Hello!
This space will be dedicated to sharing our travels and experiences, so that when you want to explore, you'll know the best destinations, what places to visit, where to stay and eat, and other good things to know before packing your bags.
The first blog post is dedicated, of course, to the Italian Alps, also known as the Dolomites.
This is the place where we went to film the video for the new Fall-Winter collection, and many of you asked us to post the route because you loved it. Well, here's everything you need to know to plan a perfect trip!
The Dolomites are a mountain range located in northern Italy, and are a popular destination during the winter months due to the excellent facilities available for snow sports such as skiing and snowboarding. What's less well-known about this area is its beauty during the rest of the year, offering opportunities for hiking, climbing, mountain biking, and paragliding for the more adventurous.
And that's why we decided to go there, for its spectacular scenery, the variety of activities, and because it's a less crowded place outside of the ski season.
Our idea was to take a 4-5 day trip visiting the most spectacular sites, so we checked the weather to avoid going on rainy days, booked dates, bought plane tickets... and off we went!
The places we saw were the following (links to the days):
Day 1: We arrived in Bologna, headed for the Dolomites in the van, made our only visit of the day, to Lago di Caresse, and slept at the Hotel Classic In in Ortisei, Val Gardena, after some historic pizzas at the ristorante Erica.
Day 2: We watched the sunrise at Alpe di Siusi, then did a hike on the Seceda 2500 and a scenic helicopter flight .
Day 3: We watched the sunrise at Lago di Braies and went to explore Tre Cime di Lavaredo, where we ate and were caught in the fog in search of the most beautiful cliff in the Alps.
Day 4: We hiked to Lago di Sorapis and on the way back, we tried again to reach the Cadena di Misurina cliff. The result was unbeatable!
Day 5: Back Home!
Before starting with the sheet music, I'll leave you with a MyMaps so you can see the route we took and get your bearings a little better:
Day 1: Arrival in Bologna and visit to Lake Caresse.
We started the trip on September 16th from Bologna, the city we flew to from Spain. It's a bit far from the Dolomites, but we booked it on short notice and it was the cheapest nearby airport. Here's a table showing the nearby cities and the driving time to Ortisei, a town in Val Gardena, the heart of the Dolomites:
If you fly to Innsbruck, keep in mind that it's Austria, and car rental will likely be more expensive than in Italy. If you fly to Verona, you probably won't find any direct flights, as it has a small airport. So, I would recommend flying to Bergamo and renting a car there.
Well, as you can see, it's not the most accessible place in the world, but that's the key to its charm, isn't it?
One of the things you should know before you go is that, since it's on the border with Austria, every place has two names, one in Italian and one in German. Keep this in mind when you see road signs, as it can be very confusing. And speaking of roads, be prepared for tolls, because they're numerous, and they're not cheap!
Our first stop was Lago Di Caresse, or Karersee in German, an incredible mountain lake less than 1 hour from Bolzano, the largest city in the Dolomites area.
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I recommend going late in the day because the light is spectacular, the peaks in the background take on an orange hue, and it's incredibly beautiful. Plus, you'll arrive late and probably won't find many people around. We paid €4 for parking, which is on the left if you're coming from Bolzano. And the best part is, you don't have to walk at all! The lake is just 20 meters across the road. AWESOME! We were there from 6 to 7:30 p.m. wandering around the area, circling it and recording clips for the new collection video... which, by the way, if you haven't seen the video, here it is: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3C9TZZDxuD/ |
After visiting the lake, we went to the hotel in Ortisei, Val Gardena. We showered and had dinner at Pizzeria Érica, a superb value for money. It was about €13 for pizza and beer, so not bad for a mountain paradise.
Note: If you want to order a light beer, which you will, ask for a beer with lemon, because if you order a light beer, they'll probably bring you an Italian beer with a similar name that doesn't have lemon. You're welcome.
With our bellies full we went straight to bed, because the next day we woke up early (5:30am) to leave the hotel at 6am and be there to see the sunrise at Alpe di Siusi at 7am.
The first night we stayed at the Classic Hotel Am Stetteneck, where we paid €100 for a double room with breakfast included. With private parking and a great location, we definitely recommend it!
Day 2: Sunrise at Alpe di Siusi, hike through Seceda 2500, and scenic helicopter flight.
