Gretchen Stuppy Carlson
The beautiful Dolomite Mountains with jagged mountain peaks and stunning lakes are perfect for adventure lovers. There is so much to do and it is one destination that truly lives up to the hype. We explored the Dolomites in the summer of 2022 and will share everything we learned when planning and enjoying this beautiful mountain region to help you plan a 1 day-7 day itinerary.
There is an overwhelming amount of information available about planning a Dolomite’s itinerary and it took us a long time to decide where to stay in the Dolomites. In this post you will find information with activities in the Dolomites, recommendations on where to stay, and general information to help you plan your Dolomite’s itinerary.
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Overview of the Dolomites
The Dolomites are best know for their gorgeous mountains and mountain lakes. The mountains has appeal in every season, but this guide focuses on the exploring the region during the summer. In the winter you can find excellent skiing and winter activities.
The Dolomites are a popular destination and have a number of excellent restaurants and lodging options. A UNESCO world heritage site, the Dolomites cover an area of 15,942 km². The highest peak is Marmolada at 3,342 m. Don’t be fooled by driving distances as the the mountain roads can take a long time to navigate.
How to Use this Guide to the Dolomites in the Summer
Below you can find suggestions of day long activities and itineraries. To create your itinerary you can put together the activities below into your own itinerary. You can also find information below about how many days to spend in the Dolomites and where to stay. Since the Dolomites take hours to drive across, you may decide to stay in one place and drive, or spend part of your Dolomites itinerary in one place and then move to another part of the mountain region.
At the bottom of this post, you can also find a suggestions for a Dolomites summer holiday itinerary.
This post is designed to help you with the planning process and has links where you can get more information and book your trip.
What to do in the Dolomites in the Summer
The best activity by far in the Dolomites in the summer is to go hiking. The Dolomites are best seen on foot!
You can also find many other outdoor activities such as biking in the Dolomites, climbing in the Dolomites and more. Most of the day hikes below are full day hikes, so put together a Dolomite’s itinerary with a few days of hiking and a few days with other activities.
If you are visiting the Dolomites with kids as we were, make sure not to over plan. We chose a day in the middle of our itinerary for a smaller local hike (Lago Boe) where we could take our time and have a picnic.
Incredible Hikes in the Dolomites
There are so many epic hikes in the Dolomites that you can’t really go wrong! The suggestions below are some of the best hikes, but you can find many shorter and longer hikes.
Tre Cime di Lavaredo
Located in the eastern part of the Dolomites and just 30 minutes from Cortina d’Ampezzo, this is a classic and very popular hike. There are several loops and out and back hikes you can do here, including a popular 5.5 mile loop trail.
Note that there is a $30 fee to enter the Tre Cime area and there is a limit to the parking. Since this is popular, try to arrive early. We got to the entrance gate around 9 and had to wait for about 1 hour to get to our parking spot.
Click to see a full post on visiting Tre Cime: Complete Guide to the Tre Cime Hike and the Option for the Paternkofel Via Ferrata
Hike Around Lago di Braies
This is one of the prettiest and most photographed places in the Dolomites. Located in the north of the region, you can visit this lake and take out a rowboat, or hike around the lake. There are several places to eat right at or near the lake.
Starting in 2022, there is now a reservation system to get into Lago di Braies. You can reserve a spot in one of the numbered parking lots (cost is between 6 and 15 euros). Parking lots sell out, so you should book your pass online in advance.
The hike around the lake is easy and just about 2 miles.
Click here to get more information on this gorgeous hike: Complete guide to Lago di Braies
Hike Lago Sorapis
Located near Tre Cime, this is a beautiful hike to an alpine lake. The hike is just over 10 miles with some demanding sections as well as some flat walking. This is truly one of the most beautiful lakes in the Dolomites and the entire world. The trail is an out and back hike and takes 4-5 hours.
The trailhead is at Passo Tre Croci a short drive from Cortina d’Ampezzo.
See more about hiking to Lago Sorapis.
Cinque Torri
This is a classic and beautiful hike and one of the shorter hikes on this list and is one of the best hikes for kids in the Dolomites. The Cinque Torrie refers to the spikey rock formation.
The easiest way to check out the rocks is to take the cable car to Rifugio Scoiattoli – from here you can follow the path, explore the trenches and caves and enjoy the incredible 360 degree views on this 1.9 mile hike.
Croda da Lago
This is a gorgeous hikes that goes around the spikey Croda da Lago Mountains. This hike is about 8 miles in length and has incredible views. The trail ascends through a tricky boulder field and reaches a few high passes before descending to the beautiful Lago Federa.
You can stop at the Rifugio Croda da Lago for lunch or spend the night in this mountain hut.
See more about hiking around Croda da Lago.
Hike Alpe di Siusi
The is the largest alpine meadow in Europe. This is a beautiful rolling landscape dotted with small huts and surrounding by stunning rocks. There are several ways to get to this alpine meadow -by cable car from Siusi or from Ortisei, by bus from, or by car before 9 am or after 5 pm.
There are several trail option in the area and you can even spend the night at a hotel or mountain hut.
Rent Bikes and go Cycling in the Dolomites
Biking is another great activity in the Dolomites. There are ample opportunities for both road cycling and mountain biking through the region and you will find many places to rent bike gear.
If you are looking for the best places for biking in the Dolomites, you may want to consider Alta Badia, Corvara, Gardena, or Cortina d’Ampezzo. Most regions that cater to skiing, also offer summer opportunities for biking.
