If you would have asked me 5 years ago, if I ever wanted to go on a hiking holiday, I probably would have said... thanks but no. But the pandemic really brought out our inner hiker and nature enthusiast, so here I was planning a week in the dolomites, as my holiday for 2020.
The Dolomites are a vast mountain range in the middle of Europe which are easily accessible by car from the surrounding countries. They are located in the north of Italy and
attract ski and snowboard fans in the winter and a lot of hikers in the summer. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, I wanted to continue traveling as much as I could while also making sure that I stick to the rules and regulations. As I did want to limit my interactions, I decided to do a Roadtrip to the Dolomites to indulge in some nature and hiking. I can recommend this area and Roadtrip for people who haven't done a lot of driving or solo traveling as all areas are easily accessible and easy to drive.
Lago Federa & Lago Sorapis
I started my Roadtrip in the area of Lago Federa, which is located in the south of the Dolomites. I wanted to ease into some hikes before doing the longer and a bit more challenging (4am wake-up call) hikes.
Top Tip: I always use komoot for all my hikes. komoot is perfect to track all of your hikes. You can find routes from other hikers on there, which you can follow or you can even track your own route. For all my hikes on this trip, follow me on here
I did two hikes in this area and both of them were absolute gems.
The first one was a hike to Sorapis Lake, which is the most popular lake in this area. The hike is a 3 hour roundtrip hike to a lake and back. You can easily find parking on the side of the street SR48 from Cortina d'Ampezzo. I went in the late afternoon, as I just arrived at lunch time that day. To be honest, it was the best time to hike to the lake. On my way up the mountain, a lot of people passed me by on their way back. It was just a constant flow of people. When I arrived at the lake though, there were only a handful of people left, so it was perfect. The hike up is very easy to do, just couple trickier places to navigate, but easy to do for beginners. The hike leads up on the side of the mountain, with trees giving you a little bit of shade. Do bring snacks and water, as you can have a little picknick at the lake.
Top Tip: For Lake Sorapis, go in the afternoon, as most people go after breakfast or at lunchtime. You basically have the lake for yourself once you are up there.
The lake itself is just beautiful. Really turquoise water in between the mountain ranges. As there weren't a lot of people, it was really quiet and peaceful. You can take the same way back as you went up and it takes around one and a half hour. Be mindful to go back while it still is light outside, just makes the whole experience a little bit easier.
My second hike was to Lago Federa, which was at one hand a very creepy hike, as for the whole hike I was on my own. But at the same time it was one of the most beautiful and epic hikes. I just parked on the site of the road, check out my komoot hike (Lago Federa) to find the exact parking space. It is a 5 hour hike in total and you are climbing 2,500ft up and down the mountain. So it is definitely a more challenging hike. For the most part, you hike up in a forest and are protected by the sun. It is a very surreal feeling to walk alone through a mountain range, but it definitely forces you to think and trust in your abilities. So I can definitely recommend you doing it at least once in your life.
Once at the lake you can walk around it. As it is quite a big lake, you can easily find a spot to rest and eat your lunch without many people around. It was an epic lake.
I did walk back a different route to my car, and it was brutal. I don't have hiking poles and the path lead down some very steep areas, with small loose gravel. So it was definitely a challenge for the nerves. But once you have done the tricky bits, you feel this euphoric feeling, to have survived but also to have mastered this challenging bit. But I would definitely recommend investing in some hiking poles.
Tre Cime di Lavaredo
Ok, let me talk about the greatness and grandness (is this a word) of Tre Cime. I did not know that this is the mountain to go to while visiting the dolomites. But I got obsessed with this mountain while visiting. When I arrived at my hotel, which I can absolutely recommend (Link), the nice lady at the reception asked me if I wanted to hike tre cime for sunrise. As you can imagine, I said yes and I had such an epic experience the first morning, I went up there twice for sunrise.
Top Tip: If locals ask you, if you want to do something for sunrise... ALWAYS SAY YES! They say this for a reason and so far it was always the best parts of my trips.
