You arrive in Val Gardena, check into your hotel, and do absolutely nothing strenuous. Your basecamp will be in Ortisei, Santa Cristina, or Selva, each offering easy access to your hike. Ortisei is a lively small town, while Santa Cristina and Selva are charming alpine villages where you’ll soak in the mountain atmosphere before starting your Dolomites self-guided hiking adventure the next day. 

You’ll hike across Alpe di Siusi, the largest highland plateau in the Alps: some 50 square kilometres of meadow sitting at 2,000 metres. It was forest until somebody cleared it for summer pasture a thousand years ago, and the cows have been keeping it that way ever since.

What that means for you is a whole day with nothing in the way of the view. The Sciliar on one side, the Sassolungo on the other, and the trail rolling gently between them past wooden huts that have stood there for generations. Several of the bigger ones serve lunch, and you should let them.

You finish below the Santner tower with the Rosengarten massif in front of you. If the sky is clear, stay outside for the sunset. It is the one everybody photographs badly and then talks about for years.

• Hiking Details: Ascent 820 m(2690.3 ft), Descent 370 m(1213.9 ft), Distance 13 km(8.1 miles). Hiking time 5 hours.

Your day opens with a 100-metre climb from the hut to Monte Pez, on top of the Sciliar. Twenty minutes of effort buys you a 360-degree view over the entire plateau and half the Dolomites, and you have not even finished breakfast. Go early, before the haze arrives.

From there the trail crosses the rugged top of the Sciliar and drops towards the southern tip of Alpe di Siusi, skirting the Antermoia group: a knot of peaks so secluded, and so often wrapped in cloud, that the locals talk about it the way other people talk about a rumour.

You sleep at the foot of the Sassolungo, looking out over Val di Fassa to the Marmolada and its enormous north face. Dinner, a beer, and the light going pink on the rock. There are worse ways to end a Tuesday.

• Hiking Details: Ascent 500 m(1640.4 ft), Descent 630 m(2066.9 ft), Distance 13 km(8.1 miles). Hiking time 5 hours.

Your final day of hiking circles the Sassolungo, the great blunt tower that anchors every photograph anyone has ever taken of this valley, and finishes at Passo Sella. The trail is straightforward with very little climbing, which your legs will have opinions about in the right direction for once.

The view keeps rearranging itself as you go: Alpe di Siusi behind you, then the Puez-Odle group, then the Sella. There is a harder variant if you are feeling strong. If you are not, nobody is counting.

Then back down to Val Gardena, where the hardest decision left is which terrace to sit on.

• Hiking Details: Ascent 360 m(1181.1 ft), Descent 490 m(1607.6 ft), Distance 10 km(6.2 miles). Hiking time 5 hours.

You did it. Three days on the trail, 36 km, Europe’s largest alpine plateau crossed on foot, and the Odle spires at your back the whole way. Not bad for a first multi-day hike, if that’s what this was.

The first and last nights of your Dolomites hiking trip are in one of our basecamp hotels in Val Gardena. While hiking, you’ll stay overnight in the mountain huts.

You can count on the following services in the mountain huts: a bed in a shared room or in a private room (must be booked in advance), a shower with hot water, toilets, meals, and a possibility to buy take away water and snacks such as sandwiches and chocolate.

Shared rooms are equipped with bunk beds with mattresses, pillows and blankets. Bed linen is not provided in shared bedrooms: you must have a sleeping bag liner with you. Typically, it is a light cotton bag. A warm sleeping bag is unnecessary since there are blankets in the bedrooms.

In private rooms you are often offered bed linen, thus a sleeping bag liner is not required. If you book private rooms, we’ll inform you whether you need to bring a sleeping bag liner.

Most huts have a heating system, but it is normally not required in the summer months. You will need clean footwear for the huts: light slides are an ideal solution.

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Proper hiking boots are a must for the mountains. We recommend high boots because they support the ankle better than low boots or hiking shoes and provide better stability on rocky terrain.

