Hiking Alpe di Siusi

May 9, 2026May 1, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

On my second day in Ortisei, I decided to hike the Alpe di Siusi, another very popular hiking area in Val Gardena. I would say it’s the second most popular area after Seceda. I debated whether I should do either hike, since they’re both so popular, I thought they might be overrated. I did Seceda on my first day and absolutely loved it, so I decided to just stick with the popular hikes and do Alpe di Siusi on my second day.

The weather was pretty hit and miss on the day I hiked the Alpe di Siusi, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as Seceda. It’s a beautiful area, but I did find it to be a little underwhelming compared to some of the other scenery I saw on this trip. I’m sure this was just a result of hiking fatigue or the poor weather or that it Fall and the meadows were a little past their prime. It was also towards the end of my trip and I think I was just over it at that point.

The Alpe di Siusi is essentially a high altitude plateau. If you’re visiting from Ortisei, you can take the Mont Seuc gondola right out of town. Ortisei is in the valley, so you ascend to the top and then you can spend the rest of the day walking around the plateau. However, the vibe is different from Seceda. Seceda is only accessible by cable car or foot, whereas the Alpe di Siusi plateau is accessible by car if you’re coming from the Seiser Arm. So you will see cars and buses driving around while you’re hiking. There’s also tons of hotels and restaurants up there, so it feels more like a walk than a hike. It’s not uncommon to explore the area by bike if you’re coming from Seiser Arm.

But I was coming from Ortisei, so I ended up planning out a 12.5km loop around the area. I’ve shared a map of my route below. My recommendation is to plan your route before you go because it’s not intuitive where to go otherwise. There’s no obvious hiking trail and a lot of my walk was on the roads. If you don’t plan in advance, it can be a little bit confusing about where to explore.

I did a counterclockwise loop from the gondola to Saltria, stopping for lunch at Rauchutte. Again, I started my walk early in the morning to get the first gondola and there was no one around when I started hiking. It was raining when I started my walk, but the weather improved throughout the day, so starting later might have been a little more beneficial as I found the hike out of Saltria to be much more scenic than my morning walk because the sun brightened everything.

If I’m being honest, the most challenging part of this trail for me was finding somewhere to pee. There are quite a few hotels around, but my timing wasn’t great and there’s really no privacy to pee in the bushes along the trail, so plan accordingly. There were lots of horses and cows in the meadows out of Saltria, which made for a scenic afternoon.

Similar to Seceda, there is a lot of elevation gain hiding on this hike. You start from the highest point and hike all the way down to Saltria, so it was a more tiring walk on the way back to the gondola. I covered 400m of elevation gain over 12.5km (compared to 500m over 10km at Seceda), so it was still an easier trail.

While I didn’t enjoy Alpe di Siusi as much as I thought I would, I wouldn’t count this walk out. I think my experience was likely due to a combination of poor weather and fatigue. I hiked for around 4 hours, including my lunch break and then I took the gondola back down to Ortisei. There’s a big climb up to the gondola at the end of the day, so make sure you save a bit of energy for the end. Overall, it’s still a very beautiful area, but given the choice between Seceda and Alpe di Siusi, I would prioritize Seceda.

Hiking Seceda

May 2, 2026May 1, 2026 / Maria / 1 Comment

In September 2025, I spent 2.5 weeks hiking around the Dolomites in Italy. The main reason for the trip was an 8-day trek on the famous Alta Via 1 trail, but while in the region, I was keen to see as much of the highlights as possible. I hiked the Tre Cime di Lavaredo trail before I did the Alta Via 1 and then after I finished, I decided to spend a few days in the Val Gardena region. We finished our hike in Belluno, which is only ~2 hours away from Val Gardena by car, but a whole day journey by public transit, involving 5 different buses and trains.

While Cortina is directly north of Venice, Val Gardena is north of Verona, with Bolzano being the closest major train station. From there, you can bus into the valley where there are tons of attractions to explore. There are a few different towns you can stay in. I opted for Ortisei, which is the largest town along the valley. If you’re staying in a participating hotel, you can get a free bus pass for the region, which is a nice benefit.

