Four days in the Dolomites [2019]

For the Easter weekend, we decide to drive to the Dolomites with a group of friends. We drove from Zurich, through Austria and into the Dolomites, in a trip that took much longer than we had expected initially, as there was a lot of traffic due to the long weekend. Nonetheless, the Dolomites are an amazingly beautiful place, totally worth the wait!

Day 1 – Innsbruck & Lago di Braies

Innsbruck

Since it’s a long ride from Switzerland to Italy, a stop in Innsbruck is a very logical break. Innsbruck is a great touristic town, with lively colorful houses, and ice cream stores, which came in very handy, as it was quite warm. We had lunch in Stiftskeller, a medieval-style Austrian-food restaurant, with cool decorations and large portions. After lunch, we had a walk around the city, taking a look to the Easter market. One of the streets was also decorated with large painted Easter eggs. We didn’t stay long as we wanted to reach the Dolomites, but there’s a few museums worth visiting if one has the time.

Lago di Braies

We arrived to the lake when it was quite late. Since we visited in April, there was quite some snow around and the lake was partially frozen. We walked a bit around, but it soon was clear that it was time to drive to the hotel.

Day 2 – Tre Cime

After breakfast in the hotel, we passed by tourist information to get a recommendation on which hikes were possible to do with the current snow conditions. Since we didn’t have snowshoes with us, we were quite limtied in our options. We went to an observation point of the Tre Cime, as far as the car could drive. From there, we walked on the snow to what we couldcomfortably reach without the proper equipment, but eventually we reached a spot with too many rocks blocking the path and had to head back.

We then walked to Lago di Laudro, which was quite shallow and thus it was already thawn, reflecting the mountains behind. We walked a bit around and then went to the car, to drive to our next viewpoint, the Lago d’Antorno. This lake was frozen and totally overed by snow. We started to clilmb in the snow and had initially thought to stop when it was not passable any more, but ended up getting to the final destination point in the Rifugio Auronzo at 2320 m. At the end, we ended up climbing about 500 m from the start. The Rifugio was obviously still closed, but we could take a bit of a break and enjoy the views of the snowy mountains.

After this hike, we drove to Cortina d’Ampezzo, where we had our next hotel. The receptionist of the hotel recommended us to go to a pizza restaurant called Al Passetto, which was delicious.

Day 3 – Checking out lakes in the area

Mietres

After breakfast in the hotel, we took a short hike to Mietres, a small refuge in the mountains, that offered stunning views. It was quite a short walk from the parking lot, but also not too crowded and very scenic.

Lago de Pianozes

From Mietres, we drove to the Lago de Pianozes, which is a small mountain lake, not very popular. While the lake was cute, it was not as spectacular as other parts of the Dolomites. We did see a lot of frogs mating in this lake, and they had laid plenty of eggs there.

Lago di Misurina

This is the largest lake of the area, and thus it was still frozen when we went. In the small area without ice we could see the reflection of the Tre Cime in the lake. We ate nearby there, in a place that was also a souvenir store. The food was quite mediocre, so would not recommend stopping there.

Karersee

After this late lunch, we drove to the Karersee, our last stop of the day. Karersee is a small lake at approx. 1500 m of altitude, so it already didn’t have ice on it. Unfortunately, the access to the lake was closed, likely becuase the season hadn’t started yet, but that didn’t stop people from approaching the lake. I thought that it was a big oversight to close the viewing platforms, as what had been achieved is that people would jump over the barriers to reach the lake instead.

Day 4 – Villnöss & return home

We drove to Villnöss, a small town that is instagram famous due to it’s church in the middle of the fields. The church is dedicated to St. Giovanni, and it has a small round cupula. It’s a very nice image, of the church surrounded by beautiful nature. We just sat in the grass to contemplate the image for some time. After that it was already time to return to Innsbruck, which was another long ride in the traffic.

Practical tips

Some countries have vignettes to pay the highways – don’t forget yours in Austria or Switzerland.
The Dolomites are always crowded, especially during holidays and summer.
Is four days enough? If you don’t do any hike, you can see the main highlihts of the place, but I was left with the feeling I didn’t have enough time to enjoy the beautiful landscapes.
Is spring a good season to go? Unless you’re an experienced hiker and don’t mind going through unexplored paths in the snow, wait until summer. The landscapes with the frozen lakes were beautiful, but we couldn’t hike much, which in my opinion is part of the charm of the Dolomites. If I go here again, it will be during peak summer months.