Hiking the High Italian Dolomites

Fabulous walking in magnificent scenery.  Excellent food in the hotels.

Outstanding walks through a stunning landscape supported by clear written route guidance and descriptions. The best European walking holiday yet.

My wife and I completed the walking holiday Hiking the High Italian Dolomites from 16 - 24 September 2024. Simply put, it was amazing and highly recommended. Five stars. The scenery was majestic and stunning and all Inntravel arrangements were perfect. We found the Alpe di Siusi magical. We also got lucky with good weather. Prior to the holiday we also spent three nights in Bolzano (on our own) which we also enjoyed. From Bolzano we took public transport (local bus) to Kastleruth. Note: we quickly came to understand local buses are an excellent way to get around. We spent an extra night in Kastleruth and the Cavallino dOro was great, including the sauna! We opted to take the bus to Compatsch and upgraded to the Hotel Urthaler. We loved it. We also loved the Floralpina in Saltria. All the hikes we took were great. The notes and maps Inntravel provided and all the hiking routes we took were well marked. Again, a fantastic holiday.

Hotel Florapina was outstanding really enjoyed our stay and do eased we booked an extra night - the walks in this area were superb 

Another excellent Inntravel holiday. Amazing scenery, particularly the Compatsch to Saltria via Roßzahne ridge walk on day 4 and the Passo Duron walk on day 6, the latter probably our favourite walk and very few people on the actual pass despite the most beautifal views whichever way we looked. The path up to the Roßzahne ridge was very busy with large groups of exuberant Italians, which detracted a bit from the beauty of the location - we assume it was particularly busy as it was a Saturday and the weather was good. We'd recommend starting early if doing this walk on a Saturday. We were very impressed by the refugios and had several delicious hearty lunches there to fuel us for our decent back down to our hotels.

Amazing information ahead of, and during the holiday. Great choice of hiled, hotels and food. Overal, a great experience and would book with Inn Travel again. 

I LOVED this trip. To be honest, I picked InnTravel at random when I decided to book a vacation. A coworker took one look at the price tag and thought it must be a scam. Needless to say, my expectations were not high. I was just thrilled to find a company that offered self-guided, solo experiences. From the moment I received my information binder to my departure from the last hotel, I could not have been more pleased with a trip. The accomodations were first rate and the hikes were very well planned. I loved the choices each day. It allows for adaptation and flexibilty. I feel like I covered so much ground and saw so many wonderful sights. Everyone I met on this tour was equally delighted. I am already looking into my next adventure and this time it is with full confidence that it will be a high class experience with a well researched operation. Thank you InnTravel!

Overall we most thoroughly enjoyed our 'High Dolomites' walking holiday.  Starting in Kastelruth - yes, the church bells do start their chiming rather early in the morning however after a three night stay at otel Cavallino d'Oro, we started to rather 'miss' the bells at the crack of dawn every 15 minutes!  We managed 2 out of the 3 suggested walks.  On our walk to Compatsch, we opted for the chairlift for the first part of the walk.  The rest of the walk was still challengine enough for us and very scenic and enjoyable.  The Urhaler Hotel in Compatsch was an excellent choice and the buffet breakfasts and offerred for part of dinner suited us very much.  The Option B walk from Compatsch was a beautiful walk and we were very lucky with the weather.  We also found 2 further walks ourselves, both of which were great.- A 9 Km circular walk to Bullacia and Arnica which was spectacular plus a 7KM circular walk to Wieder Eck, also with beautiful scenery - I took umpteen photos that day as every tiest and turn we made provided us with views ready to be snapped!!!! To walk to Saltria for our 3rd stop, we opted for Option B.  It was quite a challenging climb for us and once we arrived at the delightful Hotel Floralpina, we felt a great sense of achievement!  On the first full day we were there, we took the chairlift to Williamshutte, (again we were pleased we did so as the rest of the walk was challenging enough for us.  Again the views are very special, awe inspiring actually!  The last hiking day, well we opened the curtains in the morning to find that the temperature had dropped overnight aproximately 19 degrees and pretty thick snow was falling and lying on the ground - So instead of a hike up the mountains which was not to be advised, we enjoyed Xmas scenes in mid September and made good use of the spa facilities in the hotel.  This is our 4th walking holiday with Inntravel and we have already booked our next one for Spring 2025!  The Dolomites are a special trip and my husband and I would have no problem doing more walking in a similarly glorious place.  Thank you.  