Ortisei is very quaint and it’s a great starting point to explore a lot of the popular attractions in the area. There are dozens of cable cars connecting the towns to the mountains. In the winter, they’re used for skiing, while in the summer, you can use them to access hikes. The most popular hike in the area is Seceda, which is located at the top of the Seceda cable car in the middle of town. If you’re planning a trip to the Dolomites, chances are you’re already very familiar with Seceda. I would say Seceda is to Val Gardena what Tre Cime is to Cortina (and what Lake Louise is to Banff).

While I had amazing weather when I hiked the Alta Via 1 in late September, it started to get cold pretty much right after I finished the trail. I decided to hike Seceda on my first day in Ortisei because the weather was supposed to deteriorate later in the week. I knew it would be very busy at the top, so I got up early enough to get the first gondola. I packed my bag in advance and headed off towards the cable car, but on my way there, I noticed a fresh dusting of snow at the top of the mountain. I decided to backtrack to get my microspikes, which I had carried all the way from home. It was definitely the right decision and I’ve never felt more smug about having my microspikes than I did watching the other tourists slide around the trail!

I got unbelievably lucky with Seceda. A lot of people visit to see the rolling green hills. I did not get to experience this, but I did get to visit on the first snowfall of the year when the mountain was backed by a vibrant blue sky. It looked so beautiful, I wasn’t even a little bit sad about missing the meadows. Going early was the right call. There’s a mixture of trails that you can explore when you visit Seceda. Many people just hike up to the viewpoint and then go back, but if you have the time, I recommend planning for a loop trail. When you get off the cable car, start with the short hike up to the peak. It gives you incredible views of both the surrounding mountains and the main Seceda viewpoint. It will get busy later in the day, so do this first.

From there, continue over to the turnstiles and pay to do the extra walk along to the private viewpoint. I know these turnstiles are very controversial, but my opinion is that, as a tourist, you should just get over it. The trail is located on private farmland, so even though you’re going to be annoyed about paying a lot money for the gondola, only to pay another 5 euro to the farmers, consider it a contribution to the local economy. Sure, the government and the farmers should be working out this issue directly, but that is the point of the turnstiles – it’s a form of protest. So if you’re a visitor, just respect the farmers and pay the fee or don’t visit the viewpoint. C’est la vie.

I paid the fee and it was well worth it because it was still not very busy at the top and I had incredible views and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. From the end of the paid trail, a lot of people will just return to the gondola, but I highly recommend extending your journey. The views got better and better all day and I ended up doing a 10.5km loop trail (with 500m of elevation gain) to see more of the scenery. Just be aware, you’re starting at the top and will be hiking down, so save some energy for the return trip back up to the gondola.

Like I said, it was snowy when I visited and my microspikes helped a lot with traction. Eventually the sun warmed up the snow and it got slushy and I didn’t need the microspikes anymore, but it was really slippery at first and I was glad to have them on the downhill sections. I’ve included a map of my route above. After I did the Seceda viewpoint, I continued on to the Pieralongia hut, followed by the Regensburger-firenze hut. This was by far my favourite section of the hike. It felt like I was the only person on the trail. I didn’t stop at Pieralongia, but I look a break at Regenburger for a hot chocolate and cake.

After my snack, I continued back towards the gondola and past the Baita Troier hut. This section of trail is also quite popular as it hikes along a little ridge with fabulous views. By this point in the day it was starting to get a lot busier, but still not too bad. Once I got back to the junction with the paid trail, it was very busy and I was glad to be on my way out. I decided to take the gondola straight back down and I had lunch in town. In total, I was hiking for about 4 hours, but like I said, I did cover 500 metres in elevation gain, so it can still be a pretty strenuous hike. Since I was alone, my pace was likely faster than it would be if I hiked with a friend.

I honestly debated if I should hike Seceda at all. I thought it might be overrated since it’s so popular, but I ended up having a great time and I don’t regret going. Me and Kristine had separated by this point in the trip and I was own my own, but I still had so much fun and would absolutely return. I wasn’t there during peak season, I’m sure it’s worse in the middle of the summer, so plan accordingly. It’s a popular hike for a good reason!

