Hiking the Alta Via 1: Lago Braies to Fanes

January 3, 2026January 2, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

The Alta Via 1 is a premier hut to hut hiking trail located in the Dolomite mountains in northern Italy. Europe is well known for its hut to hut hiking. Unlike Canada, the mountains in Europe are very developed, with lots of infrastructure and roads scattered throughout, making hiking trails extremely accessible. One of the most popular hut to hut hiking routes is the Tour du Mont Blanc, which hikes through the Alps in France, Switzerland, and Italy. The Alta Via 1 is located further east in Italy, and is one of a series of “Alta Via’s” or “high routes” that traverse the region from North to South. The most popular route is the Alta Via 1, which if hiked in full, extends 120km from Lago di Braies to the town of Belluno.

If I’m being honest, I’d never heard of the Alta Via 1 until my friend Kristine approached me about hiking it with her. I was keen on the opportunity to go hiking in Europe, so I said yes, even though me and Kristine didn’t know each other very well. We had only met once in real life when we decided to go to Italy together, but fortunately, I didn’t end up with any regrets about the trip!

I flew into Venice in mid-September and we met in Cortina, spending 2 days together before starting the hike. Similar to Canada, bookings for popular hiking trails can be hard to get. Because the mountains are so developed, there are limited opportunities for camping along the Alta Via 1, meaning that most people stay in mountain rifugios. These are basically hostels, providing room and board for hikers, and they can book up far in advance. I’m familiar with my local booking platform, but it’s intimidating to try and tackle a whole new system (especially since the Alta Via 1 doesn’t have a consolidated platform and you have to book each hut separately), so we opted to use a third party.

I’m sure there are some good third party sites out there, but we went through a company called Mac’s Adventures, and they were really terrible. I wouldn’t recommended them for a ton of reasons that I don’t really want to get into, but at a high level, they sold us an itinerary that they couldn’t deliver and then tried to cancel our trip rather than attempt to fix it. We ended up resolving the logistical challenges ourselves to stop the trip from being cancelled, for which we received no discount. I’m pretty good at logistics, so if I had my time back, I would have just done the work myself, because Mac’s demonstrated no critical thinking or problem solving skills and I ended up doing the work anyways.

The rifugios usually release early in the year, around January, so you should be prepared to book pretty early. There are lots of options, but if you want to stay in one of the really popular huts (like Rifugio Lagazuoi), then you need to book right away. The entire hike is 120km, but lots of people (us included) just hike a portion of the trail. We ended up hiking 100km, approximately 80km of which was on the traditional Alta Via 1 trail. In hindsight, I wish I’d done the whole thing, but I still had a great time on the section of trail we chose.

Our base point for the trip was in Cortina, but the trail actually starts at Lago di Braies. We caught the 445 bus from Cortina to Dobbiaco in the early morning, followed by the 442 bus to Lago di Braies. Both are city buses that leave fairly frequently, but can get very busy. We were able to buy our ticket in advance for the 445, but since we started late in the season, we couldn’t buy it in advance for the 442. We managed to get on board, but it was very full and some people were denied entrance, so you should book this one in advance too, if possible.

As a Canadian, Lago di Braies reminded me a lot of Lake Louise. It’s a very popular lake, and there’s no hiking required to visit it. They run a very expensive boat rental if you want to canoe on the lake, which many people do, so it’s always very busy. I started my hike by grabbing a sandwich from one of the stalls for later and then we began our trek, walking around the eastern shore of the lake. It had poured while we were on the bus, but it stopped raining right when we arrived at the Lake, and we were surprised to see the sun come out so quickly. I was really keen to swim in as many lakes as possible, so I took a quick dip at the back of the lake. I did google whether this was allowed before I went, but I’ve heard since that you’re not supposed to swim in the lake, so I’m not sure if I was in the wrong. The water is quite cold, so it was a very short lived dip.

Once you get to the back of the lake, the trail starts a very long ascent up to the alpine. It feels as though you’re hiking straight uphill as you tackle ~1000m of elevation gain in just over 4.5km. Despite it being late September, it was quite warm and there was limited shade, so it was a bit of a struggle up to the top. The first part of the trail is more or less in a boulder field. There are a few benches along the way, but the trail feels like it just keeps getting steeper the further up you go. There is a small section with some ropes in the middle of the trail before you hit the alpine, but it’s not overly technical.

