Northern Italy and the Italian Dolomites

The Dolomites comprise a range of beautiful and storied mountains in northeastern Italy and the range is loved by romantics, artists, skiers, climbers, alpinists, hikers, and even base jumpers! As a result of the historical tension in this area, this part of Italy wasn’t always Italian! We discovered however that the turmoil of the past had led to a wonderfully unique cultural experience where German is spoken nearly as much as Italian is, and we all get to benefit from the unique and peaceful multi cultural society that exists today.

Adventuring into the Italian Dolomites ushered in many new forms of adventure for us, mainly our marriage! After a 2 night layover in Lucerne, Switzerland we started our Italian honeymoon with 22 hours in the historical city of Venice. Having such a short amount of time in the city, we weren’t sure what to expect but we found that we enjoyed our time in the bustling floating city perhaps much more than we expected to. Highlights included: Our hotel room that had a window opening up to the canal, piazza de San Marco, a delicious dinner recommended by my cousin Clare, the floating taxis, and exploring Burano in the early morning hours.

Venice is a great jumping off point for international flights for those wishing to head into the Dolomites as the drive in our rental car from VCE to Cortina d’Ampezzo was only about 2 hours and the roads were in great shape. Opting for the Alfa Romeo Giulia, the acceleration in this thing left something to be desired but it was an automatic gear shift, and I fit, so we were happy with it. We can both drive stick shift, we just don’t do it often so we opted for the more expensive and more stress-free option on our honeymoon.

Arriving at the Cristallo resort in Cortina d’Ampezzo, we were blown away. We check in to this truly 5 star resort, got a tour and were able to hand pick our room – we chose the one isolated in a tower with sky lights that peak the mountains. I honestly can’t say enough about this hotel – breakfast buffet, staff, location, views, décor, candy treats, and the spa! The spa has a very nice indoor pool that felt outdoor and was great to cool off in but the real game changer was the free spa snacks, fresh juice, and showers. They had numerous different water pressure/temperature/pleasantly scented showers and even a walk through relaxation shower experience. After 30,000+ steps hiking on the next day we loved these showers. Cold water jets hitting your legs, followed by a pleasantly cool scented mist, followed by progressively warmer water sprays of varying intensities. The rough translation was “emotional shower” and it sure was an emotional roller coaster!

As a very fun bonus, we checked in to the hotel at the same time as Emilia Clarke! Being such a boutique hotel, she was able to be discreet about her presence, but the front desk guy was clearly pretty excited so as he carried our bags to the room I confirmed with him my suspicion (she was wearing a baseball hat and BIG sunglasses). Katie was less impressed than I, but the presence of the Mother of Dragons always demands at least a little respect.

That night we ate dinner at Tivoli, our first Michelin Star restaurant experience. We had the best seat in the house, and had an incredible dinner. Everything was cooked to perfection and it was really fun to enjoy locally sourced northern Italian cuisine, we even ate lamb trite and it was prepared very nicely!

What we learned from the day: fancy things are nice…

Full day in and around Cortina

We started off with an early breakfast at Cristallo. SO GOOD! They had a block of honeycomb and just all sorts of other treats including really fancy and good buffalo milk yogurt! Enjoyed breakfast with Emilia Clarke and her friend, who sat at the table next to us. When they checked in we overheard them saying they came from Lago di Braies, one of our destinations the next day – so we got their input on how busy it gets. Emilia was quiet at first but very nice once she realized we were not after her dragon eggs.

Hike 1: Lago di Sorapis. The most beautiful alpine blue water you ever did see. Pictures are a must. We took the “hard trail” by accident (stupid Americans… I actually blame poor signage) – trail wasn’t hard, it was gorgeous.
GPS track

Hike 2: Tre Cime di Lavaredo – again just stunning! Different type of hike, more people, but very enjoyable.  We hiked out to a rifugio and just as we got in line for beer, lightning struck! So we hiked back in the thunder, some spotty rain, and even ran some of the trail. We got to our car and the deluge started. 30,000+ steps! An epic end to an epic hike through stunning vistas and a unique alpine landscape with the added bonus of grazing livestock. These gotta be the happiest cows on earth. Thoroughly enjoyed the jacuzzi tub, free candy, and emotional showers in the spa once we got back to our hotel.
GPS track (including drive back to our hotel… oops!)

Arriving back at our hotel we thoroughly enjoyed the spa after our day of hiking and running away from lighting. Emotional shower was definitely put to use! Thankfully the storm blew over completely while we were driving back so the sunny spa deck welcomed us back with warm open arms. That evening we got pizza for dinner in Cortina, while the pizza was nothing to write home about, the day was in fact perfect.

We finished the evening sipping wine and port in the bar lounge of the resort listening to live piano looking at pictures from the day and dreaming about tomorrow.

