Cortina D’Ampezzo

The next big Italian destination?

Jul 09, 2024

Cortina is a town like many others in the valley of the Dolomites, with ski slopes and cable cars going up to the mountains around it. However, you can tell it’s different both in size and feel when walking around. It hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956, and is set to host them again in 2026 alongside Milan. The town has signs for designer stores opening soon and cranes building new hotels, but for now still has the charm of a small ski town. We all bet that it would become the hot new place to visit once the Olympics happen.

Our hotel, the Franceschi Park, which felt amazing after sleeping in the dormitories

From Cortina, you can do all types of outdoor activities, from hiking to climbing to biking up a winding spaghetti road through the mountains. Based on our trusty guide book “Shorter Walks in the Dolomites” (compared to the Alta Via 1), we decided to do the hike around Tre Cime, a mountain nearby. We were told it would be busy, but I wasn’t quite expecting lines of hundreds waiting for the bus to take us from the parking lot to the trailhead.

Where we parked for the hike, you can’t go far without seeing hotels and alp style chalets

Even with the crowds, the Tre Cime hike was beautiful, circling the 3 rocks that make up the mountain and going through valleys of snow. The high crowds can actually be a benefit though, because they support the 3 Rifugios on the trail to stop for an espresso, spritz, or even a meal.

Tom and me wearing our freshly hotel-laundered hiking clothes

The town has many spas ranging from budget to super luxury, so we spent the early evenings recovering in our hotel spa before walking around town shopping and going to dinner with friends each night.

The Italian Dolomites are also known for Via Ferrara, “iron path”, a type of climbing where you clip into cables to climb the mountain. My friend Emily was very excited to try it, so we rented gear from one of the many shops in town and spent our second full day in Cortina doing the via Ferrara climb to Rifugio Lagazuoi, which is actually the Rifugio between stages 3 and 4 of the Alta Via 1 (though those on the Alta via 1 usually take the hiking route) and one of the highest elevation Rifugios in all of the Dolomites. I’m usually a little afraid of heights, but the climbing gear helped and I really enjoyed the climb and views! They call this area an “open air war museum”, along the trails there are many restored WW1 trenches and tunnels carved into the mountain from when fighting occurred between Italy and Austria-Hungary in the Dolomites.

On the Via Ferrata!

Inside the tunnel, I’m not sure how far some of them went!

We explored the tunnels a little with our rented headlamps, then completed the climb under snow fields to the summit. As usual, we enjoyed a great lunch and drinks at the Rifugio after the long hike!

A cloud rolled in so it was a little cold at the top since it’s at 9028 feet of elevation

Many of the Rifugios are used as ski lodges in the winter, I believe this one is too since there is a cable car that can take you to the peak, which also made it the most expensive and busy one we visited. We weren’t too excited to climb down the Via Ferrata (mostly me and my fear of heights), so we paid the fee to take the cable car down which was well worth it in my opinion.

After our time in Cortina, the group of 8 would go our separate ways so we wrapped up the trip together with a great meal at Ristorante Lago Pianozes di alberti massimo (otherwise known as Pond Restaurant, since the dining area overlooks a small pond in the woods). It has been interesting traveling in Northern Italy, there is bigger focus on milk and fresh cheeses compared to the “olive oil Italy” in Rome and Florence where we have been in the past, and it seems to have a stronger influence from German food. With the addition of lactaid the meal was amazing!