The Dolomites

As so often happens in life, one decision can change everything! Little did I know that a decision made in 2009 to create a travel adventure business would lead me to fall head over heels in love with Italy. This passion has only increased over time, leading to a never-ending journey of discovery, joy and excitement.

Last month, a new Ciao Italy tour in a new region captivated my heart . . . once again.

The Valley of Val Gardena

Nestled in Val Gardena are three towns, Selva, Santa Cristiana and Ortisei, all between 1200 and 1700 metres in altitude, while the surrounding alpine meadows and ski slopes rise to above 2500 metres. A network of cable cars and chairlifts whisk visitors to dizzy heights where you are surrounded by majestic mountains made up of bizarre, sculpted shapes. In every direction you are dazzled by stunning landscapes from the verdant green valleys filled with wildflowers to the well marked mountain trails and climbing routes. The beauty of being in the midst of so much magnificence is that you can walk an easy 1-2 kilometre track, e-bike through a stunning valley or challenge yourself to a longer walk and be completely in awe of all that is before you. As soon as hunger hits, there is a delightful mountain cafe offering delicious food and the best apple strudel . . . ever!

Our base for six days was the small village of Selva Val Gardena with around 2,500 locals. We loved this quiet, non touristy village with a great choice of restaurants and views of the impressive Sassolungo (meaning long stone) that dominates the scenery - a beautiful mountain with a peak of 3181 metres and a width of one kilometre.

Within a few minutes walk from our accommodation in Selva, we could ascend via cable car to Dantercepies at 2295 metres high and Ciampinoi at 2254 metres high. Once you reach these glorious heights, you are spoilt for choice with walking trails and chairlifts transporting you to yet more trails and mountain paths. In fact, a day pass allows you to hop on as many cable cars, funiculars and chairlifts as is physically possible.

Only eight kilometres away in the same valley is the quaint village of Ortisei with a pedestrian only centre and international fame as the centre of the traditional art of wood carving. A regular bus service from Selva to Ortisei makes it easy to access two more cable cars and a state-of-the-art funicular to soaring jagged mountains and wide open plateaus.

Next to the cable car station, we hired e-bikes for the day, transported them in the cable car to Mont Seuc at 2005 metres and cycled the valley on quiet roads and cycle paths before descending to Santa Cristina to cycle a pathway running parallel to a fast moving mountain stream back to Ortisei. Not forgetting apple strudel (again) and an amazing burger for lunch in the middle of an alpine valley.

Languages and place names

The Dolomite valleys are inhabited by speakers from three main language groups: German, Italian and Ladin. In South Tyrol, north-western Dolomites, the majority speak German. This region belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918, when it was transferred to Italy after World War 1. During the advent of Fascism in the 1920s and 30s, Italian names were zealously applied to everything with South Tyrol being renamed Alto Adige, which is a reference to the northern end of the Adige river. Today, it is a bilingual autonomous region and place names are written in both languages everywhere, from street signs to mountains.

In the adjoining regions, the Trentino to the south and the Veneto the south-east, Italian dominates. Just to complicate matters further, the ancient Ladin language dating back to pre-Roman times is the spoken language of the central Dolomite valleys. In Val Gardena, 90% of the population speak Ladin.

When to go

Without doubt, June is the best month outside of the winter skiing season. It was unusual to be greeted by snow-capped mountains, but the months of April and May were unseasonably wet and cold this year. After one embracing, cold mountain air day (on which I finally succumbed to buying a puffer jacket), the days that followed saw us walking in t-shirts with sunny blue skies and temperatures in the low twenties. By early June, the majority of cable cars and lifts are open, but it is not too busy with tourists.

Where to stay

While the Dolomites are quite compact, their geography and spiderweb of valleys can make orientation confusing. Although based in one village in one valley for almost one week, we could have stayed a month or more and not experienced it all. On the last day, it was with a sense of achievement and understanding that we could revisit Sassolungo and look out across the vast Val Gardena, recognising the various mountains and valleys that we had reached by cable car to walk the breathtaking trails. With around 1200 kilometres of ski runs, let alone how many kilometres of walking trails, this is a place to return time after time for truly unique, life-changing experiences.

The next tour of Lake Garda/Dolomites/Verona is 1st to 15th June, 2025!

Ci vediamo la prossima settimana.

Deb