We are 4 fit 75 year olds who walk 5-10 kms regularly, but we found the walks challenging. The combination of hot July temperatures (around 25/80 degrees), altitude, gradients and uneven paths was very tiring. We took shortcuts - public transport, cable cars etc. Luckily the good Inntravel and local maps allowed us to figure these out and we had some wonderful experiences. Pre-trip organisation could be better coordinated, but once on the trip it was seamless. Choice of routes, length of stay, variety and quality of hotels is stunning. Our second trip with Inntravel and we look forward to more.   

Excellent food and service at last 2 hotels. Beautiful scenery, especially the walk over the pass to Saltria from Compatsch. A tough, but splendid walk up to the refuge at Bolzano.

We've been looking for a walking holiday that offered a bit more of a physical challenge, but with a high level of service and a little more luxury. After trying a few other companies, Inntravel provided just what we were looking for.

We were very impressed with the information we were provided before travelling. The spots included allowed for great variety of walks through meadows and high mountains. Travel transfers were all spot on and walk directions were almost entirely accurate and clear except where cattle or a lack of clear markers meant we needed to rely on maps to find our way for a couple of very short stretches. Staff in hotels and taxis were extremely courteous and thoughtful, such as taxi drivers providing bottled chilled water. Much appreciated 

We have wanted to hike in the Dolomites for quite some time. Kastelruth, in the valley, and Compatch and Saltria up on the Seiser Alm did not disappoint.  The small towns in the valley with traditional houses and barns, the churches, the forests/meadows/wildflowers/rivers were all lovely.  The routes suggested by Inntravel provided a good view of both the landscape and way of life for this area.  The vast meadows of the Seiser Alm surrounded by high, limestone peaks are amazing spots to hike.  

Impeccable Inntravel organisation, excellent hotels and a stunning area with great high and lower level walks. Particularly beautiful (late June) with the wildflowers. 

We enjoyed our overnight stay and morning in Bolzano and it was much more relaxing that an early morning flight from Gatwick. We stayed at a hotel called La Briosa which we would recommend on all counts. We were able to adjust the timing with taxi Oswald to accommodate a lunch in Bolzano (the best meal of the holiday) before transferring to Kastelruth.

The walks just got better and better - the use of lifts as noted above giving us the confidence to cope with length/ascents. 

The 1st and 3rd hotels were really good, especially Hotel Floralpina, a lovely way to finish the walk. 

We were very pleased we had taken friends advice to take winter walking boots and poles-  because even though it was warm, a few times we crossed the snow line(in mid June) and the descents were often  stoney. 

It is amazing walking in a spectacular location.  We did the Grade 2 options and found them doable  and enjoyable but pretty  challenging.

Highlights: "Bucket list" vacation!  We were a little worried that we were missing out on the "Instagram" locations in the Dolomites. But we were most pleased to discover that there is storybook type scenery everywhere in the Dolomites and you led us away from the maddening crowds without sacrificing quality. We absolutely loved all the accommodations, friendly people, and jaw dropping scenery.  Well done!

Tip: Anyone worried about the weather should simply prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Our weather forecast said high probability of "thunderstorms" every single day, but we only got rained on once. Conversely, there was also snow overnight where nothing was forecast that affected our routes. People would be good to note that the forecasts are given for a region, and usually based out of a major town in the area. Hence the forecast at your particular little spot on the map probably has nothing to do with what you get from any app or service until the weather is so widespread that it envelops an entire region.  

We loved the stunning beauty of the South Tyrol and the quality of the hotels, especially the two with indoor and outdoor pools. An extra day in Kastelruth is recommended so you can have a day in Bolzano, a nice city, with a terrific exhibition of the Iceman, Otzi. Fascinating. A terrific holiday, thank you, and as soon as we settled down at home, we really did pick up the brochure to look for our next holiday with Inntravel.

Difficult to pick out individual highlights, but generally fabulous scenery, very good waymarking (with minor exceptions), lots of nice Hütten and very good hotels (Urthaler well worth the upgrade).

We thought it was a wonderful holiday with delightful accommodations and great walking. The last two walks of the week were the highlight, which was a great way to finish off. We would highly recommend this holiday to anyone who enjoys good walking with stunning scenery.

An excellent, well organised holiday in a stunning destination. We couldn't fault it. 

We had the most amazing holiday with Inntravel, seamlessly organised and so well planned. Our personal highlights included summiting Plattkofel on beautiful clear day in the Dolomites and exploring Positano and getting a boat trip to Capri whilst still having time to walk the coastline daily. 

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our The High Dolomites and The Amalfi Coast & Villages holidays

Loved the varied scenery of the undulating green meadows of the Seiser Alm and the dramatic ridges and mountains higher up. However challenging the walking you could look forward to a warm welcome, relaxing facilities and good food each evening. 

We have holidayed with Inntravel many times, in a number of different countries, and thoroughly enjoyed every trip. Our experience in the High Dolomites was excellent. Each hotel was different but we liked them all - great food and drink, lovely rooms, great staff and superb views. We stayed in the Hotel Villa Kastelruth, the Urthaler and finally the Sporthotel Floralpina. This was a grade 2/3 holiday and some of the route options were pretty steep in parts. However, on balance, we enjoyed them all and hiked through some stunning areas with spectacular scenery as far as the eye could see. The Kompass map provided was excellent and we were able to download a digital copy free of charge for 1 month. Then we were able to use the Inntravel link to the proposed routes and transfer the routes to my smartphone. This was very helpful and we could confidently check were we were at any time. Even better I could use the offline option. We wanted an easy final day and using the paper map and my phone we plotted a lovely hike back to Saltria from Compatsch. We took the bus there (3€ each, running every 20 mins)) and it was a pretty level walk most of the way back to Saltria along route 30. There was a steady descent down into Saltria - if this route was done in reverse it would be a steepish climb out of Saltria! We had 2 nights in Verona and explored many of the most interesting areas. Had outstanding evening meals in Locanda 4 Cuochi and Restaurant Maffei, the latter where we ate in a lovely outdoor courtyard. Prices for both similar to what we might pay in London and worth every penny!

Our first time in the Dolomites. Really enjoyed the trip overall. Definitely the unexpected hotel upgrade in Kastelruth was nice! Great views, changing all the time. The short optional walk via the peace path in Kastelruth was nicely shaded a lot of the time on a very hot day. Nice walk to Mount Seuc after a tough climb the day before up to the plateau. Did the optional walk from Floralpina up to the Langkofel Hutte. Great, amazing to be so close to some big stuff. Possibly our fav of the holiday.

We loved having Inntravel set up our beautiful adventure.  We felt well cared for, everything went smoothly and our experience was fantastic.

The Dolomites will not disappoint! Even the easier walks provide one with the most magnificent views! As a passing hiker says "where am I, why right now I am in paradise!"  

This was our second trip with Inntravel and it was wonderful. We do a lot of running and hiking and still found these hikes challenging, but the rewards -- astonishingly beautiful scenery, tasty lunches at friendly rifugios -- made them so worthwhile.  The town of Castelrotto (a.k.a. Kastelruth) made for a perfect introduction to the hike. On our second and sixth days, we took lifts to shorten the climb and we were glad we did, because the vertical ascent those days was taxing even with the lifts. We especially enjoyed the Floralpina Hotel for its delightful amenities (the pool!) and terrific cuisine. It was a perfect family vacation: our son and his fiancée came along and we loved sharing the experience with them.

This is an outstanding holiday for a variety of hiking abilities. We took our 40 year old son and daughter-in-law and they did all the hardest hikes, added a via ferrata day and a climb/scramble way up in the rocky parts of the mountians following an ebike climb to the Tierser Alpl Hutte. We, the 70+ yr olds, thoroughly enjoyed the easier hikes in each of the three locations. We added an extra day in each hotel and were very happy we did so! Each of the hikes offered was utterly splendid.  

Another stunning trip with Inntravel, our 5th in total, this was exceptional, 2nd only to the Swiss Alps in terms of rewarding views

Detailed instructions were very helpful.

We would suggest if choosing between Lake Orta to Maggiore and Maggiore to Lugano we would recommend Orta to Maggiore.

High Dolomites was spectacular and in particular Hotel Urthaler. Loved the high mountains, cooler temperatures for walking in July/August, beautiful alpine flowers on Seiser Alm and hot chocolate at Refugio Alpe di Tires. We want to go back.

Recommend room upgrades and hotel upgrades wherever offered despite the extra cost.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers booked three walking holidays: Lake Orta to Lake Maggiore, Lake Maggiore to Lake Lugano and The High Dolomites

We were blessed with good weather and the heat was bearable in Verona. Loved the area and the choice of walks was just right for us in our mid-seventies. The transfer days were the most challenging but we were really pleased to have managed them. The Plaza in Compatsch is adequate and the service was fine but perhaps we should have followed your advice to upgrade to the Urthaler. Floralpina is lovely in a great setting. Perhaps people should be aware the both Compatsch and Saltria are essentially ski resorts and don't have any facilities, unless you want to hire a bike! I struggled with hayfever as it was haymaking season. I hadn't expected this and had not taken any anti-histomin treatment - a mistake. No pharmacy in Compatsch and nothing at all in Saltria.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our walk The High Dolomites with our Verona City add-on

Possibly our favourite Inntravel holiday so far. The Dolomites are incredibly beautiful and, in July, the wildflower meadows are absolutely wonderful to see. As usual the walks suggested by Inntravel were perfect for us, challenging mountain sections combined with more relaxing sections through wildflower meadows and pine woods. Useful to have both German and Italian phrasebooks for this region but hotel staff spoke good English of course. Although July is considered one of the wettest months of the year in the Dolomites, our experience was of beautiful warm sunny days with rain confined to occasional (dramatic) thunderstorms in the late afternoon or evening. A wonderful holiday and, thanks to Inntravel, everything ran smoothly.

The walking was superb and some of the best scenery we have seen on a walking holiday with Inntravel. The food in all of the hotels was excellent - you won't go hungry! The meadows on the walks from Compasch and Saltria were magnificent as they had not yet been cut (early July).

If you haven't used walking poles before we would definitely recommend getting some as some of the paths are covered with loose stone and they are a big help on the "downs".

I am not often lost for words, but the incredible views, the glorious wildflowers and the beautiful hotels on this trip left me speechless on many occasions....This holiday surpassed our expectations in every respect.  Good choice of levels of walk, and staying two nights in each place meant you can have a easier day loop after a hard day's ascent.  A great sense of achievement getting up to the high huttes with their welcome food and drink.  The hotels were each different, but all lovely and a joy to be able to swim and relax after the walks.  Navigation so much easier than on any UK long distance path!

We opted to travel there by train via Amsterdam, Innsbruck and over the Brenner Pass, and that in itself was an adventure that added so much to the holiday.

It was a spectacular trip in very beautiful mountains. Hikes were challenging and exciting. Although rain was predicted every day, rain did not appear until late in the afternoon, if at all. The literature about the hikes prepared us well. The Hotel Urthaler in particular was excellent. We very much enjoyed the Dolomites in this area and look forward to coming back.

The timing of our holiday was perfect for the wildflower meadows, photos really don't do them justice. We counted over 60 different species of flowers during our walks. Also saw deer, cows (with cow bells!), goats, horses, black nose valais sheep (gorgeous), alpine guardian dogs.......and marmots!!

This is our second self-guided walking holiday with InnTravel.  My family group of 5 has experienced both these trips as precious time together experiencing beautiful scenery, delicious food, and adventures creating lasting memories.  We will absolutely love to use this company again.

We went in mid June when the Alpine meadows were incredible. The pain of the climbs was easily compensated for by the high walks and wonderful views. We had a real sense of achievement at the end. This is the best walking we have ever done. Hotel Floralpina is a perfect hotel to end the holiday. 

A quite superb area to walk and climb, somewhat difficult to access from UK.

There were some real highlights in what was a fairly stellar holiday; the knock on our room door during our stay at the Cavallino d'Oro Hotel with staff bringing a little cake with a candle and a gift for my partner on his birthday, the sense of achievement on reaching some of the high restaurant huts (closely followed by an overdose of apple strudel!), the wonderful scenery, and being in a bilingual culture (German/Italian) which was so different to southern Italy.

This was our first holiday with Inntravel and we were very impressed with the whole organisation of our trip.   Travel, luggage transfers, route planning and accommodation was all excellent.    We're already looking at booking another trip!

Excellent first holiday with Inntravel!. Only improvement would be to offer a variation on the day 3 walks. I'd recommend doing the day 4 option B hike on day 3 and take route 8 back along to Compatsch rather than down to Saltria. The epic option C day 4 hike from Compatsch to Saltria is the highlight hike of the holiday.

The walk to Rifugio Vincenzia from Saltria was a highlight with wonderful high meadows, spectacular views and a finely rewarded last steep uphill climb to the rifugio itself.

We loved the scenery, recovery accommodations, food, hikes were beautiful but demanding, great connecting with other Inntravel people.  

There were many highlights:

1. The long walk from Kastelruth to Vols was incredibly lovely.

2. The hike from Kastelruth to Compatsch via Marinzen was steep but so impressive.

3. Our hike to Rifugio Bolzano then to Tierser-Alpe Hutte and back to Compatsch was a long, but rewarding day with magical scenery on the hike between the two huttes.

4. Our last day of hiking was from Saltria to the Langkofel Hutte, but then we decided to hike up the top of the pass, which was amazing!

This hike is like taking a trip back in time to a perfectly green, pastoral world with charming chalets, grazing cattle and dramatic mountain spires encirling the Alpe de Siusi plateau.  Nothing seemed to have changed in 100 years, in the best possible way. We very much enjoyed this holiday, our 3rd with InnTravel and found their service provided to be superb once again. The length and elevation gain on some of the hikes at first seemed daunting- this is a 2-3 rated hike- and the steep sections heading from Kastelruth up to Compatsch seemed long at the time, but the grand views and  welcome hut at the top followed by the soft descent into Compatsch balanced the day. We were lucky with the weather, rain was in the forecast nearly every day but the dark clouds were never over our heads so we were able to truly enjoy all the hiking days. I was reminded that weather in the mountains changes hourly. 

I highly suggest upgrading to the Urthaler Hotel- it was a beautiful space and their spa area was elegant and spacious with fluffy robes and huge towels, quiet places to read and relax-and the restaurant was top notch too.  The staff always greeted us and were very attentive to our needs.  We used the services of Taxi Oswald to collect and return us to Bolsano and found the service to be also first class.

It was my first time hiking in an area with so many huts and came to look forward to lunch at a table with a warm bowl of soup rather than eating my sandwich on the side of a trail and it was fun to sit with so many other international hikers. This was also my first time downloading the directions onto my Komoot Trail App and the voice turn-by-turn directions were perfect.  I kept my phone in my pocket and never had to check a map all week.  I do urge you to read the walking notes as InnTravel has great tips about little detours to churches or scenic views which you will miss otherwise. Technology does not replace the personal touch-and that's why we choose InnTravel.

Our last hike from Saltria, under Plattkofel and up to the Langkofelhutte, was one of the most beautiful walks I've ever taken.

This was our first holiday with Inntravel and we were not disappointed. The booking was seamless despite the two year delay due to covid. The hotels were excellent (we upgraded to the Hotel Seiser Alm Urthaler which we could not fault). The baggage transfers were efficient and our bags were waiting for us at each hotel. Now the walking! We are in our late 60's early 70's and do a lot of walking so consider ourselves 'walking fit'. These walks were beautiful and some were challenging. Each day we took the longer option and on one day combined two routes. The scenery was magnificent and there were very few others around except at some of the refuges. There was a lot of steady uphill walking but this was countered by the downhills! We had snow for the last two days which meant we had to curtail our walk to the Plattkofel as we could not see the path and it was very icy. However we just returned to the Plattkofel Hutte and had lunch, which was excellent. The guides and maps were well presented and easy to follow. All in all an excellent, well organised and enjoyable holiday, thank you. We are now planning our next trip.

I had wanted to do this holiday since I discovered it on your website about four years ago. Covid and lack of walking partner slowed me down.  I persuaded my sister to come.  She said "why is this Seiseralm that I have never heard of so special?"  I admitted that I did not know - was just amazed by the photos. Well, we were both absolutely astonished by the beauty and splendour. She said it was the best holiday of her life, and I would say the same thing.

The highlights- achieving the climb from Kastelruth up to the Seiseralm - it was a huge achievement for me, and the ensuing lunch at Arnikahutte was so sweet. The climb up the Schlern (Scilliar) was an even more visible and tangible achievement, because we could see the top of the mountain from our hotel in Compatsch and it seemed so high and so far.  But the Passo Duron walk was actually my favourite - so few people, so many changing views. On our last day we did the walk to Rifugio Vincenzo and again we were amazed at the variety of that walk - the different ecosystems and places we went through.  Again, it was an achievement to climb up there. We even walked on our rest day, we were loving it all so much. Also, we adored our lunches at the Rifugio's each day.  The deep culture and traditions of the area also added hugely to our experience.  And I highly recommend the local wines.

The walking options that you gave us were very well chosen and considered. Also, the treat of the swims and saunas at the end of each day was so restorative after the long walks.  I felt I had more and more energy as the week went by, and am so happy that we added an extra day on the Seiseralm - it was meant to be a rest day but we could not resist another walk!  Thank you Inntravel.

An excellent holiday in all respects: the walking was challenging, but we felt a sense of achievement that we managed to ascend the Seiseralm plateau and climb Sciliar/Mt Petz and Plattkofel. The accommodation and meals were very good and we particularly enjoyed our stay at Floralpina at the end. Amazing, spectacular scenery on a daily basis.

The self-guided walk in the High Dolomites with Inntravel was an amazing experience for our family. Inntravel arranged all of our travel and luggage transfers seamlessly so that our family could enjoy our time together and the beautiful scenery. Their recommendations and notes on walking routes each day was excellent, and we were able to vary the degree of difficulty for our four children with ease.  

We cannot wait to use Inntravel again for our next adventure!

In Venice, we recommend a visit to a roof top terrace gallery at the DFS store.  It is free but you have to book the 15min slot in advance. www.dfs.com/en/venice/mobile/service/rooftop-terrace

Dress code in all the hotels is casual. 

There are plenty of alternative walking routes on Sieser Alm without having to climb too high. Some additional options would be helpful. 

I don't want to complain about the glorious cloudless weather we had but although the average air temperature for July is circa 21 deg the strength of the sun meant that in reality it was much warmer and hard for strenuous walking.  

INNTRAVEL NOTE: Customers added on a 2-night stay at Hotel ai Due Fanali in Venice at the end of their walking trip.