The perfect 3 days in the Italian Dolomites

The Dolomites are a subgroup of the Alps in South Tyrol, just by the Italo-Austrian border. Mainly popular for its gorgeous ski slopes and resorts, this area transfigures into every hiker’s paradise during summertime. If you’ve got no idea about the Dolomites and they are not on your bucket list, then you are most likely unaware of one of Europe’s natural wonders. But I can promise you: by the time you’ll have read this post, you will most likely want to teleport to this amazingly beautiful place. Let’s take a look at what you can do in 3 days in the Italian Dolomites!

How to get around?

The Dolomites were part of our 10-day northern Italy itinerary. You can also simply focus on this area only though. Fly to either Verona or Venice, if that’s the case. Having Verona airport as the starting point of your trip will help you trace the route we picked. The total costs of the trip at the end do not include the flights.

Given the short time, the places we wanted to see and the distance between them, we decided to have a car rented for this trip. We highly recommend you do the same, especially if you also have only 3 days in the Italian Dolomites! We got our car through rentalcars in Verona, a manual gearbox Fiat Panda. The owner company was GoldCar, one we had previously heard some bad stories about. Despite all odds, we had an overall satisfactory experience with them – no fake damage bills! Also good to know, should you ever wish to rent a car in Italy, you must own a credit card.

If you don’t have a driver’s license or just want to avoid the hassle of renting a car, no worries! There is a decent network of buses and trains running around the Dolomites. However, transfer times will increase, you will depend on schedules, and your overall comfort may be slightly lower.

Where to stay in Dolomites?

Our accommodation base was Bolzano, a small and cozy mountain city in south Tyrol. Thinking back, we would probably split our stay in order to drive shorter distances. We stayed in this B&B, perfectly suited for our 3 days stay in the Italian Dolomites. A small double room with private bathroom, self check-in and check-out, a couple of parking spots around… As well as that, the location was perfect, just few steps away an awesome biergarten and the center!

Day 1: Seceda Peak

Our first stop in the Dolomites was the gorgeous Seceda peak, 2500m above sea level. We had been keen on seeing it for so long! Just after picking up our car in Verona airport we headed straight away towards Ortisei (German: Sankt Ulrich). It took us two hours and a half to reach this little village and start our way up to Seceda.

The fifteen minutes ascend is divided into two segments: Ortisei to Furnes, then change to Seceda. Tickets for both routes combined cost 24€ one-way or 32€ for the return. Our initial plan was to go there by cable car and come down on one of the several hiking paths so we just bought two tickets to our destination and hopped on the cable car ride. Within moments we were up high, with stunning views over the Dolomites!

Once we got to the top, we spent two hours hanging around and taking loads of pictures. The nature at Seceda is just incredible! Soon, the weather had its word though. A grueling rain woke us up from dreaming and we were run off to the ”rifugio”. All wet and cold, we both agreed it would be stupid to try walk our way down. Luckily, we could still take one of the last cable cars going back to Ortisei, which costed us another 12€. We changed inside the car, got warm and then off to Bolzano, so we could check-in and then have couple of hours more to explore the city.

Day 2: Lago di Braies, Tre Cime di Lavaredo

Lago di Braies

Lago di Braies(German: Pragser Wildsee) is undoubtedly one of those places that seem too beautiful to be true on social media. In our 2nd day, we woke up at 6am and took the road to the lake. Starting early enough to avoid traffic jams and huge crowds of tourists is always a good idea. From Bolzano to Lago di Braies it is roughly an 1 1/2h drive. Do you worry about parking? You should know there is a parking lot just by the lake (P2) – 6€/ 3h.

Just around the corner, Pragser Wildsee reveals you exactly the image you were expecting. A blue, clear, shallow lake reflecting the mountains in the background – still covered by morning mist and clouds. But please don’t let yourself deceived by the instagrammers’ outfits! It’s actually freezing, especially in early hours, so if you wanted to pose in a poshy dress…well, think again!

All around the lake’s shore you’ll see many photographers with impressive gear, trying to take their most stunning shots. Another nice option you have at Lago di Braies is the boat ride. Public boat rental is available after 9am. Also, for those wishing a lifetime memory, private shootings are being organised before 9. However, you have to get around 150€ out of your pockets for that. We chose the 1h easy walk around the lake and Vlad took care of our own ”shooting”.

After more than 3h at this marvellous location, we hit the road towards Tre Cime natural park. As we were exiting the parking, we saw huge car queue on the other side, with people waiting to get as near to the lake as possible. Once again, being early birds is worth it!

Tre Cime di Lavaredo

Route: Lago d’Antorno – Rifugio Auronzo – Rifugio Lavaredo – Rifugio Locatelli – Rifugio Auronzo – Lago d’Antorno
Time: 6 hours
Difficulty Level : Low
Access in the natural park costs 30€/car and includes parking at Rifugio Auronzo.

