Dolomites Walking Holidays: The Ultimate Guide

In photos the Dolomites look like a climbing destination. Sheer limestone towers rise straight out of green pasture, and most pictures of them suggest ropes and helmets.

What the photos miss is the ground below the rock: wide plateaux, lake basins and meadow terraces where the walking is nearly flat. A cable car does the climbing, and the paths up there are wide and level enough for a pushchair.

This guide is organised around metres of ascent, a figure most operators leave out. Every walk and every trip below shows how much climbing it involves.

Distance on its own tells you very little in mountains. A flat 12 kilometres is easier than a steep 5, so the number that matters is how many metres you climb in a day.

• Under 150 m: effectively level. Lake circuits and plateau tracks, walkable in trainers

• 150 to 350 m: gentle. One long slope or a few short ones, spread over hours

• 350 to 700 m: moderate. A real climb somewhere in the day, though never technical

• Over 700 m: this is hiking rather than walking, and it is where the hut-to-hut routes begin

The ground itself is the second thing to check. On a walking route it is a built path, wide enough to pass someone, marked with red-and-white numbers, with no drops beside it. What that rules out matters as much: no via ferrata, no cables, no scrambling on rock, no snowfield crossings, and no unmarked ground.

Six easy walks in the Dolomites that get you the famous views with almost no climbing. All of them fall into the first two groups above.

Lago di Braies lake loop

The turquoise lake under the Croda del Becco, and the flattest of the famous Dolomites walks. An hour at a slow pace on a broad shore path, with the wooden boathouse at the start and a rifugio at the far end.

• Distance: ~3.5 km, a full circuit of the lake

• Ascent: ~50 m, effectively level

• On our trips: a valley day on the Alta Pusteria trip

Alpe di Siusi plateau, Compatsch to Saltria

Europe's largest high alpine meadow, crossed on level farm tracks at around 1,850 metres. Cars are banned during the day, so the shuttle bus is the only motor traffic up there.

• Distance: ~5 km across the plateau

• Ascent: ~150 m, one gentle rise

• Getting up: two cable cars, from Ortisei and from Siusi

• On our trips: the Seiser Alm trip crosses it

Prato Piazza plateau

A grass plateau reached by shuttle bus in summer, with rock walls on every side. The tracks up here are flat enough to walk in trainers, and the Cristallo group fills the view east.

• Distance: as much or as little as you like, on level tracks

• Ascent: negligible, the plateau sits at ~2,000 m

• Getting up: summer shuttle; the road is closed to cars for much of the day

Seceda ridge from the cable car

Two lifts from Ortisei put you at roughly 2,500 metres, and the famous tilted ridge with the Odle towers behind it is twenty minutes' walk from the top station.

• Distance: ~1 km from the top station to the viewpoint

• Ascent: ~80 m, and none at all if you ride back down

• On our trips: the Alpe di Siusi inn-to-inn trip uses the same lifts

Sass Pordoi from Passo Pordoi

The cable car from the Pordoi pass road lifts you to about 2,950 metres in a few minutes, onto a flat rock plateau the locals call the terrace of the Dolomites. The Marmolada glacier fills the horizon to the south.

• Distance: step off the lift and walk as far as you please

• Ascent: none, the top station opens straight onto the plateau

• Next step up: Piz Boè, ~250 m above, graded moderate

Piz Boè rises from the same plateau. The highest point of the Sella group, at 3,152 metres, is only about 250 metres of climbing above the top station, but the ground is rocky and open, so it counts as moderate rather than easy.

Walkers who want a 3,000-metre summit without technical climbing will find it on our Alta Badia week, which crosses the Sella plateau to reach it.

Adolf Munkel Trail

The best-known easy walk in Val Gardena, running along the foot of the Odle's north walls through pine forest and meadow. Longer than the others but spread over a whole morning with no steep section.

• Distance: ~10 km along the base of the walls

• Ascent: ~300 m, spread out with no steep pitch

• Lunch: two rifugi directly on the route

Three things make it easy, and all three are built rather than natural.

The ski lifts run all summer across most of the range. A single cable car ride takes you up 800 to 1,000 metres in about ten minutes, so the day starts where the views are. Most walkers ride up and walk across.

The shape of the mountains helps too. The towers stand on wide grassy plateaux instead of steep valley sides, so the ground at their base is pasture at 1,800 to 2,200 metres, not loose stone. It is the reason a walking day here spends most of its time on grass rather than on scree, and why the going is easy even when the skyline is not.

