Trekking in Dolomites

Alta Via 1 is the most approachable of the Dolomites' high routes, and the reason is simple: it threads between the great limestone towers rather than over them. For nine days you walk south from Lago di Braies toward Belluno, and the walking itself is never technical — five or six hours a day, one optional via ferrata, and the Italian mountain-hut system taking care of the rest.

The rifugi are the heart of it. You wake in one with a view most hotels could never buy, walk to the next, and eat proper mountain cooking at a shared table each evening. The pale rock of the Dolomites — glowing pink at sunset, sheer and surreal at midday — is unlike any other range in the Alps.

The rifugi open roughly late June to late September and take bookings from spring; the popular ones fill fast. It is the ideal first long alpine trek: spectacular, well-supported and within reach of anyone reasonably fit and willing.

Rifugi rather than tents: a bed, a hot dinner and other walkers at the same table, at places you can only reach on foot.

The Alta Via 1 is the accessible classic — nine days from Lago di Braies to Belluno, threading between the limestone towers rather than over them, with no technical sections and one optional via ferrata.

The Alta Via 2 is the harder line, with sustained via ferrata and a head for heights required. Huts open roughly late June to late September and take bookings from spring.

Book the rifugi early — they open roughly late June to late September and take reservations from spring, and the popular ones fill fast, so this is the piece to sort before anything else.

Walk Alta Via 1 south from Lago di Braies toward Belluno over about nine days; it is non-technical, five or six hours a day, so anyone reasonably fit and willing manages it.

Bring layers for alpine weather, and a via ferrata set only if you want the one optional protected section. Half-board at the huts keeps your pack light. For a tougher line, Alta Via 2 adds sustained via ferrata and a real head for heights.