Hiking in the Dolomites, Italy

Sibling reunion. Traveling with my brother for a week in Italy, some hiking, some sightseeing, some cold nights and lots of cappuccinos.

Mid September this year, I traveled with my brother in Italy for a week. We met up in Rome (I flew in from Berlin, my brother from Tokyo).

For me, it was a 2h direct flight from Berlin to Rome at 6am in the morning. If I were to do this trip again, I would take the train from Berlin through Austria and to the Dolomites, that could’ve been more interesting. If you’re flying, there are also other cities like Florence or Milan you could fly to.

We saw a bit of Rome, took a train up to Venice, and there we rented a car for 5 days. We didn’t have anything planned out asides from the fact that we had 4 nights and 5 days in the mountains.

First, we drove to Cortina d’Ampezzo (recommended by our Airbnb host in Venice) and decided to grab some maps and plan out our hikes for the next few days in the Dolomites.

Our original plan was to do a day hike around Cortina, then do a 2-day hike around Seceda, and maybe a day around Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Nothing ever goes according to plan though.

Day 0 - Cortina d’Ampezzo #

At the bookshop in Cortina d’Ampezzo, a lovely lady at the counter recommended us a camping place in town called Camping Cortina. It’s a 10-minute drive from the city center, was clean, quiet, and had warm showers (v. important). It even had a little cafe/ restaurant/ shop at the entrance where you could get cappuccinos in the morning or use the electric sockets. Even though it was mid-September, it got really cold in the evenings and early mornings since the town is at 1,224 m above sea level. We really felt the difference especially arriving from a coastal town like Venice so I’m glad I had packed for both climates.

We went for a quick evening stroll in the nearby valleys before setting up a tent at the camp site. Lesson: Pack for winter for autumn hiking & camping.

Day 1 - Mt Cernera #

We decided to start off our first day with an easy day hike. When in an unfamiliar mountain range, I think it’s always wise to start with a day hike before going straight into a multiple-day hike to reassess what you will need for the hike, how much clothing to bring, etc.

We picked Mt Cernera from a Youtube video titled TOP 5 EASY PEAKS in the DOLOMITES which said that it would take us 3 hours - so we gave ourselves around 4 hours and thought that would be enough. It turns out that we were very wrong. Mid-September is still in-season (some refugios and huts are open till late September, beginning of October) but some routes on the north side of the ridge were icy and frozen.

We parked our car at Passo Giau (2,236m) where the views were amazing already. We saw a lot of people with their motorbikes and I would love to come back with my bike to cycle here one day. Someone has kindly recorded the entire way on Hike.uno where you can check out the routes. Here are some photos from our hike below:

For dinner, we went back to Cortina d’Ampezzo and ate at a local restaurant recommended by this website which gives you tips on places to eat in Cortina for all budgets including descriptions of local dishes and what to eat. I ate the local ravioli (beetroot and parmasan ravioli) which was a perfect mix of sweet and savory. The restaurant gave us some names of lakes that were nice but not too touristy (L.LIMIDES, L.FOSES, L.ANTORNO) although this year, the whole area looked really dry.

Day 2 - Mini trail run near Lake Misurina #

We spent the morning planning our next few days in the cafe at the camp site. We were hoping to go to Tre Cime di Lavaredo but by noon, the roads were already too busy because it’s a toll road (30 EUR/car, there are also shuttle buses). So we decided to turn around at Lake Misurina and head towards Mt Seceda. If you’re planning to go there, I recommend going early morning.

The plan in Mt Seceda was to take a cable car to the top, stay overnight at the mountain top then hike down the next day. There are several ways to do this but we decided to take the cable car from Ortisei ( ticket info: 27 EUR/person for an uphill ticket in summer, open till 17:30). We left our car at the car park (cost around 20 EUR to leave it there for a day) and went on one of the last cars that were going up at 17:30. It’s technically not allowed to wild camp in the dolomites but we read that some people have done it before. (See Camping on Seceda – 2519m High in the Dolomites)

Day 3 - Mt Seceda #

We woke up early the next day and waited for the fog to clear. The clouds gave the scenery a nice depth and we felt small in the vastness of where we were.

We then walked around in the Puez Odle Nature Park, had some apple studels and homemade yogurt from the local cow’s milk in the refugios on the way and made our way down to La Selva. From La Selva, we took the local bus to Ortisei, back to our car. One of the best views I’ve seen in my life.

We decided to book a room in a hut since we were a bit too tired of camping out the past few days.

Day 4 #

We stayed at Pension Erica which was a cute little place in a valley. It’s owned by Erica who was really sweet and greeted us in German since that was the only common language we could communicate in. One of the best accommodations I’ve ever stayed in although it was a bit hard to access.

This trip has definitely made me want to come back in winter or next summer. It’s also been a nice way to catch up with my brother and we promised that we would make this a regular thing.

Tips & Resources #

WHERE TO EAT IN CORTINA? Found this useful when trying to decide what to eat in Cortina D’Ampezzo
Camping on Seceda – 2519m High in the Dolomites
Shorter Walks in the Dolomites: 50 varied day walks in the mountains by Gillian Price

Notes to self #

Pack lighter (try to fit everything into a 45L bag), don’t bring laptop, get a bigger battery pack.
Bring crampons/spikes for icy ground for autumn hiking, warm hats and gloves too. Also spare gloves.
Buy rechargable head torch.
Try out a hut-to-hut hiking trip just to get the whole refugio experience. It’s probably a better way to meet people plus less stuff to carry, warmer, safer, legal.
Plan ahead and keep it simple. Do one long hike with one starting point and one end point to minimize traveling in-between.
Learn how to drive a stick.
Try out Via Ferrata
Learn to keep cool and not get into fights over itinerary with a sibling.