Then there are the rifugi. Mountain huts sit an hour or two apart on the main plateaux and serve full lunches, so you carry a daypack, not provisions. Two cultures overlap on the menus: South Tyrol is German-speaking Italy, and the regional tourist board, Südtirol, publishes its trail notes in both languages.

Alpe di Siusi and Val Gardena

The plateau above Ortisei is where the easy walking is concentrated: level meadow tracks, three cable cars, and the Seceda ridge for the postcard view without the climb. The Sassolungo and Sciliar massifs stand over all of it.

This is the area we send first-time walkers to, and the one where a week can be built almost entirely from short days. Base yourself in Ortisei and the lifts do the rest.

Alta Badia and Corvara

Alta Badia sits at the centre of the range, in the Ladin valleys, ringed by the Sella massif and the Puez plateau. Its walking week has the longest level days of any we offer, up to 20 kilometres with little climbing in them.

The best-known easy walk here crosses the Armentara meadows below the Sasso di Santa Croce: rolling pasture with a wall of rock above it, and hardly any climbing.

Alta Pusteria

The valley running east along the northern edge holds two of the flattest famous walks in the Dolomites: Lago di Braies and the Prato Piazza plateau. Dobbiaco is the base, and the Pusteria railway runs the length of the valley, which makes this the easiest area to reach without a car.

Cortina d'Ampezzo

Cortina is the best-known town in the Dolomites, and for walkers its main advantage is what you can reach from it. The Tre Cime di Lavaredo hike is a day trip from here: roughly 10 kilometres and 350 metres of ascent from the Rifugio Auronzo car park, which sits at the top of the ascent already.

The paths around the town are rockier than the meadows further west, so the technical grade is higher even on days with little climbing.

Trip length here runs from three days to eight, not a uniform week, and that matters as much as the ascent. These are the real figures from our itineraries, and the range matters more than the average: most trips have a very easy day and a genuinely long one.

Four of the seven are centre-based: you unpack once and set out from the same hotel each morning. That is the format to choose if you want to shorten a day, swap it, or take a day off without it affecting anything.

Cortina Iconic Hikes

• Distance: 10 to 15 km a day

• Ascent: 120 to 440 m a day, the lowest maximum of the seven

• Sleeping: one hotel all week, no repacking

• Grade: 3/5 fitness, 3/5 technical

Seven days from one hotel in Cortina, and the gentlest ceiling of any trip here: no day climbs more than 440 metres. Each morning you leave from the same room and come back to it.

The days are the famous ones. Monte Faloria by cable car, then Passo Falzarego and the Cinque Torri, then the Tre Cime di Lavaredo loop past Rifugio Auronzo and Rifugio Locatelli, then Lago di Sorapis. Day 6 is left free, with Lake Federa and Croda da Lago as the suggestion if you want another walk.

One honest note: the Sorapis day is the most exposed on the itinerary, on a cable-assisted path above a drop. It is the reason this trip carries a 3/5 technical grade despite its low ascent figures, and it is the day to skip if exposure is not for you.

Alta Badia Walking Holidays

• Distance: 10 to 20 km a day

• Ascent: 240 to 750 m a day

• Sleeping: one hotel all week, no repacking

• Grade: 3/5 fitness, 3/5 technical

Seven days from Corvara, with the longest level days of any trip here: up to 20 kilometres, most of it across rolling pasture rather than up it.

This is also the trip that leans hardest on the lifts, which is why the distances are long and the climbing is not. The Piz Boè cable car takes you up on Day 3 for the Franz Kostner hut and the view to the Marmolada. Day 5 uses the Gardenaccia station above La Villa, and Day 6 the La Crusc lift on the way to La Val.

In between, Day 4 crosses the Gardena pass to the Puez hut and comes down through Colfosco. It is the one day with a real climb in it.

Cortina d'Ampezzo Walking

• Distance: 6 to 13 km a day

• Ascent: 90 to 950 m, the widest spread of any trip

• Sleeping: a different mountain refuge each night

• Grade: 2/5 fitness, 3/5 technical

Six days, and the only genuine hut-to-hut trip on this list. You sleep in a different refuge each night rather than returning to a hotel, which is also why it holds both the easiest single day here, at 90 metres, and one of the hardest at 950.