After the rope section, you reach the alpine and there’s another uphill slog to the top of Forcella sora Forno, which was the highest point of elevation for us on our first day. From there, you can continue to hike up to Croda del Becco, which is a popular viewpoint looking down on Lago di Braies, but it’s another 400m of uphill and it’s a more technical scramble, so we opted to skip it. The views from the Forcella (pass) are beautiful though. You can look down on the first rifugio of the trail, Rifugio Biella. It wasn’t our final destination, but Kristine had a pretty rough ascent up the trail, so we were enthusiastic about stopping for a break.

It was hot on the trail, but windy on the Forcella, so we quickly cooled down at Biella. We had our first sweet treat of the trek, a fruit encrusted cheesecake. We still had another 3.5km of hiking to get to our first rifugio, but it was easy walking in comparison to the climb up. The clouds moved back in and we had a gentle walk down a mountain road before crossing the barren alpine. It didn’t take us too long to arrive at Rifugio Sennes and Kristine was thrilled to see lots of cows hanging around the hotel (she’s a big livestock enthusiast). In total, we hiked 9.5km on day 1, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it was paired with 950m of elevation gain, so it still felt like a big day.

We didn’t know it at the time, but Rifugio Sennes would be once of the fanciest huts on our trip! We lucked out with our assigned room, which slept 4, but never ended up filling up. So we had the room to ourselves and were able to get a hot shower before dinner. Supper and breakfast were included at all our rifugios and I had a very yummy meat stew for dinner, along with a glass of wine. I mentioned in my post about hiking Tre Cime that the Italian Dolomites are more German influenced than Italian, which was especially reflected in the food, but there was plenty of good Italian wine to go around!

We had very nice neighbours at Sennes and we quickly be-friended a guy from the UK who was starting what sounded like a pretty amazing gap year, as well as a newly married couple from Calgary! The British guy was hiking way faster than us, so we never saw him again after Sennes, but we caught up with our Calgarian friends again the next day for lunch. We also had the luxury of wifi at the huts, so we were able to check in with our families every evening.

On day 2, we’d be hiking a similar distance to day 1, 10.5km, but with half the elevation gain, so it felt much easier. It was cloudy and cool when we set off from the rifugio in the morning, but we enjoyed that the trail was much less busy than the previous day. We started by hiking through the forest to nearby Rifugio Fedaro Vedla, which is a great alternative option to Sennes. Since it was still early in the day, we didn’t stop for a break and instead continued hiking on to the next hut, Rifugio Pederu.

The trail continues down over the mountain towards Pederu, which is accessible by car. The Alta Via 1 is an interesting experience because almost all of the huts are accessible by vehicle in some way or another (that’s how they transport supplies), it’s just that many of the roads are 4×4 or closed to the public. Pederu itself is accessible by bus and you can even pay to have your backpack shuttled between Sennes and Pederu.

The hike down to Pederu runs along the gravel mountain road that connects Pederu to Fodara Vedla. It’s an easy trek if you’re hiking down, but I didn’t envy those who had to hike up it. We lost 300m of elevation in less than 2km, so it was quite steep! We had to redo that elevation loss after lunch, but fortunately it was a more gentle climb. We arrived at Pederu before the lunch service had started, so we had some snacks with our new friends. Kristine had her daily cappuccino and I had my homemade iced tea (since I don’t drink coffee). It became a bit of a ritual for us: coffee and iced tea in the morning, and then every evening Kristine would have a coke zero and I would have a glass of wine. Plus we both indulged in a sweet treat whenever available!

We started the afternoon with another climb, but we fared much better than the previous day. The nice thing about doing this hike in late September was that I’d already done over 400km of hiking earlier in the year, so I was feeling very strong. We also have the benefit of living in the mountains year-round, so we’re used to the elevation gain. Even so, we couldn’t keep up with the Europeans, who seem to be on another level of fitness entirely, running up and down hills like it’s nothing!

