had our own large private top floor room with a private bath that had an amazing view.
Shared drinks with others on the deck before dinner. Dinner was at 6:45pm. Choice of pasta, followed by salad, entree choice - meat or polenta, local desser. Water was not drinkable at the hotel so we had to buy bottled water. Found out that was the story at all Refugios in the area. Supposedly we are in a more touristy area than where we came from.
Day 5: 5 miles, Moderate
Today after a lighter breakfast we walked back to the cable car base at Falzarego Pass to continue our hike.
Bathroom available at the cable car. There is also a shop across the street that sells trinkets, hiking gear, and snacks. With bad weather forecast, we bought gloves and a head warmer at not too unreasonable prices. The day’s hike wasn’t too bad. Of course I get winded with any uphill but the gorgeous views make up for it. We had a little fog here and there.
We hiked up to a small lake with nice reflection of the mountain face we would climb. We went straight up a quite steep hike to the top of a chairlift coming from the other side.
Up to this point the Mac App worked well with respect to directions, but somehow we were off track. We saw a sign to Averau, but it looked like a small path across a rock face, so we backtracked to where we saw several people below us go a different direction. So we went back down the steepest section to where they were. There was a sign to our Refugio Averau, so up we went through a rock scramble.
Upon hitting the top, we found it was just on the other side of a huge rock outcropping from the chairlift where we had been. Our narrow path continued across the mountain face on an exposed trail with dramatic views. Fortunately the trail was wide enough so Amy wasn’t fully freaking out.
Wasn’t a long day, as we only hiked for about 3 hours. Had lunch in our Refugio Averau. Food was good. Larry did some additional hiking after lunch up to nearby Refugio Nuvolau perched on top of a huge sloping rock slab, while Amy hung out at the Refugio Averau.
Views out were totally clouded, but nice views looking back at Cinque Torri (five towers).
After hiking and running into the same groups, and having the same experiences, people become like old friends, so we shared a couple of drinks in the bar area before dinner. Lots of discussion about the weather. Concern there is a storm coming in which could bring snow.
Dinner was at 7pm. Multi course, some choices and lots of good food. We asked for, but were denied a private room, so we slept in our planned dorm room with 10 beds (warm, cramped, and dead quiet, so each sound, like a squeaky bed, seemed magnified -not great sleep). Shared co-ed bathroom and showers. Wasn't the worst in the world but missed our private room and bathroom.
Day 6: 3.5 miles, Easy (with our alternate bailout route)
Severe weather forecast with 2” of rain or 17” snow as temperatures would be falling throughout the day, so we made the tough decision to change plans. We ended up bailing and headed back to Cortina via Falzarego Pass.
Down we went ....
.... as we got closer to the bottom the rain and wind soaked us. We then worked our way back to Falzarego Pass.
Due to a switch from high to low season, we were told that the bus wasn’t running toward Cortina, so we caught a bus going the opposite direction. Turned out several of our new hiking friends were on board doing the same thing.
Saw snow falling and blanketing trees, shortly after boarding our rescue bus at the pass. An unusual mid-September snowfall.
We ended up circling around via 3 buses and 1 train (and one train station cowboy bar) to make it to Cortina. Good news was we were able to problem solve with others to figure out what to do. A fun bonding experience (in hindsight), which we happily celebrated together.
We started the day at 8am at 6500’, and arrived back in Cortina at 3:30pm, happy to get a private room and warm shower.
Walked 15 minutes into heart of Cortina for drinks and early dinner at Faro Bar. Good cocktails, good house wine, and good flatbread. Got the first good night’s sleep in a few days.
Day 7: Rest day for Amy. 7 mile loop hike for Larry
Larry took a 7 mile trail run loop out of Cortina. Happy to have no backpack and no rain. Some good trail, except for a new river choosing to follow part of the trail. Nice views of surrounding hills blanketed in scattered snow.
Back for a relaxing afternoon on the couch in one of the cozy common areas of our Hotel Pontechiesa.
The next morning we ran into a couple of people who did end up doing the hike and said we made the right decision not to continue as they faced a good 6 inches of snow and the trail was very difficult to find.