The line runs from Col Drusciè above Cortina to Rifugio Camillo Giussani, then across to Rifugio Scoiattoli below the Cinque Torri by way of Val Travenanzes and Lagazuoi. Day 4 crosses Passo Giau to Rifugio Croda da Lago at Lake Federa, and Day 5 drops back into Cortina past Lago d'Ajal.

Read the ascent range rather than the average before booking this one. The spread between its easiest and hardest day is the widest of the seven.

Alpe di Siusi Inn-to-Inn

• Distance: 6 to 16 km a day

• Ascent: 310 to 1,110 m a day

• Sleeping: three inns over seven days, bags transferred

• Grade: 2/5 fitness, 2/5 technical

Seven days across the meadow plateau with your luggage moved while you walk, and a structure that suits people who dislike packing every morning: you change inn twice, not six times.

You start in Kastelruth, walk a circular day from the village, then cross up to Compatsch past the Marinzen pastures. From Compatsch there is another circular day over Piz Ridl and Mont'Seuc, then the crossing to Saltria below the Roßzahne ridge, passing Rifugio Molignon.

The last full day is a loop from Saltria to the Murmeltier hut, and you finish with the descent to Ortisei. Nothing on it repeats a valley.

Seiser Alm Highlights

• Distance: 12 to 16 km a day

• Ascent: 680 to 1,150 m a day, the most on the plateau

• Sleeping: inn to inn around Ortisei, bags transferred

• Grade: 2/5 fitness, 2/5 technical

Three days, not a week. This is the short break version of the plateau, and the shortest of the seven.

It crosses the same ground as the inn-to-inn above but at pace: Ortisei to Compatsch by way of Kastelruth and the Marinzen pastures, then Compatsch to Saltria under the Roßzahne, then Saltria back to Ortisei past Rifugio Sasso Piatto with the Langkofel alongside.

Because it fits the plateau into three days, every day is substantial at 680 metres and up. It suits walkers who want the gentle terrain without a full week, and who do not mind earning it.

Alta Pusteria Walking Holidays

• Distance: 8 to 21 km a day

• Ascent: 310 to 1,030 m a day

• Sleeping: one valley hotel, with a crossing to Cortina mid-trip

• Grade: 3/5 fitness, 3/5 technical

Eight days, the longest trip here, based in Dobbiaco on the northern edge with the Pusteria railway running the length of the valley. It is the easiest of the seven to reach and to leave without a car.

It also covers the most ground. Day 3 crosses the Rotwand pastures to Rifugio Malga Nemes over the Kreuzberg pass, Day 4 takes in Lago di Braies and the Hochalm, and Day 5 walks right across to Cortina d'Ampezzo by way of the Cimabanche and Lerosa passes and Rifugio Ra Stua.

Day 6 climbs Monte Elmo to the Sillianer hut on the Carnic ridge, and Day 7 is the Tre Cime di Lavaredo circuit from Rifugio Auronzo. Two of the flattest famous walks in the Dolomites and the most famous rock towers, on one itinerary.

Pale di San Martino Highlights

• Distance: 7 to 11 km a day

• Ascent: 450 to 1,180 m a day, the most of the seven

• Sleeping: one hotel in San Martino di Castrozza

• Grade: 3/5 fitness, 3/5 technical

Three days, and the most demanding of the seven per day. Its ground is a rock plateau at around 2,600 metres rather than meadow, reached by cable car from San Martino di Castrozza.

Day 1 goes straight up to the Altopiano delle Pale and Cima Rosetta, the lunar plateau this range is known for. Day 2 is the Monte Cavallazza loop and the Colbricon Lakes from Passo Rolle, with the Marmolada and the Latemar in view. Day 3 is the Monte Castellaz loop past Baita Segantini and the Cristo Pensante.

If you want the Dolomites at their starkest and you have a long weekend rather than a week, this is the one. It is not a gentle introduction.

If you want a trip where no day climbs more than 400 metres, tell us: we build shortened versions using lifts and shuttles, and it is one of our most common requests.

Self-guided walking holidays in the Dolomites are the default here. Hotels are booked in sequence, luggage is moved between them, and you get route notes, maps, GPS tracks, lift passes where a route needs them, and a phone number for the day something goes wrong. You walk at your own pace, alone or with your own group.

Guided walking holidays in the Dolomites add a leader who knows the paths and the weather, which matters most on the rockier ground around Cortina. Departures run to fixed dates in high summer.