Let's talk logistics. The hotel I stayed at, was right at the bottom of the street that lead up to tre cime. It was perfect, as it only took me 15 minutes to drive up to the parking lot of the tre cime. It costs €30 to park there for the day. I read online that if you enter the area before 6am, which you do when you want to hike up for sunrise, then it is for free. This only was true for the first morning, the next morning, I did have to pay €30. But I can definitely recommend to go in the morning, as it gets packed and you basically hike with 500 close friends, if you arrive there after 9am. Also, the parking situation is a nightmare and you might have to wait in line on the street before they let you park your car. So it definitely pays off to start early.
I drove up there when it was still dark. You need around an hour of hiking before arriving at the sunrise spot. So invest in a head lamp (Link). Everyone told me to walk anti-clockwise, so to the right and I did on the second morning, but to be honest, the sunrise was great but not epic. The most epic sunrise, I ever saw, was on the first morning, when I walked clockwise, so the left. I was literally on my own as everyone else (when I say everyone...maybe 20 people) walked to the right.
I never walked in the pitch-black dark before, in the middle of nowhere with only cows to make a noise. So I was really freaking out when I was walking towards my sunrise spot. I can't describe the feeling, when you walk through the darkness and then slowly it gets lighter and a new day starts, but it brought me calmness that I almost never feel. You can follow my hike on komoot (Hike: Tre Cime). After around 40 minutes you come across a house on the left side of the hike. You want to stay there and watch the sky change its color as the sun slowly creeps up behind Tre Cime. It was the most beautiful sights, I have ever seen and I stayed there for around an hour just taking everything in.
After the sunrise, I completed the full walk around Tre Cime, which was beautiful, but also very packed as more and more people arrived. As everyone walks anti clock-wise around the Tre Cime, you come across everyone who just is starting their hike.
The next morning, I did want to see the sunrise from the other side. So another 4am wake-up call, ended in my walking another hour and experiencing the peacefulness of Tre Cime. It was great and it was beautiful to see the surrounding mountains also seeing the first morning light.
If you only have one morning though, I definitely recommend walking clock-wise.
On my way to Seiser Alm
When you drive from Tre Cime to Seiser Alm, there are two stops you can make. I can recommend one of them and actually will tell you not to bother with the other one.
The first stop I did was Lago di Braies,also known as the instagram hotspot. It is basically a lake with small boats on it. A hotel is located right at the lake. You have to pay €3 for parking and then you can walk around the lake. It is packed and to be honest, the lake was not beautiful. Especially, compared to Lago Federa and Lago Sorapis. You also can't take the famous instagram picture without paying for the hotel or the boats. I literally left after 5 minutes again as I didn't like it at all.
Top Tip: If a lake is right next to a parking lot, skip it. It's probably packed with tourists and expensive.
My second stop, was very beautiful. It's this little church in front of this impressive mountain range, called St.John in Val di Funes. You can park in the small town and walk towards the church. You pay €2 to visit the church and it was just very quaint and beautiful. No tourists were in sight so you can really take everything in. If you walk up the hill opposite the church, you actually get a very impressive view of the church and the mountains.
Seiser Alm
My last stop was Seiser Alm and by that time my legs were screaming at me to just stop hiking and just relax. The Seiser Alm is a plateau and the largest high-altitude meadow in Europe. It literally looks so picturesque. You need to pay to drive up there, or you could just stay in one of the hotels there. Which is very convenient, as you can just walk from your hotel to wherever you want to go.
The plan was to only do an hour hike around the meadow. It turned into a 4 and a half hike, as after every corner, I saw a more beautiful view. This was the first time, I didn't follow a tour done by someone else and just started walking and seeing where the road take me. I did not regret this, as it was the most perfect end to my trip. You see vast green fields with cows and mountains in the distance. Small huts pop up out of nowhere, which kind of invite you to just stay there for a week and do a mental detox. You can see Seceda in the distance. I did not visit Seceda but this is definitely on the list for my next trip to the Dolomites.
When you stay right at Seiser Alm, you can also see epic sunsets after a full day of hiking.
I can definitely recommend a trip to the Dolomites for anyone. It was one of the best holidays and I really appreciate nature and the natural wonders of the world a lot more now.
Top Things to do in the Dolomites
Lago Federa
Lago Sorapis
Tre Cime for sunrise
St.John Church
Seiser Alm
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