Lago di Braies

Woke up early for Lago di Braies! (Maybe too early – In Europe, when they say early it means you can hit snooze a few times apparantly) 4:45AM my alarm sounded, my wife groaned, and we both contemplated our decision to photograph sunrise at a location 1hr away. We did the 1hr drive there and we were stunned by the magnificence. Took photos, wandered around a bit, drove back to Cristallo basically just for the buffet and were very glad we did – no big hikes that day so it was definitely bottomless mimosa day!

We learned something at Lago di Braies. We learned about the importance of our own expectations and our own desires for what we want to get out of nature. The dock was locked and closed. But people were climbing up over the rails and doing so rather dangerously. The lake is known for its reflections of the water but there were many people running out on the *closed* floating docks doing Instagram videos and photo shoots of them “wandering”. There were at least 2 drones in the air buzzing around at all times. It put the time and place into perspective for me, that places like this are meant to be shared for all to enjoy, that rules *should be followed and that while consideration of others is important, consideration of ourselves is perhaps more – what do we want, a photo? Or a memory of a beautiful day and a beautiful place? Perhaps all of the above!

We did break the rules – Katie walked out into the water and I followed as there were stairs to the side that were shallow so we didn’t have to climb over the decorated buildings and railings. We got up and took some photos of the doc and boats and each other trying (and I think succeeding) to not disturb other photographers. At the end of the day screw it, we ain’t hurting anyone, not destroying anything and it’s going in our memory banks! Plus the water felt great and the photos were incredible.

After brunch we begrudgingly checked out of the Cristallo and embarked to Alpe di Suisi. But not before a stop at pass Gardena, where we took the Urtijea gondolas up to Seceda. Seceda is Gorgeous! We loved hiking around, watching the ground nesting birds dive into the wildflowers, but most of all, each other 😊

Continuing on to our next hotel, we ended up taking a sketchy one lane road next to a cliff through a farming village to get to Alpe di Suisi and we were met head on by terrifying bailing tractors barreling around the corners with hay bail hook teeth blaring. We got pretty nervous having to back up on this narrow road next to sheer cliffs with aggressive farmers pushing us to quickly do so. But we lived to tell the tale, and definitely validated our decision to shell out for automatic transmission in the rental car. Katie was very glad I was driving.

Checked in to Hotel Bellavista, ate the included dinner, and enjoyed the evening lightning storm from our rooms. Dinner was delicious and gave us a great look into the blended cuisine of this region that sits so close to Austria, Schnitzel in Italy was such a wonderful surprise.

Full Day in Alpe di Suisi

Alpe di Suisi is gorgeous. A high alpine ski resort/ national park/ meadow. Honestly we expected a little less development than with which we were met, but nonetheless it was gorgeous. We took a cable car up 750ish feet to start our hike of the Schlern. We hiked past cows and horses and Katie loved the horses, so much. We pet mini horses, watched protective studs assert their presence and continued on to the top!

Rifugios are crazy here. Passed two really nice ones. Schlern-Haus sits near the summit at 8,000 feet and is run by Club Alpino Italiano.  They serve beer on tap, warm food and could sleep 130ish guests!! In the states Katie and I are used to hauling up our own summit burritos and filtering glacial water, these Italians got this mountain thing figured out. Hike was awesome. We watched a helicopter rescue on the easy hiking trail – don’t know details – and came back down in time for a late lunch and a light dinner. We drove around a bit exploring the plateau but another storm rolled in which was fun and beautiful. Cozy mountain honeymoon nights watching lightning strike the trails we just hiked while sipping local wine is never something to complain about.

GPS track

Driving out of Dolomiti

On our last morning in Dolomiti we ate another delicious breakfast at Hotel Bellavista and then did some more exploring before formally checking out. We took pictures in the beautiful meadow, and relished in the grandeur of this uniquely special place. During our short three days in Alpe di Suisi we learned that the majority of the hotel resorts in this Italian national park are legacy family owned locations. For many of the hotels (including  Hotel Bellavista) many of the people who check you in, clean your room, and cook your meals are all members of the same family working for a beloved business that has been in their family for generations. We also learned that many of the visitors to this area are families that have repeat reservations they book year after year, with hotel staff watching children grow through the years and guests bringing a unique sense of respect for this high alpine plateau and Italian national park. This brought a special intimate sentimentality to the whole experience in Alpe di Suisi, a quite unexpected and pleasant surprise. May it stay that way forever.

Overall we loved our time in northern Italy and created so many wonderful memories together in the mountains of Dolomiti. While we have many other countries and regions we want to explore we both know in our hearts that Italy will call us back, and I have no doubt we will revisit this gorgeous region.