As I told you, we woke up early and headed straight for Alpe di Siusi, which is, after all, a vast green meadow filled with wooden cabins and cows, surrounded by very photogenic mountains. I recommend catching the first light of day, so you can see it like this:
We filmed there for about an hour and a half, with the whole place to ourselves. The great thing about going during the off-season is that you'll meet very few people, especially if you get up early!
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After a historic breakfast, we headed to our next destination, Seceda at 2,500m, which can be reached in two different ways: either a two-hour walk uphill (1,000m elevation gain) or by taking the funicular, which costs €32 and takes 15-20 minutes to reach the top. We took the funicular, which was a 10-minute walk from the hotel, and were at the top by 11:30 a.m. Seceda was one of the places we found the most people, as it's very popular, aside from the lunchtime arrivals. You'll see why: |
We spent the night wandering around the area until 2:00 p.m., flying the drone and making croquettes on the grass, and then we went down to eat. We didn't have to worry too much about the restaurant, considering that all the restaurants close at 2:00-2:30 p.m. (in Italy, they eat early). We ate at the bar at the funicular station, where the food wasn't bad, but it wasn't delicious either.
Note: If you have good eyesight, on the last stretch of the funicular reaching the top of Seceda, you might see marmots basking in the sun. They camouflage themselves very well, but they're huge!
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As you can see, we were making good progress. It was barely time for lunch, and we'd already been to two places where you could spend a whole day in each. The best part was yet to come: a fucking helicopter flight! Once we finished eating, we rested a bit on the restaurant's terrace and then grabbed the van to head to the Elikos headquarters, the only company that offers panoramic helicopter flights over the Dolomites. It was a 20-minute drive from Ortisei, so it was a natural fit for us. We took the shortest (and cheapest) flight, 15 minutes, €120 per person. Not bad, huh? I know, it's not cheap, but it's so worth it. I'd never been on one before, and it's one of the craziest experiences I've ever had! |
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We saw the places we had visited that morning from a whole new perspective, and seeing mountains and mountains as far as the eye could see was mind-blowing. Still pumping with adrenaline, we hopped into the van and, while discussing the crazy flight, headed to the hotel where we would spend our second night: Hotel PörnBacher, 20 minutes from the most photographed lake in the world, Lago di Braies, or Pragser Wildsee, depending on who you ask. |
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That night we had dinner at Ristorante Christl, 5 minutes from the hotel, and I highly recommend it too, because they were very fast and the price-performance ratio was good.
After some good pizzas we went to bed early, because, of course, we had to get up early again the next day!
Day 3: Lago di Braies and Tre Cime di Lavaredo
At 6 a.m. the alarm went off, we got ready and headed straight to Lago di Braies for the first shoot of the day. We arrived before the sun and were a little disappointed to see that the reflection of the lake we'd seen in the photos had been blown away by the wind.
We started circling the lake, and half an hour later, mountains suddenly began to appear in the water, and we were all drooling!
We started recording and taking the photos we had come for, and we didn't stop for 2 hours.
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Grades: - The water level can vary by 2 or 3 meters depending on the time of year. We went after summer and before the rains started, which is why the level was so low. If you go in March or April, when the thaw begins, the water level will probably reach the height of the wooden hut in the photo. Here's a photo taken by our contributor José Zepev, who found the lake much fuller! - Starting at 10 a.m., boats can be rented for €20 per hour. |
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With our SD cards full of content, and after returning to the hotel for the included breakfast, we headed to the next spot of the day: Tre Cime di Lavaredo.
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Yes, you guessed it, it means Three Peaks, and that's precisely what makes this place so unique: the three rock masses that rise more than 500 meters from the refuge parking lot and almost 3,000 meters from sea level. And the craziest thing of all is that we saw people climbing them! Admission to the site costs €30 and is valid for 24 hours, so if you're camping or traveling in a campervan, you can sleep upstairs and pay the same as if you were going up and down on the same day. |
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Our plan was to go around the three peaks and reach the refuge on the other side, Rifugio A. Locatelli Innekofler, where we ate a good plate of pasta and took a siesta like good Spaniards.
Afterwards, we went behind the shelter to explore some caves we saw while we were eating, and they turned out to be small tunnels that connected to each other and took you to another side of the mountain.