Some of the tourists from less mountainous parts of the world were definitely struggling. Hut to hut hiking may sound cushy (which it is compared to the wilderness style of backpacking I do in Canada), but the Alta Via 1 covers some serious elevation over the course of your trek. We rarely hiked along flat terrain and would sometimes do 2 or 3 passes in a single day. We passed a group from Ontario in the afternoon who were finding the constant uphill very challenging. My advice would be to still pack light on these hut to hut hikes. The weight of extra clothes and snacks can really add up, so keep your packing list simple.

I really enjoyed the afternoon on Day 2. The sun came out and once we got over the initial climb, we meandered through the alpine with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. We passed by a small cafe and stopped to admire the cows, before arriving at our destination, Rifugio Fanes, in the mid-afternoon. We didn’t get so lucky with our room assignment at Fanes, as we ended up in an 11-person dorm room, but we were the first people there, so we got first pick of the beds. Despite sharing the room with so many people, it was surprisingly quiet and I ended up enjoying the experience more than some of the smaller rooms we stayed in at other rifugios.

This was probably because it was still a very nice rifugio. It served one of the best meals we had on the trip (eclipsed only by Rifugio Averau) and Kristine was very enthused about the resident cat, Minka, that she was able to befriend. Kristine is a cat person and I am a dog person. I feel like this is reflected a little bit in our personalities, but we made it work!

Before dinner, we decided to visit neighbouring Rifugio Lavarella. Fanes and Lavarella are located less than 1km apart, near a small alpine lake. The sun came out in full, so I went for a quick dip in the lake, which was extremely cold, but refreshing, before we stopped by Lavarella for a beer. This is an important pit stop on the trail (whether you’re staying in one of the huts or not) because Lavarella is actually home to the highest altitude micro-brewery in Europe! We each enjoyed a beer before heading back to Fanes.

We made more new friends at Fanes, primarily Americans this time. There was a friendly female professor who was visiting for a conference, as well as several trail runners, who made us feel particularly slow by doubling our mileage every day. Overall, we had a really nice stay at Fanes and enjoyed using their patio telescope to spy on some alpine ibex on the nearby mountain meadows. Tune in next week for more on the trail!

Hiking Tre Cime di Lavaredo

December 27, 2025December 10, 2025 / Maria / 2 Comments

Now that I’ve finally gotten caught up on writing about all of my summer adventures in BC, it’s time to loop you in on an exciting holiday I took in late September! If you follow me on instagram, you probably already know that I spent two weeks exploring around the Dolomites. If you’re not following me on instagram, do it! I post so many photos and reels there @mariaadey.

The Dolomites is a mountainous region in Northern Italy. If you follow many outdoor influencers, you’ve probably already seen photos of them because the area has become increasingly popular among hiking enthusiasts. To be honest, it wasn’t really on my radar or bucket list. I was more intrigued by the Tour du Mont Blanc in France, but when an opportunity came up to join my friend Kristine on a trip to the Dolomites to hike the Alta Via 1, I couldn’t pass up the chance! The Alta Via 1 is a popular hut-to-hut thru-hike that extends for 120km through many popular hiking areas in the region. But more on that later, first I want to focus on a very well known hike called Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

I flew into Venice in mid-September and immediately jumped on a bus to meet Kristine in Cortina D’Ampezzo. You may have heard a lot about it recently because it’s one of the main host cities for the 2026 Winter Olympics. We had two days in Cortina to prepare for the Alta Via 1, but while there, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to hike Tre Cime di Lavaredo, which is located just east of Cortina. I landed in Venice at 4pm, was on a bus to Cortina by 6pm, and by 8am the following morning, we were waiting to catch a bus to the trailhead. So I certainly didn’t waste any time hitting the mountains!

If you’ve been to the Dolomites, or follow anyone who hikes there, chances are, you’ve seen photos of this hike. Tre Cime is to the Dolomites, what Joffres Lakes is to Vancouver. It’s an incredibly scenic hike that is fairly easy to hike and reasonably accessible. Every tourist in the Dolomites seems to have heard of this hike and plans to do it. That might make it a little bit unattractive to some – I definitely prefer to avoid these kinds of hikes at home – but when in Italy, I don’t mind sampling the main attractions!

It is possible to transit to most places in Italy, but it is definitely a confusing system to navigate. Most visitors drive through the Dolomites, but even that has its challenges because crowded parking lots have led to new tolls and restrictions (not unlike at Joffre Lakes). If you want to visit by bus, you need to reserve a ticket in advance, as they will sell out. It took me a crazy amount of time to figure out the bus system and I’m hesitant to even share because the routes are constantly changing.

