46.62° N · 12.30° E
Pale rock towers, high meadows and mountain huts for multi-day walks. What to do, what to book in advance and where to sleep around Cortina, Gardena and Sesto.
Part of Alps
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
8.8 km circuit with 550 m of climbing around the Tre Cime from the Rifugio Auronzo; 3 to 4 hours, with access by toll road or bus 444 with a reservation.
Two lifts from Ortisei to the Seceda, at about 2,500 m, facing the Odle ridge; €74 return, free for under-8s.
Cable car from the Passo Falzarego to Lagazuoi, 2,752 m, with free-access First World War trenches and tunnels; open June to October.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
From late June to September, when the lifts and huts are open. July and August are the busiest: start early or book ahead. In October many lifts close, and from December to March it's ski season.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
The car lets you change valley in a morning: Cortina, Falzarego, Gardena and Pusteria are linked by mountain passes. In return, in summer you have to book the Tre Cime road and a space at Braies.
The network of huts lets you chain days together without going down to the valley. To start, a night at the Lagazuoi or the Auronzo already changes the trip: you see the mountain when everyone else has gone.
Two campsites cover the two halves of the eastern Dolomites: Fiames for Cortina and the Falzarego, Sesto for the Tre Cime and Braies. Nights are cold even in August.
It can be done, but with two conditions: the Tre Cime road costs €60 and requires a reservation, and at Braies motorhomes over 2 m cannot be booked online, they only enter when staff are present in the car park.
The Dolomites have a long tradition of spa hotels, especially in South Tyrol. They give you what is most welcome after a hike: sauna, pool and a long dinner.
Venice is the gateway to the Dolomites: from there it is about two hours by motorway from the Marco Polo airport to Cortina d'Ampezzo. To change valley it is best to hire the car at the airport; if you stay in Cortina and walk from there, the Cortina Express drops you in the centre without driving.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
With children, the cable cars do the hard work. Up top there are wide, almost flat walks, and under-8s do not pay at the Seceda or the Alpe di Siusi if they are with an adult.
A teenager gets bored at a crowded viewpoint. They get hooked by the war embedded in the rock of the Lagazuoi, by their first ferrata or by sleeping in a hut at 2,752 m.
In the Dolomites the dog goes up with you: it walks round Lake Braies and the Tre Cime on a lead, and can ride the Siusi and Seceda cable cars by paying its ticket. To sleep with it, campsites are the safe option: both in this guide admit it, each with its own conditions.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: A hut at the summit, next to the cable car, with rooms and bunk dormitories of 6 to 14 places. The price is a bunk bed with breakfast in summer 2026. It has a sauna with…
Why we like it: At the end of the toll road, with two- and three-bed rooms and dormitories of five or six, all with shared bathrooms. Sleeping here lets you do the Tre Cime loop at dawn, before the cars…
Why we like it: A house from 1836 owned by the Menardi family, which was an inn on the road between Italy and the Austrian empire and is now a three-star hotel with its own grounds, restaurant and wellness area…
© ADLER Spa Resort DOLOMITISpa hotelWhy we like it: An inn from 1810 in the centre of Ortisei that the Sanoner family, now in its seventh generation, turned into one of the first spa hotels in the Alps. The Seceda cable car is a few…
Why we like it: In Fiames, north of Cortina, beside the Dobbiaco road. The pitches are about 80 m² with electricity included, and there is an emptying point for motorhomes. It closes in autumn and reopens in December for skiing.
Why we like it: A five-star campsite in Moos, in the Sesto valley, open 365 days a year. It has pitches from standard to private ones with bathroom, a spa, swimming pool, indoor climbing wall and children's club. From here…
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: the cappelli dell'alpino and the cialsons, filled pasta from the mountains.
What to order: a hot dish from the self-service on your return from the walk.
What to order: something hot on the terrace before going down through the tunnels.
What to order: the cheeses from their own dairy and the meat from their animals.
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
Tips
At half past eight the Seceda and the Alpe di Siusi are almost empty. By mid-morning there are queues at the bottom station.
Each cable car has its own season. Many open in late May or June and close in early November.
At 2,500 m it's cold and windy, even in August.
Bus 444 leaves Dobbiaco and drops you at the Rifugio Auronzo. You save the toll and the reservation.
Spend a night in a mountain hut. Watching the evening light on the rock, once the day walkers have gone down, is a different mountain.
It's the most photographed lake and the most crowded. Go before nine or late in the day, or swap the plan for the Tre Cime loop at sunrise.
The Dolomites aren't a valley but an entire mountain range, spread across Veneto, Trentino and South Tyrol. Don't try to see them from a single place. Choose one or two bases according to what you want to do.
Cortina d'Ampezzo is the most convenient for the Lagazuoi, the Cinque Torri, the Averau and the Tre Cime, which are about 45 minutes away. Ortisei, in Val Gardena, is the base for the Seceda and the Alpe di Siusi. Sesto and Dobbiaco, in the Alta Pusteria, are a short hop from Braies and from the bus to the Tre Cime. With four nights, two in Cortina and two in Gardena works well.
Fly to Venice (Marco Polo or Treviso), with direct flights from several Spanish cities. From Venice airport, the Cortina Express bus reaches Cortina in about two hours, every day of the year. For Gardena and Sesto, the airports of Verona and Innsbruck also work. With a hire car you have more freedom: the mountain passes and the cable car car parks are far from the bus stops.
In summer, two things that used to be free. The toll road to the Tre Cime requires an online reservation in 2026: €40 for a car, €26 for a motorbike and €60 for a motorhome. And Lake Braies, from 1 July to 15 September, between 9:00 and 16:00 can only be reached by public transport, on foot, by bike or with a reserved parking space. Mountain huts with beds need to be booked weeks ahead.
Questions
Four at the very least to see the Tre Cime, Seceda and Lagazuoi without rushing. With a week you can add a via ferrata, the Alpe di Siusi and a night in a hut.
Yes, with patience. The Cortina Express runs from Venice airport, bus 444 climbs from Dobbiaco to the Rifugio Auronzo and the cable cars leave from the villages. Between valleys the buses are slow.
Yes. The Seceda and the Alpe di Siusi are reached by cable car and there are flat walks at the top. Children under 8 don't pay on those lifts if they travel with a paying adult.
Not if you go with a guide. Those on the Averau and the Nuvolau are beginner level, though you need a head for heights and to be fit.
In June and September. In the first half of September the lifts are still open and the schools have already started.
The route itself is free. What you pay for is the toll road up to the Rifugio Auronzo, or the bus if you go up without a car.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/italy/dolomites
