The Dolomites: One Week | wanderlustforyou

The Dolomites

7 Days

For this itinerary, I recommend flying into Venice and spending a few days there before picking up your rental car and heading to the mountains. We picked up our rental car from the Venice airport before driving to the Dolomites.

Day One: Venice

Land in Venice- Our flight landed at 9:30 AM
- Hotel Recommendation: Duodo Palace Hotel. Great location, wonderful staff, and beautiful rooms!
  - We set up a private shuttle from the airport to our hotel to make our commute into Venice easy. However, you can also take a regular boat taxi to one of the docks near St. Mark's Square and walk a short way to the hotel.
Walk around the city- take in the beautiful scenery!
- St. Mark's Square
- Doge's Palace
  - Buy tickets online to avoid the long line
  - 23 Euros
- St Mark's Belltower
  - Great views of the city
  - 8 Euros
  - Early evening had shorter lines than the morning/ afternoon.
Dinner near the Rialto Bridge
- There are several restaurants that line the canal.

Day Two:
Venice/ Verona

Cafe Breakfast
Gondola Ride
- It may be corny, but it's definitely worth it! The views of the city from the gondola are truly incredible.
San Giorgio Maggiore
- Beautiful Church with a bell tower on an island across from Venice.
- Explore nearby islands
  - We only visited this one island before heading to Verona for a day trip. If you don't want to travel to another city, there are a ton of other islands to explore around Venice.
    - Burano and Murano are often recommended
Train to Verona
- Use the Trenitalia app to book your ticket
- About a 1 hr 15-minute train ride from Venice.
Verona Sites:
- Verona Arena
- Castelvecchio and Ponte Scaligero
- Piazza delle Erbe
- Giardino Giusti
View of the city:
- St. Peter's Hill
  - There is a building with a trolley elevator that takes you to the top of the hill. It is only a few euros.
Train back to Venice
- Be mindful of the time if you plan on training back this evening. Check the train schedules, so you know which train you would like to take back to Venice.

Day Three: Rifugio Auronzo

Pick up the rental car from the airport
- Pick up the car in the morning
- Venice to Rifugio Auronzo (about 2.5 hours via car)
  - 30 minutes from Toblach (this is where our hotel was)
    - Hotel:
      - Hotel Sole: $522 Total Standard Double Room
      - The hotel was nice but nothing special. We prioritized the proximity to the hikes we wanted to do.
You have to pay $35 euros to get into Rifugio Auronzo.
- When we went, the line to get into this section of the park was VERY long. If you have more time, it may be worthwhile to wait and do this section in the morning on a different day. We didn't have any trouble parking, but there is only one pay station to enter the park.
- Hike:
  - Cadini di Misurina (Trail #117)
    - 1.5-2 hour hike (about 4 KM to lookout)
    - This trail is located behind Rifugio Auronzo on the right side. There is a trail marker with the trail number.
  - If you have more time, there are other great hikes in the area.
Drive to Toblach
- About 30 minutes from Rifugio Auronzo

Day Four: Lago Di Braies

Sunrise at Lago di Braies
- Sunrise is beautiful, helps you avoid the crowds, and makes parking MUCH easier.
- Before leaving the parking lot, you have to take your ticket to the machine near the parking lot and pay at the machine.
Lago di Braies Hikes:
- Easy hike around the lake (about 1 hour)
  - 2.2 miles loop
    - You can also take a beautiful wooden row boat out on the lake from 10AM until 5PM (beginning of June until late September) for 15.00 € for 1/2 hour and 25.00 € for 1 hour.
- Lago Di Braies- Croda Del Becco
  - 9.3 miles, 4,960 ft elevation gain
    - This hike is very challenging, but it gives you incredible views. Make sure to pack plenty of food and water. I would also recommend bringing hiking poles if you have them as most of the trail is very loose rock.
    - By the end of this hike, we were exhausted and decided to get dinner at our hotel.

Alternate Hike

If you are looking for a more moderate hike, you can consider driving to the following hike instead.
- Lago di Sorapis
  - 7 miles, 3,021 ft elevation gain
    - The hike to the lake takes about 2 hours and features some relatively steep sections along the cliffside without railings.
    - Make sure to park your car at Passo Tre Coci near Restaurant Son Zuogo and follow the signs for trailhead #215.

Day Five: Mountain Spa & Mountain Lodge

After a long day of hiking, we decided to spend half of our day at a mountain spa, QC Terme Dolomiti
- The spa was about 2 hours from Toblach.
  - You may consider staying in a different town; we found this spa at 11:00 pm the day before we went, so it wasn't originally part of our plan. However, the drive is very scenic, so we didn't mind it.
  - Reserve your spot online prior to your visit.
    - About $42-54 Euros/ person for just spa access.
      - Prices vary depending on how long you wish to stay.
    - About $95-$130 Euros/ person for spa access and a massage
      - Prices vary depending on length of massage
    - You can pay additional $24-29 euros for lunch.
      - I recommend paying the extra 5 Euros for the main course options.

Mountain Lodge

When we finished enjoying the spa, we drove to the Col Raiser Cable Car
- There are several parking lots at the base of the cable car where you can park overnight.
- We left our car here and stayed a few nights in one of the mountain hostels.
  - Be mindful of the time- the last cable car to the top of the mountain left at 5:30 PM
  - $25 Euros/ person round trip
  - We packed 2 nights worth of clothes into our hiking backpacks and left our suitcases in our car.
We stayed at Rifugio Firenze- a great mountain hostel with both public and private room options. The views were incredible, the service was great, and the food was fantastic! There were several hikes and via ferratas in the surrounding area.
- You can only make a reservation by emailing the hotel directly.
To get to the mountain lode, take the Col Raiser Cable Car to the top of the mountain and proceed to hike trail #4 (about 25 minute easy hike to hostel).
Enjoy your evening in the mountains!

Day Six: Seceda

We had a great breakfast at our hostel before hiking to Seceda.
- All trails shows the hike from the top of Seceda down to Rifugio Firenze and Col Raiser, so the elevation gain is not accurate. I believe the elevation gain was about 2,000 ft going up to Seceda.
  - Hike to Seceda
    - 4.4 miles; 2,000 (estimated) feet of elevation gain.
    - There is a restaurant hut along this route that we stopped at for lunch.
- When we arrived at Seceda, we continued to hike along the ridge-line and explore the surrounding area.
We ran into bad weather, so we spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our mountain lodge. However, there are plenty of other hikes and via ferratas in the area.
- If you want to climb a via feratta, you need to bring your own harness and clips. Regular hiking boots are fine for these.

Day Seven: Drive to VCE Airport

Enjoy your last morning/ early afternoon in the mountains before taking the gondola back down to your car
Drive 2 hours to a hotel near the Venice airport.
- We had a 6:00 am flight the following day to France, so we decided to head to our hotel and lounge by the pool.
  - Hotel: Novotel Venezia Mestre Castellana
    - About 10 minutes away from the Venice airport
This itinerary was the first half of our trip- we combined this with my French Riviera Itinerary.