In the summer, I believe you can take a bus direct from Cortina to Misurina, then pick up the shuttle to the trailhead from there. If you’re travelling in the Fall (like us), then you have to take the 445 bus to Dobbiaco, and then double back on the 444 shuttle (which goes through Misurina) to the trailhead. The 445 bus is a city bus and can be booked through the Sued Tirol Mobil app and the 444 is also a city bus, but it’s been contracted to a third party. This is the most important one to book and the bus that most often sells out. It’s called the 3 peaks hike and can be booked through Drei Zinnen https://www.drei-zinnen.bz/en/ticket.

Both buses travel the same route along highway SS51, so we decided to get off at Lago di Landry instead of going all the way to Dobbiaco. We had a bit of time waiting for connections, but it was a really beautiful stop next to the lake and there’s a little cafe there, so we were able to grab coffee while we waited. The 444 bus picked us up on time and we were able to bypass a lot of confused looking tourists who had parked at the lower lot and we’re looking for a shuttle up to the top of the road where the trail starts.

The trailhead is located next to Rifugio Aurenzo, so it’s a good landmark for planning your day. It’s actually the trailhead to two different hikes: Tre Cime di Lavaredo and Cadini di Misurina. I would say that Cadini di Misurina is just as popular as Tre Cime and I would have loved to do both, but I read that Misurina is a shorter hike with a popular viewpoint that gets extremely crowded with a line to the summit. Tre Cime is also crowded, but due to the longer trail, people get somewhat dispersed. So we just did Tre Cime, but maybe one day I’ll go back for Misurina.

Like I said, we visited in mid-September, but we did this hike on a Sunday, so it was still extremely busy. We got some excellent views as we were driving up the road to the trailhead, but it was quite cloudy when we arrived at the top. The nice thing about this hike is that it’s a loop, so you don’t have to re-do any of the terrain. You can hike in either direction, but more people like to do the route counter-clockwise – it’s supposed to make the elevation gain easier.

The hike is certainly forgiving when you start, as you walk along a wide road that looks down over the valley. We didn’t get many views on the way out due to the clouds, but Kristine is a huge livestock enthusiast and there were lots of cows, so she was running around trying to photograph them all. It’s ~1km of easy walking to a small church that looks out over the valley, and then another ~600m to the first hut of the trail: Rifugio Lavaredo. In total there are 4 huts along the route (including Aurenzo at the trailhead), but Lavaredo was my favourite one. Kristine was immediately distracted by the hut’s pet goats, while I purchased our first sweet treat of the trip!

One thing I quickly discovered about Italy is to enjoy the opportunities for sweet treats and coffee. Unfortunately I am not a coffee drinker, which was too bad because there’s a huge coffee culture there, but Kristine would always grab a cappuccino and we quickly started making our way through as many of Italy’s sweet treats as possible. The first one was a cannolo, which was a chimney cake filled with cream. It was delicious, but rarer than we thought, as I didn’t encounter any more hut cannolo’s until the end of the trip! We hung out for a while at the hut in order to give the clouds some time to clear off. It didn’t really work, but we still enjoyed the break.

After Lavaredo, you head up towards Tre Cime, which translates to “three peaks”. It’s ~1km to hike up to the top of the pass. You can follow the road, or take the shortcut along the mountainside. We just followed the road because it’s less steep. It was very busy at the top of the pass and from there, a lot of people branch off to explore via ferratas and other routes. I would say that the top of the pass is one of the best views on the trail, so take the time to enjoy it. We had a great view looking down the other side of the pass to the next rifugio, but the peaks were still shrouded in cloud. Personally, I think this just added to the experience and we got cool misty photos of the huge rock monoliths.

At this point, we’d hiked less than 3km at a very slow pace, so we decided we had to try and pick things up a bit. This was easier said than done as the views are so incredible along the entire route and we were constantly taking photos. I took 500 photos over the course of the day, which I thought was a bit extreme for one hike, but Kristine took over 800, so I finally found someone even more enthusiastic!

