I’ve been wanting to visit this part of the world for sometime, to see and hike amongst the amazing mountains. But I really didn’t know much about the area. So like most folks these days, I turned to Chat GPT.
AI is a polarizing topic at this time but the genie is out of the bottle now and I’m afraid there’s no turning back. I told the LLM (large language model) that I wanted to spend a couple of weeks in the area and would have a car. It knows a bit about me/us, our style of travel and our passion for photography.
I took its suggestions and ran with them. We decided to spend our time in four different bases, spending four days in each. The goal was to have time to recover, and to have multiple opportunities to see the classic sights if weather wasn’t on our side.
Chat GPT gave some suggestions for which places would make good base locations and we decided which ones to use. I also decided which order to do them in. There was some consideration given to driving distances, but my main goal was to end with the one that left us with the shortest drive to the airport.
Our vacation started in Munich, because it was an easy airport to fly to and only about a five hour drive to the Dolomites. We picked up our rental car, a black Škoda Fabia (a small Czechoslovakian hatchback) which was just the right size. Not too big, and not too small.
Our four bases:
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO
SAN VIGILIO DI MAREBBE
SAN MARTINO DI CASTROZZA
SANTA CRISTINA / VAL GARDENA
We chose our base locations and booked our hotels almost a year ago, because that’s how we roll. But what exactly to do at each location was not something we really dug into until about a month before arriving. We also used ChatGPT extensively with that detailed planning.
After many rounds of back and forth and focused discussions centered on each base we had a big spread sheet with view points, trails, cable car stations and recommended times to go. We also learned about what needed to be booked ahead of time.
The way we discussed our plans with ChatGPT eventually got us to a point where I asked it to prioritize the sights and activities at each of the locations. We then had a nice table with a prioritized list of activities that we could choose from during each stay based on weather and how we were feeling. This has worked out wonderfully. But it did take a lot of prompting and additional research to confirm that its suggestions were coherent.
AllTrails – App
I’m a paid subscriber to AllTrails. I find that their mobile app is invaluable for hiking all around the world. Their trail maps can be downloaded so that it works when you don’t have data. And it also lets you see other trails around you so that you’re less likely to be confused by intersecting trails. It shows you trail distance and how much altitude you’ll ascend on a trail. But I especially appreciate the graph that it shows to give you a sense for how a trail’s climbs are situated. Is it one long climb and then a similar descent? Does it go up and down repeatedly during the hike. It also gives you a sense for how steep.
alltrails.com
First Base: Cortina d’Ampezzo
The most important thing we learned from ChatGPT was that Tre Cime and the Rifugio Auronzo parking area required reservations to drive on the toll road to access. Thankfully we learned that early enough to acquire time slots that would work. Everything else (so far at least) to be accessible if you show up before 9 am. After that, parking lots and trails can get busy.
Here’s what we did:
Hike: Cadini di Misurina Viewpoint
AllTrails: Cadini di Misurina Panoramic Viewpoint via Auronzo Hut
Relatively short hike to a super popular selfie spot. The views are incredible. The hike is short but it starts off very steep. It also starts at 2300m (7500ft) so if you’re a low land dweller like me, you’ll get winded fast.
Hike: Tre Cime di Lavaredo
AllTrails: Tre Cime di Lavaredo – Laghi dei Piani
This is a much longer trail which makes a loop around Tre Cime. You gain about 2000 feet of elevation but it’s not all up and then all down. There are a couple of particularly relentless sections where you climb down into a valley and then back up again on the other side. There are three Rifuigos during the hike, not including the one at the parking area. They are well spaced which is nice for grabbing a coffee a beer or using the restroom. Such a different experience than long hikes in the US.
Hike: Cinque Torri
AllTrails: Cinque Torri via Baita Bai de Dones
This hike had amazing scenery. The version of the trail that we did started and ended at the Baita Bai de Dones cable car station. The loop is incredibly scenic. Parts are steep and there are some exposed areas that you need to be especially careful on but the variety of views and terrains on the trail were great making this one one of my favorites. There are two rifugios on the trek. The lower one Rifugio 5 Torri is what you’ll encounter first. It’s far more chill than Rifugio Scoiattoli, which is higher up and at the end of the cable car line. So it’s much more busy. The area around Rifugio Scoiattoli is spectacular. We ate lunch in the grass surrounded by the amazing scenery.
Cable Car: Tofana – Freccia nel Cielo
This cable car was not one that was on our list and I feel like this, so far, has been the biggest miss with ChatGPT. It had suggested a different cable car and viewpoint, one that wasn’t opened for the season yet.
We saw Tofana from our hotel and I had thought that this was Faloria Cable Car, the one that the AI had suggested. But when we saw the cars in operation we realized that it was a different one and we had to check it out.
Google Maps didn’t do such a good job of getting us to the cable car station. It tried to route us to the back of the building, which is opposite of where the parking lot is. The streets in the city are tight and winding so it took some head scratching to figure it out.
From the station we took 3 different cars to get to the top which is at 3,244m (10,643f). We did a little walking around and took in the amazing views before going down a stop and having fantastic pizza at the Ristorante Pizzeria Capanna Ra Valles which is at 2475m
Cable Car: Monte Lagazuoi Piccolo
This was another that was not on our radar. From the Cinque Torri trail we saw that there was another cable car in operation that seemed to go almost vertically up to a peak across from the Baita Bai de Dones cable car station where we’d started our Cinque Torri. After a quick look at Google Maps we found that this was Monte Lagazuoi Piccolo cable car which not only takes you up to 2700 meters for epic views, but also has an open air museum and a great restaurant. I kind of wish that we would have spent more time in this area. We actually went there on our travel day between hotels to kill time since our hotels were only an hour and a half a part. Either way I’m very glad that we went.
Hike: Toblacher See, Lago di Dobbiaco
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/italy/south-tyrol/dobbiaco-lago-di-dobbiaco
One afternoon we wanted an easy hike and Chrissy found this one. It’s mostly flat and part of it went around a beautiful lake. The area had a hotel and a couple of restaurants nearby.
Viewpoint: Dürrensee Lago di Landro
A beautiful turquoise lake area that was about 20 minutes from our hotel. We saw it on the way in and went back one morning just to see early light and take in the scenery. We saw some people swimming later in the day there, but it always seemed like it would be way too cold.