One of the most famous formations in the Alps, Tre Cime di Laveredo consists of three high peaks (Cima Piccola, Cima Grande, Cima Ovest). Formerly part of the border between Italy and Austria, Tre Cime can only be seen as a thin cultural line nowadays, mixing together the Italian population with the German speaking minority. In fact, the whole region makes you forget you are actually in Italy. Everything due to the powerful German influences concerning language, architecture and cuisine.

Lago D’Antorno is 1h away from Pragser Wildsee by car. Only 6km further was our hike’s starting point, Rifugio Auronzo. However, with a very long stream of cars ahead of us, we could slightly move any further. We made up our minds and decided we were going to trek all our way up. As about the car, we left it on a 120′ limited time parking spot, although fully aware there was no possible way we could be back in two hours.

Awesome views and a parking fine

Even if it’s not marked at the beginning, the trail starts just parallel to the road. Loads of other ambitious tourists were joining, so we couldn’t get lost. The way to Rifugio Auronzo is not difficult, although it’s mostly climbing up so be prepared for a good hike!

From Rifugio Auronzo to Rifugio Lavaredo, and further on to Rifugio Locatelli the trail is basically plateau. Trust me, it will feel so welcome after the constant effort before! The views you get are simply spectacular. You’ll take many breaks, not only because of tireness, but for the thousands of pictures you’ll wish to take. Going back to Auronzo from Rifugio Locatelli may get a bit more challenging. Despite that, you’ll be very proud to have finished the whole tour at the end.

However, if you are not in the best condition or just don’t feel like walking any longer, stop at Rifugio Lavaredo. Get your best glimpse over the three majestic mountain peaks, and then turn back to Rifugio Auronzo on the same path. Here you can find homemade food, salads, sandwiches, hot drinks, beer, prosecco, basically anything you need in reward. As for us, we had a nice paninni and a glass of Apfelschorle. Fourty-five minutes under the bright sunshine went by so fast!

Watching car by car drive down the twisting road reminded us we still had 6km to walk in order to collect ours. This time we took the driveway and not the woods path we came up on. The way down was much easier, and we kept on running till we could spot the our Fiat’s shining yellow. And a tiny 30€ parking fee under the windshield wipers 😉

No need to ask why, we had just exceeded the free parking time by 4 hours 🙂 Our efforts to understand what the Italian note said were in vain. Eventually, we found out it was impossible to pay it via internet, so we needed to get to a post office. Which, btw, were all closed the next day, as August 15th is a bank holiday in Italy. So we had to pay the fee and return the car until midday on August 16th in Verona. Easy!

Day 3: Lago di Carezza, Val di Funes, Geisler Alm

The last of our 3 days in the Italian Dolomites started with one more early wake-up call. Our first schedule checkpoint was Lago di Carezza, another splendid lake with breathtaking views. The lake makes a 45 minutes drive from Bolzano. We checked-out from our apartment, departed towards the lake and arrived there at around 8 am.

If you visit the Dolomites, make sure you don’t miss this place as well. The images below speak for themselves. Astonishing mountains arise behind the layer of tall fir near the emerald green water. Trust me, all your expectations regarding this lovely place will be fulfilled!

By the time we got there, only very few backpackers were around. We could enjoy the entire place for ourselves! We took a walk surrounding the lake, ate raspberries from the woods before making our way to Val di Funes.

Now that’s where we have to admit we lacked some pieces of information. Unfortunately we were unable to find ”Val di Funes” on neither Waze or Maps. We soon realised this was actually a bigger area consisting of several little villages (San Pietro, Santa Maddalena). Asking around for directions was useless, we couldn’t spot any image of the place we had in mind.

This is when we decided to make a sudden change to our plan. We recalled there was a very beautiful mountain cabin called Rifugio Odle – Geisler Alm, which by chance was also very close to our location. Fifteen minutes we parked at the crossroad just before the San Giovanni church, in Santa Maddalena. Free parking made us even happier 🙂

Geisler Alm

The hike to Geisler Alm should take 2h and is marked, as it’s a forest road designed for 4×4 vehicles. We climbed all the way up at a rather fast pace and cut this to 1 1/2h. Once you get out of the woods, you’ll be greeted with this landscape:

Up above, Rifugio Odle has a nice bavarian-style restaurant with great outdoor seating. We had prepared a picnic, so we ordered two beers and an Apfelschorle and laid on the grass, admiring the amazing views.

Nearby, there are also a playground for children, a small farm and a relaxation area with wooden chaise-longues facing the mountains. Yep, you can be as lazy as it gets! We sat there for hours and took loads of pictures before heading back to Chiesa di San Giovanni. Our day turned out to be even better than expected!

TIPS and TRICKS

Our 3 days in the Italian Dolomites ended with this view, driving back to Verona. Summary: we slept little hours, walked A LOT, spoke „italian”, german and english, drank craft beers and ate traditional bavarian food in Italy. After all, we wouldn’t change a thing and look forward to coming here again sometime!