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Once we'd eaten and seen the tunnels, the plan was to return to where we started and continue in the other direction to find a cliff we'd seen in videos and photos and were dying to see in person because it was amazing. So we retraced our steps, and in an hour we were back in the van to change our sweatshirts, lighten our backpacks, and begin the next hike in search of the cliff. |
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Anyway, of course, we went out to try our luck, and we found the cliff, yes, but not with the views we had imagined...
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Tired from a day of walking and disappointed at not seeing anything, we decided to fly the drone to try to get above the fog and see the sunset through our phone screen. And we did it! 300 meters above us, the sun was setting into a sea of orange clouds, and what a shot we got! |
| With a bittersweet taste in our mouths, we returned to the van and headed for Cortina d'Ampezzo, a town full of designer shops in the middle of the Alps. There, we watched the Juventus vs. Atleti match and slept like logs at the Hotel Aquila after a pizza and pasta binge at the Pontejel restaurant, which wasn't bad, but nothing special either. |
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Day 4: Lake Sorapis and Tre Cime Part 2:
On day 4, we took it easy, waking up at 8:30 a.m. Wow! After two days of little sleep, that night felt like heaven. We had the usual buffet breakfast at the hotel and set off in a van to the starting point of the Lago di Sorapis hike. We arrived at Passo Tre Croci 15 minutes later and started hiking. The hike takes just under two hours, and the views are incredible:
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We arrived at Lake Sorapis with our legs aching badly, but as soon as we looked at the scenery, we forgot about everything—the color of the water was spectacular! We took a few photos and headed straight to a refuge 100 meters from the lake (Rifugio Alfonso Vandelli) for lunch.
Note: It's a fairly remote location, and they don't have a payment terminal for food, so bring cash. I'd also like to recommend the vegetable soup, which I ate all by myself considering the cold weather.
We finished eating and started talking to one of the waiters, who knew the brand and was following one of us. In the middle of the mountains, in a refuge lost in the middle of nowhere, and he already knew Blue Banana and Axel! We were quite amazed, to be honest.
We started back, planning to return to the hotel, take a leisurely shower, and stroll around the town. We'd had a tough few days and we'd earned it. But things went awry; our thirst for adventure got the better of us, and we ended up heading for the cliff we'd climbed the day before. It was our last chance to do it!
We paid the €30 parking fee again without a second thought, packed only what we needed, and started the hike running like wild boars, because there was still an hour of sunlight left and a half-hour walk to get there. Not to mention that it was still foggy when we arrived, but not as dense as the day before.
We made it to the cliff just in time! And this time with a view, what a fucking blast!
But the day didn't end there; we wanted more! So we climbed a little higher, set up the tent to shoot some footage, and watched the last sunset of the trip.
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After a crazy afternoon full of adrenaline, we started the journey back to the van. Super satisfied with the results of the last day, we had dinner at a random restaurant in Misurina, a town very close to Tre Cime, and headed back to the hotel in Passo Pordoi, a two-hour drive away… It's the other side of the adventurous spirit, I suppose. If we hadn't turned back in search of the cliff, we would have already been showered and ready for dinner by 9 p.m. However, by that same time, we hadn't had dinner, were exhausted, and still had two hours to go to get to the hotel, but the experience we had just had more than justified the situation! |
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The hotel was called Col Di Lana, and like the rest, a double room with breakfast included was around €100. We wanted a hotel in Passo Pordoi because the next day, before heading to the airport, we wanted to take a mini-hike to the Fredarola refuge (less than an hour's walk) to see Lake Fedaia and the Marmolada in the background (the highest mountain in the Dolomites). |
Day 5: Back Home!
In the end, we decided to take it easy and head back to Bologna early in case we hit traffic. We ate along the way in Treviso, at a very cheap but very good pizzeria called Zeus. If you go, you can park in Piazza Vittoria; it's a three-minute walk away and there's a fairly large parking lot.
From there we went to the airport with sad faces but very grateful for the days we had spent, and we returned to Spain with full SDs and swearing not to eat pizza or pasta for many days!
It was an incredible trip that completely exceeded all our expectations, both for the places we saw and the experiences we had, so I can't recommend it enough, and I'm more convinced that you'll love it!
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I'll be happy to answer them.
Greetings, and continue the adventure!
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