Hiking the Alta Via 1: Coldai to Belluno

January 31, 2026January 30, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

After 6 days of hiking the Alta Via 1, we still had 1.5 days to go, but it definitely started to feel like the trip was winding down. We had 6 days of incredible sunny weather, but it was due to shift and there was a rainstorm moving in on Day 7. This caused me and Kristine to have to re-assess how we wanted to finish the trail.

At this point, it was late September and the rifugios were starting to shut down for the season. Our biggest issue on Day 7 was related to poor planning on behalf of the third party, Mac’s Adventure, which we used to book our hike. They didn’t realize that some of the rifugios would be closing earlier than expected that season and our planned stay at Rifugio Vazzoler was cancelled. In order to save the trip, we decided to combine the distance we’d do in two days into one and continue on to Rifugio San Sebastiano, which meant we had a 21km day with over 1300m of elevation gain (and 2000m of loss). We knew it would be a big day and the incoming rain storm put a dampener on our plans.

Most of the Alta Via 1 trail is located in the alpine, hence why the trail is known as the “high route”. Because it receives so many visitors every year, the trail along exposed rock is very eroded, meaning that it becomes very slick when wet. We were concerned about potentially dangerous wet conditions while having to cover so much ground, so we opted to take another alternate route to get to the next rifugio. (note: because of the rain, I don’t have a lot of photos from the last 2 days on trail, so enjoy some more photos of Lago Coldai first).

Instead of trekking 21km through the alpine, we opted to take a 5km detour down to the town of Pecol. This meant that we had to backtrack along the switchbacks from the previous day, and then take an alternate route through a ski resort to get to town. It wasn’t raining yet, but it was very cloudy and ominous, so I was glad we’d taken the opportunity to visit Lago Coldai the previous evening. After an uneventful hike down to the village, we treated ourselves to hot drinks and a sweet treat at a cafe while waiting for a bus.

Fortunately, Rifugio San Sebastiano is located right off the road, so we had to navigate two highways in order to get there. The first road was passable by bus, which saved us 8km of road-walking. But the second road didn’t have any transit options, so we were prepared to hike the remaining 8km and hope for a hitch along the way. We figured 8km of road walking in the rain was preferable to 21km of slippery trail walking.

It turns out that we’d be saved the entire road-walk. As we were waiting for the bus, two hikers saw us and asked where we were headed. Turns out, we were all headed to the same place. They were two parents hiking the trail with their adult children. The woman had injured herself the previous day and they had come to the same conclusion as us about bypassing the trail (though their children were still hiking it). They had already paid for a taxi all the way to San Sebastiano and generously offered for us to join them! So instead of spending all day road-walking, we ended up with a pretty easy drop off to the rifugio before noon. (a few more photos of Coldai below)

It was too early for us to check in, so we decided to head out for a little walk to see a bit of what we’d missed. It’s approximately 2.5km between Rifugio San Sebastiano and Rifugio Bruto Carestiano, which was also closed for the season. We had a pretty leisurely walk along the trail to the Refugio, which took about 2 hours, but of course, it started raining right when we got to the rifugio and continued for most of the hike back to San Sebastiano. Kristine had a few last moments with the cows in the area and then we had a late lunch while we waited to get into our room.

San Sebastiano had a different vibe than the other rifugios since it was located right on the road, but it was a nice place and we at least had spacious rooms and free showers. Kristine had a nap and I headed down to the bar to journal and enjoy an aperol spritz. There was one other hiker in our room and she joined me and we had a great chat for a few hours. She was visiting from Australia on her own and doing the entire trail, so we swapped stories about our travels and our experiences in our home countries.