You can see more about: Cycling in the Dolomites: One Day Biking in the Beautiful Selva Di Val Gardena
Try Via Feratta
Throughout the Dolomites a series of fixed climbing routes known as via ferattas offer a fun and adventurous alternative to hiking. If you have rock climbing experience this is an activity you can do on your own otherwise you can book a via ferrata tour to learn more. Even beginners and kids can enjoy via feratta with either experience climber or part of a tour.
You can book a via ferrata experience online through viator.
Many of the via feratta routes take you up mount peaks that are otherwise inaccessible, but some go over saddles, tunnels, or more. Many of these routes were made during one of the world wars to enable troops to move through the mountains.
If you are looking for a great generally easy via feratta route, check out Complete Guide to the Tre Cime Hike and the Option for the Paternkofel Via Ferrata.
Do One of the Many Multiday Hikes in the Dolomites
While day hiking in the Dolomites is a wonderful experience, there are many places where you can enjoy a night in the mountains by staying in one of the mountain huts called rifugios. Doing a multi-day hiking trip in the Dolomites is a bucket list experience and is a wonderful and easy thing to add to your Dolomite’s itinerary.
You can do a two day trip or hike one of the longer multi-day hiking routes throughout the Dolomites.
There are many rifugios dotting the mountains of the Dolomites. After extensive research we decided to spend our last night of our Dolomite’s itinerary hiking in Croda da Lago and starting the the rifugio on the shore of Lago Federa.
You can see more about our visit to Croda da Lago and our overnight stay in the rifugio.
Take a Ski Lift into the Mountains
Many of the most incredible views in the Dolomites can be reached by riding one of the chair lifts up into the mountains. Most of the mountain towns are also part of a ski resort and you can find many lifts operating in the Dolomites in the summer.
You can ride the lifts up into the mountains and eat at a mountain hut, take a hike or simple soak in the views.
Visit Marmolada
One of the best places to take a lift into the mountains is the tallest mountain – Marmolada. This was one of the spots we didn’t get to visit during our Dolomite’s itinerary, but we did see it from a distance.
You can see more about this mountain on Earthtrekkers.
Want to make the planning easy? Book your travel through a tour company and let them handle the logistics. Now you can use the search in Travel Stride to compare the best tours in the Dolomites
Planning Your Dolomite’s Itinerary
How Many Days do You Need in the Dolomites
If you are driving through the Dolomites and don’t love hiking, you can plan to spend just a few days in the mountains. This gives you time to drive to some of the mountain passes, visit some of the lakes and enjoy some meals in the beautiful Italian towns.
If you enjoy outdoor activities than you should plan for a minimum of 5 days, but can easily spend weeks hiking in the region.
How do you Get to the Dolomites
The best way to get to the Dolomites is to fly to one of the nearby major airports and rent a car. It is possible to visit the Dolomites without a car, but the buses are infrequent and you may not be able to reach some of the trailheads or other destinations. You can search for cars through RentalCars.com.
Many people fly to the airports in Venice or Milan and rent a car. Venice is the closest major airport and is just a few hours drive. It is even possible to visit the Dolomites on a day trip from Venice. We rented a car in Rome as we were visiting the Dolomites on a longer Italy and Slovenia road trip (Click here to see our Slovenia Itinerary).
If you do plan to take a bus, you can check the bus schedule throughout the Dolomites on the Dolomiti website or you can search at
Where to Stay in the Dolomites
This is one of the biggest decision you will need to make. Because the Dolomites are such a big region where you stay will impact what you plan to visit. We started by creating a google map with the activities we were hoping to do and then tried to find a place to stay that was generally centrally located.
Cortina d’Ampezzo is one of the larger towns and is generally well located. It was also get crowded during the summer months, but has great access to several popular regions.
After extensive research, we chose to stay in Arabba as we wanted a smaller town experience. You can see our guide to Arabba here: The Best Arabba Summer Activities: A Gorgeous Mountain Town in the Heart of the Dolomites. This post gives more information on where we stayed in Appartamenti Home Service.
There are a number of small mountain towns throughout the region, and it’s possible to create a Dolomites road trip Itinerary that involves staying in a few of these towns. Start in the east and spend a few days in Cortina and then make your way west and visit a few other towns until you get to Bolzano.
We found many lodging options using Booking.com. We like that you can often find typical hotels listed here, but also apartments and even houses. You can also search for lodging through Agoda or Trip Advisor.
Our Recent Itinerary for Visiting the Dolomites in the Summer
During our recent trip to the Dolomites we spent 5 days staying Arabba and then finished our visit with on overnight hut trip. Below you can find a suggested itinerary based on our visit. We entered the Dolomites from the north since we were visiting on a larger road trip after spending time in Slovenia and Austria, but this itinerary suggests driving up from Venice.
If you are visiting from the north or east, you can see more information on our site about visiting Slovenia and Austria.
Day 1: Fly into Venice – spend the day enjoying the city and then drive north to the Dolomites
Day 2: Explore Lago di Braies
Day 3: Bike in Selva di val Gardena
Day 4: Hike and via Ferrata in Tre Cime de Laveredo
Day 5: Take a picnic walk near where you’re staying (we visited Lago Boe for a picnic)
Day 6: Start your overnight Hut Trip at Croda da Lago – enjoy the night at a Rifugio
Day 7: Hike out from the hut and head back to Venice
For this trip stay somewhere in the center or eastern region of the Dolomites such as Cortina d’Ampezzo or where we stayed in Arabba.
Have you explored the Dolomites and have suggestions of other things to do in dolomites? Leave a comment below!