Luxury walking holidays in the Dolomites mean better beds, not harder walking: four-star hotels with spas, and the same routes. The grades are identical.

Walking trips here use valley hotels and mountain inns, not dormitories. Rooms are private, and half-board is the norm: breakfast, a packed lunch if you want one, and a four-course dinner from the Ladin and Tyrolean kitchen.

Mountain huts matter at lunchtime instead. On the plateaux you pass two or three in a day, and stopping for barley soup and strudel is part of the walking, not a detour from it. Our accommodations guide covers hotel categories and how huts differ.

The season runs mid-June to early October, set by infrastructure rather than weather: the lifts and rifugi open in late June and close in the first days of October, and a lift-assisted walk simply does not work outside those dates.

• Mid-June to early July: wildflowers at their peak, some snow on the highest ground, quiet paths

• Mid-July to late August: the usual weeks for a Dolomites summer holiday, warmest and busiest, with afternoon thunderstorms as the pattern; walk mornings

• September: the walkers' month, with stable air and thinning crowds

• Early October: larches turning gold, lifts closing one by one

For daily conditions the South Tyrol weather service publishes mountain forecasts by valley.

Our guide to the best time to visit the Dolomites goes through the season month by month, with the lift and hut opening dates that decide it.

Airports, trains and transfer times are covered in the getting there guide.

How much climbing is involved in a Dolomites walking holiday?

On day walks, 50 to 300 metres is normal when you use the lifts. Our multi-day weeks range from 90 metres on the easiest day to over 1,000 on the hardest, and the figures for each week are listed above rather than hidden.

Are there walks with almost no elevation gain?

Yes. The Lago di Braies loop is about 50 metres over 3.5 kilometres, the Alpe di Siusi plateau tracks run close to level, and Prato Piazza is flat enough to walk in trainers. All three are lift-free or shuttle-served.

Do I need to scramble or use via ferrata?

No. Walking routes are engineered paths, waymarked and never exposed, and cables or scrambling are not part of them. The Dolomites are famous for via ferrata, but that is a separate sport with separate equipment.

What is the difference between this and hut-to-hut hiking?

A Dolomites walking holiday sleeps in hotels and inns with luggage moved for you and uses lifts to avoid climbing, while a Dolomites hiking holiday of the hut-to-hut kind does neither. Hut-to-hut routes like the Alta Via trails sleep in refuges at altitude, carry everything and climb far more each day, up to 1,700 metres on Alta Via 1.

Can I do a Dolomites walking holiday without a car?

Yes, and Alta Pusteria is the easiest area for it: the Pusteria railway runs the valley and buses reach the trailheads. Lifts and valley buses cover the other areas, and station transfers are arranged with the booking.

Is it suitable for older walkers or families?

The plateau and lake walks are, comfortably. Level tracks, cafés and shuttle buses mean a day can be as short as you like, and the lift network means nobody has to climb to reach a view.

Some walkers finish a trip here and want the version that sleeps at altitude. On hut-to-hut routes you sleep in a mountain refuge instead of a hotel, and the days climb a great deal more: the Alta Via 1 itinerary runs from 45 to 1,700 metres of ascent in a day.

Two on our list sit closer to walking than the rest. The Alta Badia hut-to-hut loop keeps days to 8 to 12 kilometres with 80 to 840 metres of climbing.

The other is Alta Via 1 in comfort, which follows the classic line but sleeps inn to inn instead of in mountain dormitories.

If hut-to-hut is what you actually want, our sister brand Hut to Hut Hiking Dolomites covers the routes, the refuge booking system and the Alta Via trails in full.

If low ascent is the priority, Alta Badia gives the longest level days, at 240 to 750 metres of climbing. For the lowest ceiling of all, Cortina Iconic Hikes never passes 440 metres.

For meadow country with your bag sent ahead, Alpe di Siusi Inn-to-Inn starts at 310 metres and never repeats a valley.

For the same plateau in three days rather than seven, Seiser Alm Highlights keeps every day substantial. Every trip is self-guided as standard, with guided departures in July and August.

The Dolomites suit walkers because the lifts remove most of the climbing. The paths run across plateaux, the huts serve lunch, and what is left for you is distance on level ground.

Pick a Dolomites walking holiday by the metres it climbs rather than by the peaks in the photos. Both figures are on this page for every one of our trips.

If you want a trip built around short days, get in touch with our team and we will shape the itinerary to the ascent you want →