It’s a pretty easy walk down from the pass, but there is a short climb to get up to the next rifugio, which is known as the Dreiszinnenhutte. It was the biggest hut on the trail and a popular place to stop for lunch. The hut looks down on a small lake and there’s another little chapel next to the hut. One of the first things I was surprised to learn was how heavy the German influence is in the Dolomites. The hut architecture throughout the region is very Bavarian, as is the cuisine. I was expecting to see lots of pizza and pasta, and while there was pasta, I didn’t see a lot of pizza. Instead, there was lots of bratwurst and schnitzel on the menus.

Kristine ordered a bratwurst for lunch and I ordered a “split pea soup with dough balls”. If you’re from Newfoundland, you can definitely guess what I was envisioning for this meal. A thick, pureed split pea soup with balls of cooked bread. What I actually got was a thin and greasy vegetable broth with green peas that had been battered and deep fried. Honestly, it wasn’t a bad meal, but it definitely didn’t sit well in my stomach after so much traveling. But at the time, we enjoyed a nice lunch break with some German beer.

Dreizinnenhutte marks the halfway point of the hike, so we continued on after lunch with some downhill switchbacks through the alpine. I think this section of trail is why it’s recommended to hike counter clockwise – the switchbacks make for a tiring hike if you walk the other direction. We still stopped a lot for photos along the way. It was our first introduction to the Italian alpine environment, which is very barren. I’m sure it’s not helped by the fact that we were heading into Fall and everything was dying, but it did surprise me how accessible the alpine is in Italy. I’m used to hiking all day through the trees to get to the alpine in Canada, but in Italy, you can easily start and finish in the alpine. It makes for a scenic hike, but it can also be very tiring with the lack of shade. Fall seemed to be the perfect time for us. It was still warm enough to wear shorts most of the time, without having to deal with summer levels of heat. Although it was still hotter than we’d anticipated.

What was disappointing to see was all the people not following leave no trace principles. In the same way that people like to stack rocks in North America, people have gotten into the habit of re-arranging rocks in the alpine to spell out names and messages. There’s a large flat valley at the bottom of the switchbacks and the entire meadow was filled with rock signs, which really mar the landscape – it was sad to see.

After crossing the valley, we were rewarded with a big climb up the other side. It was a struggle as it was getting warmer, but we crawled our way up to the top and continued on to the last hut of the day. The clouds had lifted a lot since we’d started the hike and we got a great view of the three peaks along the last section of trail. We stopped at the final hut and got some photos hear a little pond that made for a nice viewpoint. After the hut, you crest the top of the pass and you get a view out towards Cadini di Misurina, so we stopped here for a while to admire the jagged peaks, and then concluded the hike at Rifugio Auronzo.

We celebrated with an apple strudel and boarded our bus back to Cortina. We stopped again at Lago di Landry, but the cafe was closed for the day. I temporarily freaked Kristine out with a malfunctioning bus ticket for the last segment of our trip. This was my first time using an e-sim while traveling (usually I buy a sim card locally or just go without). The e-sim was a really cheap and an easy way to use data while traveling and I’ll definitely be using it again, but sometimes my phone would get confused choosing between networks and we weren’t able to load our bus ticket at the lake because there was limited service. The bus driver let us ride anyways and I eventually figured it out, but overall, the bus system is really not very intuitive.

Either way, I felt that Tre Cime was a great introduction to the Dolomites! I’m glad we did it before the Alta Via, because I think it wouldn’t have been quite as impressive after a week on that trail, but I really did enjoy the experience, in spite of the large crowds. If you want to visit, make sure you do take the time to plan out your trip and how you will get there, because you won’t necessarily be able to visit on the fly. Be prepared to do the hike with 5000 other people, but fortunately, the views will outshine the crowds!

A Day in Belem

November 13, 2024October 18, 2024 / Maria / Leave a comment

This marks my last post about my Europe Trip! After a week in Morocco, we flew back to Lisbon for 1 more day before returning to Canada. Our flight was delayed, so we didn’t arrive in Lisbon until really late at night and stayed in a hostel right outside Rossi Square. Overall, I felt like we didn’t really have enough time in Lisbon. I would have liked to do a food tour and spend some time exploring the Alfama neighbourhood, but we didn’t have time for everything.