Even in the middle of the summer in the Dolomites, you must bring some warm clothes with you: a waterproof and windproof jacket, a fleece jacket, long trekking pants and a cap. A raincoat, poncho or another type of rainwear is necessary. You can see our Dolomites Packing List on Amazon. 

Other necessary items are toiletries, light clean footwear to use in the huts, sunglasses and at least two one-litre bottles for water. You’ll receive a detailed packing list specifically for your trip at the booking, but you can also check out our trekking packing list in the meantime. We ask all participants to read it carefully and be well-prepared for the hiking trip.

On our Dolomites hut-to-hut hiking tours, you are served breakfast and dinner in the huts and mountain hotels on the route.

Breakfast is normally served from 7 am to 9 am. It usually includes an unlimited quantity of coffee and tea, bread, butter, jam, honey and chocolate spread.

In addition, some huts offer ham, cheese and muesli for breakfast. After breakfast, we recommend filling your thermos with hot water or tea: ask the staff, and it will be for free in most huts.

Dinner  in the mountain huts is typically served from 7 pm or 7:30 pm for all guests. A typical dinner in a hut is very rich and includes a starter, the first course (such as pasta, risotto, and dumplings), the second course (meat with a side dish) and a dessert.

Drinks at dinner (water, wine, beer, tea, coffee) are not included and ned to be paid for separately.

Lunch. It is possible to stop for lunch in the mountain huts on the route. The lunch menu in the huts is similar to the dinner menu. Typically, there is a choice of pasta for 7 – 10 euros.  Other dishes cost 9 – 16 euros.

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For our Val Gardena to Alpe di Siusi tour, it’s necessary to be properly dressed, follow the safety rules and make realistic time calculations for day crossings – preferably according to the hiking schedule that we provide.

Our Val Gardena to Alpe di Siusi itineraries are planned so that they do not require specific skills or gear unless it is clearly specified in the tour description. However, you do need to have a reasonable level of fitness and endurance. 

You can expect well-maintained trails equipped with direction signs. Exposed sections of the trail are secured on the self-guided routes: it makes them safe provided that you follow the basic safety rules for hiking in the mountains.

Mountains are a natural environment with a high level of risk, so we insistently ask all participants to read the safety rules and emergency procedures.

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Travel insurance and trip cancellation insurance that covers you for this tour and includes emergency evacuation and hospital care in the unlikely incident that you get injured. We recommend checking out our free Adventure Travel Insurance Finder that helps you find the best insurance based on your needs.

Visa: We’ll  provide you with a booking confirmation for all days of your trip. If you need an Italian visa, you can enclose this document with your visa application.

The most stable weather conditions in the Dolomites are statistically from the second week of July till the middle of September.

This period in the Dolomites is characterized by warm sunny weather and modest rainfall. Earlier in June, the weather is normally favorable, but it is less reliable, and the mountain passes may be blocked by snow remaining from the winter.

In June we may have to change the route depending on the snow situation on the passes.

The second half of September in the Dolomites is a beautiful period, but the weather is again less predictable: the probability of incessant rain increases, and it may snow at an altitude above 2,000 meters(6561.7 ft).

It is not usually hot in the Dolomites at an elevation of 2,000 m (6,560 ft) and above where most of the hiking routes pass. On a sunny day in August, the temperature at 2,000 m can reach 20° C (68° F) during the warmest hours of the day. It’s comfortable for hiking.

On a cold cloudy day, the temperature can stay at around 10° C (34° F) during the entire day. It is always chilly at night and early in the morning.

Thunderstorms, often with hail, are typical for the warmest months (July and August).

In the Dolomites valleys at the altitudes of 1,000 – 1,500 m (3,280 – 4,920 ft) the day temperature can reach 27° C (80° F). It’s fresh in the valleys in the morning and evening, and it is not stuffy at night even in the hottest weeks of the summer.

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