We had a nice last night on the trail, but a very chaotic final hike out. The trail actually continues for another 35km to Belluno, which most hikers do over 2 more nights. But our plan had always been to do a shortened version of the trail, so our itinerary had us hiking out to the town of Agordo and then taking a bus to Belluno for the night. The challenge was that hikers that go to Agordo generally hike out via either Rifugio Vazzoler or Bruto Carestiano. In retrospect, the best way out for us would have been to hike the 2.5km back to Bruto Carestiano and go from there. But Mac’s didn’t provide us with any directions for this part of the hike my GPS showed a route further down the highway that looked like the shortest option, so we did that.

This was the first of two mistakes. I thought we were in for 1km of road walking to get to the trail, but when we arrived at the trail, it looked like it had been logged in previous years and we couldn’t find the trail. It looked like there was another junction further down, so we did another 3km of road walking to the village of Casen, where my GPS showed another shortcut to Agordo. This was where we made the second mistake, which wasn’t really a mistake, but caused us a lot of anxiety due to a very creepy dude on the trail.

In order to get down to the trail, we had to cross through a farm and then down through a narrow wooded trail before popping out on an old forestry road. This road was pretty wide and fairly easy walking, but before we got to that road, we passed an Italian guy in the woods. He passed by me and didn’t say anything, but then when he got to Kristine, he tried to explain to her in broken english that he would take her to Agordo in his car and then got fairly aggressive trying to turn her around to go with him (he lied to her and said he’d already talked to me and that I was following). She called out to me through the forest and I quickly backtracked and explained to the man that we were fine. He kept insisting that we didn’t want to hike the trail and I tried to clarify if the trail wasn’t passable. He said the trail was passable but too hard for us (wow, dude). He was giving off really bad vibes, so we managed to ditch him, but we were both feeling a bit shaken once we got to the forestry road.

Neither of us wanted to backtrack, but nor did we really want to keep going. I was really nervous about the condition of the trail further on. It was all downhill, so I didn’t want to have to backtrack again later. The trail ended up being totally fine, it was wide and a gentle downhill for 90% of it. It definitely saved us time from walking the winding road to Agordo, but I think the road would have been better for our sanity. It was like we were both waiting for this guy to pop back out of the woods and abduct us. I was seriously concerned that he knew where we were headed and I was worried he might be waiting for us at the end of the trail (the joys of being a woman).

We didn’t encounter a single other person on the trail, so it appeared to not be in frequent use, but it also had a ton of signs on it advertising the direction of a trail race that had occurred at some point in the past, so it’s clearly used for something. The trail did get narrower (and creepier) towards the end, the closer we got to town, but we eventually popped out of the woods onto one of Agordo’s town roads and immediately felt 100% better. So terrain-wise, the trail wasn’t a bad idea, it wasn’t hard (especially in comparison to the rest of the Alta Via 1), and it saved us time, but it wasn’t a nice way to end an 8 day trek, to which I’d really like to tell that man, F-you for ruining our final kilometres.

We walked into town and had the most delicious cheap gas station style pizza I’ve ever had, before walking to the bus station to catch a ride to Belluno. Things got a bit hilarious at this point because we didn’t realize we’d be taking the bus at the same time as approximately 500 high school kids. When the bus finally showed up, they all rushed it and Kristine and I were left feeling very overwhelmed. We did manage to get on the bus, but it was a long and crowded ride with our backpacks. The whole thing felt surreal and we had a good laugh that after escaping a potential abduction, we were going to die in a stampede of sweaty teenagers.

And that pretty much concluded our trek on the Alta Via 1! We had a nice hotel room in Belluno and treated ourselves to more pizza for dinner. I must profusely thank Kristine for inviting me to join her on this hike because I honestly loved the experience. I’m a bit of a sucker for punishment and love roughing it on a good wilderness hike, but I could definitely get on board with the hut to hut European experience every now and then! The trail was incredibly scenic and varied and overall, the huts were phenomenal. I feel like every experience on the Alta Via is different. In total, we hiked 100km of trail, with ~80km of AV1 trail and ~60km of the traditional route. It was such a cool experience and I would definitely do it again to add on some of the original route that I missed and to tag the last section of trail to Belluno. In conclusion, it was a 5-star experience for me and I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity!