The High Dolomites

Another amazing week's walking from Inntravel. The whole experience could not have been better. The walking notes are fantastic and the walks were spectacular. Stand out for us were, 1) the ascent of Sciliar, followed by the ridge walk via Tierser Alpe, amazing scenery opening up on every turn. A long day but well worth it, and 2) the ascent of Plattkofel, testing walking but a fantastic sense of achievement. The Plufatsch plateau is a great base, and all the distinctive peaks that you climb are visible from different angles in the various locations.

My favourite day was walking up Sciliar and back along the ridge walk to Tiersl Alpl. It seemed to go on for ever and we were rather late for dinner but it was so rewarding.

Loved the huge variety of plants and other wildlife every day - and the cows.

Thoroughly enjoyed our swim in Laghetto de Fe.

Loved all the little churches, and hidden corners with interesting places to find.

Our notes with plenty of good information made our days all the more interesting.

If you love mountains then the High Dolomites is a great choice for a walking holiday. We're Alpine enthusiasts and so this was a perfect option that allowed us to explore the spectacular delights of the Seiser Alm (aka Alpe di Siusi). However it's best not to think of this holiday as a journey but more like a summer version of a ski holiday. What we mean is that the physical landscape of the Seiser Alm is very open, so you can take in views of the places you visited yesterday and will visit tomorrow in one broad vista, and you can easily see the connections between the peaks, valleys and hamlets. This ensures that there are lots of opportunities to view the stunning landmarks from different vantage points, at different times and in different weather conditions.

We'd recommend that you take the time to study the walk notes and the map thoroughly before you go, as some of the hotel-to-hotel walks duplicate sections of the circular walks, and it's worth thinking carefully about what routes you want to explore on which days. We're strong walkers and so we found that the longer walks (17km) were easily achievable within the suggested times, even allowing for plenty of refreshment breaks in the fabulous refuges. We often extended the routes, in some cases up to 24km, as the excellent Seiser Alm map offers a multitude of well signposted paths and forest roads. A highlight for us was making a full 20km circuit around the base of Langkopfel and Plattkopfel with a detour up to the Rifugio Vicenza for morning coffee - but use the Florian chairlift to get up to 2,100m to start your walk!

It's also worth knowing that the area is now very popular with MTB and e-bike riders, so some routes can be quite busy. If you prefer a little more solitude then seek out the footpaths (red dashed lines).

All the hotels are excellent, with first class leisure/spa facilities. The restaurants at the Hotel Urthaler and Sporthotel Floralpina serve very good meals and those with specialist dietary requirements are well catered for. But, be aware that vegetarians and vegans etc. may find lunchtime options more limited. The numerous refuges and guesthouses serve broadly similar menus combining Italian and Tyrolean dishes. Wonderful homemade pastas, dumplings and stews appear frequently and local specialities are well represented, including top notch cheese, copious amounts of Speck and plenty of wild game.

We highly recommend this holiday having had a challenging but exhilarating 8 days of walk in a very beautiful and memorable place.

This was without doubt, in some parts depending on the chosen walk, a challenging walking holiday. That said, all the challenges presented stunning views and were well worth the effort. On a warm September evening we were able to look across into Switzerland and Austria and see snowcapped mountains far in the distance. We were extremely impressed with both the organisation of the holiday and the warm welcome and quality of the hotels in which we stayed. Food was excellent and all the rooms were good. Would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who has a reasonable level of basic fitness and yearns for mountains and scenery. We will be planning another Inntravel holiday as soon as circumstances allow…

I had high excpectations for this holiday, but those were exceeded! The stunning scenery, including both the awesome mountains themselves but also the rolling green valleys and meadows and woodlands, the sweet villages, the food and accommodations - it was simply perfect. My son and his girlfriend would have been happier with a slightly more challenging hike for each place, but I was very satisfied with the given options (we took the most challenging every day). Highly recommended, especially if you like pretty strenuous hiking. 

My personal highlight was Option C [longer High Route via Rifugio Bolzano & Tierser Alpe] from Compatsch to Saltria. Walking poles would be extremely helpful on this holiday, especially for veteran walkers!

A good week ... challenging enough - Pass was, indeed, less difficult (in fact, rather enjoyable) than looked from below - for a 75/63 yr old couple ... 

Apart from the one day when the skies opened, the ideal weather will certainly have helped.

We loved the walks every day which were varied in both scenery and difficulty. On a more leisurely day we took the cable car down to St Ulrich which was a lovely little town where we enjoyed lunch. By the way, the cable car was more expensive than quoted in our guidance notes - each ticket cost 19.80 Euros return. The hotel Floralpina had the most beautiful spa area with pools / sauna / steam rooms and treatments if you should choose one. Our last day was rainy, so we spent the day relaxing in the spa area and loved this time as much as the walking. One little point to note is that some restaurants / mountain cafes would not accept payment by credit or debit cards but would only accept cash in Euros. We actually didn't read the whole of our Inntravel information and missed the fact that we had to catch a bus or taxi from the airport to the train station. But some friendly passengers guided us to the right bus stop. The bus is very efficient and much cheaper than a taxi. Thank you for all that you did to give us a really lovely time away - this was our first walking holiday and we really enjoyed it. We will definitely be looking to return to do another similar trip in the future and will recommend Inntravel to all our friends.

The entire trip was absolutely wonderful.  Hotel Floralpina was spectacular, modern, friendly with incredible surroundings.  Hiking was challenging, but rewarding.  We had one rainy day, which was a much needed rest day, spent using the outdoor pool - in the rain, and eating!  We are planning to return!

We were blessed with 6 days of picture postcard weather, so our holiday was truly spectacular. The week before it was cold, so we packed our warm clothes that we didn’t need. There were many shops in both Kastelruth and Compatsch, where you can buy hats, gloves, warm jacket, if needed. So there was no reason to add extra weight to our luggage. The accommodations were excellent, especially the Floralpina Hotel; however we liked the food better at the Hotel Plaza in Compatsch. Guests should try to be there on a Sunday when bands play traditional German music at a couple of the restaurants in Compatsch. Locals were dancing, drinking and eating and having a great time enjoying the sunny warm day. We found the free hiking maps in the hotels to be much better than the big map sent with our materials. The whole Alpe di Siusi is beyond beautiful, with the soaring Dolomites and the verdant green of the pastures. This area offers something for all hikers from novice to advanced, and the many restaurants to relax and to have lunch on the mountainside were charming.

The Dolomites were stunning and a great walking destination. Inntravel looked after us and made the whole experience flow easily. We appreciated the walking notes which were very detailed. Stayed in some great hotels.

Nice hotels and great walking routes with good maps and route notes. Luggage transfers on time. 

We had nine days without a spot of rain! The walking was therefore fantastic, with glorious views from the high points of the various walks. All of the mountain huts were delightful, and we had refreshments at many of them. The Saltris hotel was outstanding and we were pleased we had booked a fourth night. This was one of the best holidays we have ever had!

This was our third Inntravel trip. We really enjoyed walking in this unique and beautiful area, with multiple choices for more and less challenging hikes, and plenty of alpine huts to stop at for an espresso or lunch or a beer. The walks had spectacular views, and the directions and maps were generally accurate and useful.  The weather was changeable and very useful to have waterproof jackets and boots.  Also helpful on the very rainy days to use the bus system which was quite functional. The hotels Cavallino d'Oro and Sporthotel Floralpina were exceptional - upgraded rooms with balconies very worthwhile with beautiful views, staff was extremely helpful, food was excellent.  Hotel Plaza by contrast was quite tired and staff were unhappy. We will definitely return to this area again and will count on Inntravel on our future explorations around Europe.

This walking holiday took us into truly spectacular scenery and yet we were never far from a cafe or Hutte for refreshments. In fact at the time of year we went some of the routes were quite crowded particularly the ascent of Petz. I preferred getting away from the crowds particularly option B from Saltria which skirted a ridge and was covered in beautiful wild flowers.

The final hotel the Floralpina is exceptional with very comfortable rooms, great facilities and vast amounts of delicious food. The only negative aspect was a lot of walking on hard roads which you can avoid by taking some chairlifts.

Another point to note was that our taxi from Saltria was at 10 but our flight not until 19.40. We put our cases in left luggage at Bolzano and spent some time there. If the same happens to you I can recommend this. It is a beautiful town with the wonderful museum of archaeology.

This was an excellent walking holiday in the most beautiful High Dolomites in the South Tyrol. Staying at Hotel Florapina with its excellent facilities, which were a joy to use after a long day's walking, was the highlight for us. We hiked Sciliar and Plattkofel and found the walking notes very helpful but equally the routes are very well waymarked which made it easier. Plattkofel is very challenging because of the terrain which is rocky and scree like and must be undertaken in good weather as the Inntravel notes suggest. It is not for the faint hearted as most of the route is vertiginous!

We cannot praise Inntravel enough as the organisation from booking to receiving our travel pack, travel arrangements and adding in our extra nights in Innsbruck, was just superb. The key for us was the ability to speak at length to a member of Inntravel team at the outset to discuss what we wanted from the holiday and that the person we spoke to was so knowledgeable about the area. We are already planning the next walking holiday and would highly recommend Inntravel.

We loved the trip overall. Hikes were challenging and beautiful. The Dolomites are breathtaking mountains. Everywhere you turned was a new spectacular view. Loved all the mountain huts and had lunch at a different one every day.  We were surprised at how crowded the trails were - we never felt like we were alone for long, and some trails had a constant flow of people passing by.  But generally this did not deter from our enjoyment of the hikes. Very few people spoke English well, even the hotel staff, but this was generally not a problem. Hotels ranged from ok (Hotel Plaza) to quite nice (Cavallino d'Oro) to downright amazing (Sporthotel Florapina). The quality of the food at Florapina was the best we'd had on any Inntravel trip, and perhaps on any holiday. We would totally recommend this trip, but perhaps at a less busy time of year if you like a little more solitude.  

The walks were quite challenging but very rewarding for a couple in their early 70s used to walking in Yorkshire. The scenery is magnificent and the flora in early July was wonderful. The two highlights were the ridge walk from Rifugio Bolzano to Tierseralpl Hut (we omitted the hour it would have taken for the ascent of Petzberg) and the walk to Langkofelhutte. We used the chairlift to Williamshutte to avoid both up and down on the latter walk. Used it to go up on the next day to Plattkofelhutte where we walked 1km to the east along the Friedrich August Weg for views to the next valley then back along the grassy ridge to descend at Passo Duron. The flowers were particularly good on this walk and Edelweiss were found just to the east of the cheesery at Plattkofelalm. Hotels were all excellent and in Kastelruth we enjoyed two very good dinners at the Saalstube restaurant.

We have travelled to many countries and have usually gone long haul in the belief the best destinations are further away but the High Dolomites has been a revelation. It is one of the best holidays we have ever had. The scenery is stunning and the range and standard of services faultless. We intend to explore much more of Europe now.

Stunning scenery and outstanding walking, we have been ‘bitten by the bug’ and will definitely be doing another walking holiday!

This holiday was fantastic. We felt so well guided on our walks yet we were independent. Each walk provided such variation from the lush meadows to the snowy mountain tops. The mountain huttes were so characterful and we loved their charm as well as the food they served. The standard of accommodation was amazing. The choice and quality of food was wonderful. I have never tasted such amazing cheeses. Thank you so much Inntravel for organising such wonderful walks and accommodation.

Arrive at airport 2 hours before plane leaves. With on line check in and self service bag drop, many think that they only need to arrive 1 hour before. At 4.30 in the morning, the self service Easyjet bag drop queue is heaving and much slower than having an attendant doing it for you. It is possible to make picnics from the little food shop in Compatsch, but we found no shop in Saltria. However we had good lunches at the Plattkofel and Langkofel huttes. Careful not to over eat at Floralpina!

The frequent and full cuckoo song, plenty of marmots if you look carefully, the variety of meadow flowers that changed from area and height. Lovely stop for coffee at Hotel Villa Gabriella, Kastelruth area.

There are some opportunities to swim / dip on the walks. Around Compatsch, route A2 or if weather not good tackle the long walk on the way to Saltria.Had a fair bit of snow walking to tackle. Don't take notice of weather report of whole Dolomites from UK,fairly accurate daily reports given at hotels, but found needed most of our walking gear. 

We first did this itinerary 12 years ago; it's the first time we have ever repeated an Inntravel trip, and we were not disappointed - helped of course by glorious autumnal weather.  We would strongly recommend doing this trip in late September or early October - the Seiseralm is particularly beautiful at this time of year, and the views were so clear.  We went back specifically to tackle some of the harder walks e.g. climbing the Schlern, and it was well worth it.  We endorse all the favourable comments made by other travellers about the area, the walking and especially about Hotel Floralpina.