On my first visit to Lisbon (12 years previous), I had regretted not going to Belem. I don’t really think Belem is any more special than any other part of Lisbon, but the Tower of Belem seems to show up on lots of travel bucket lists and I’ve always been a little disappointed I never did it. So we dedicated our last day in Lisbon to exploring the neighbourhood of Belem.

First we got up and had a nice brunch in Lisbon city centre, and then we caught the iconic 15E tram line that runs all the way from City Centre to Belem. It’s supposed to be one of the best routes for tourists and it gets really busy as a result. I didn’t find it too bad on the way there, but we forgot to top up our Metro cards and had a hard time getting tickets. The tram runs right through Belem and we got off at one of the last stops to walk over to the Tower.

Emily had purchased tickets online in advance, but they are not timed entry. We thought the tickets would save us from the worst of the line-up, but talk about a scam! The line-up to buy tickets is really short, but the line-up to get in the tower is still really long. It made me mad because once you buy the ticket online, you’re committed to going. You’ve already spent the money and can’t opt not to go if the line is long (without losing your money). I don’t know why they don’t do timed entry like in Sintra.

The line-up wait was forecasted at 2 hours, but it was moving pretty quickly and we ended up getting in after ~45 minutes of waiting. The downside was that it started to rain while we were waiting in line with no shelter. A few opportunistic vendors came by selling umbrellas, but we opted to wait it out in our rain jackets.

Fortunately, the tower is really cool, and because they only let so many people in at a time, it’s not crowded. The tower is constructed on a rock formation on the beach and was built by the King as a military fortification in the early 1500’s. The structure has been expanded on over the years and it underwent a full restoration in the 1990’s, after which it was added to the list of the seven wonders of Portugal. Also on this list is Pena Palace, which we visited in Sintra, and Jeronimos Monastery, which is located just down the street.

We could have made it a double feature and visited the monastery as well, which in my opinion, was a much larger and more architecturally interesting building. But we wanted to actually relax on our last day of vacation and didn’t want to spend another hour waiting in line. Instead, we spent the afternoon walking along the waterfront, where we saw the Belem Lighthouse, the Padrao dos Descobrimentos (a monument to Portuguese navigators), and did a little bit of shopping at a local market.

We walked along the main road to see the Jeronimos Monastery from the outside, and then decided to visit Pasteis de Belem, which is a famous pastry shop. It is absolutely massive, so we didn’t have trouble getting seated, but we also waited a long time to be served. We enjoyed tea and pastel de nata (Lisbon’s famous egg custard pastry), along with a mille feuille for me and chocolate cake for Em. It was all delicious!

We caught the bus back to Lisbon at rush hour, which was extremely chaotic, but also hilarious because I was seated in front of a Portuguese woman who was emphatically chastising her friend Maria for the entire journey. She said her name approximately 10 dozen times and I couldn’t help but feel I had let her down somehow.

We finally made a trip to the local liquor store to stock up on wine to bring home. I ended up getting more bottles than the duty free allowance (which also happened to me in Patagonia), but like Patagonia, no one questioned me or made me pay duties on the extra wine, so definitely don’t be limited by the allowances when returning to Canada (yes, I did declare it)! We picked a nice restaurant in the City Centre and had a fantastic meal before preparing to return home.

It was a long journey home. We flew through Montreal, where my absolutely massive flight to Vancouver got cancelled. Luckily, I got the notification on my way to the gate and I immediately took off running to customer service to be the second person in line. So I immediately got re-booked for the following morning and booked into a hotel. The bigger problem was that they did not release my luggage. I had (even more) duty free wine that I bought in the airport. It had to go in my checked luggage once I left the terminal, so I had to wait around for 3 hours while they tracked down everyone’s luggage. I seem to have inordinately bad luck flying, but I did get a $1200 Air Canada voucher out of it, which I immediately used on 2 flights to Newfoundland, so I guess it wasn’t the end of the world.

This was the first time me and Emily travelled internationally together since we went to Costa Rica in 2016, so we were long overdue for a sister trip and we had a great time! The Azores were my favourite part of the trip, but Morocco was also a very unique experience and unlike anywhere else I’ve been. The food was also a big highlight, with the seafood in the Azores and the flavours of Marrakesh being particularly memorable. And of course, seeing Taylor Swift in concert is worth every bit of the hype and an experience I hope to repeat one day soon!