This is part two of a four part series detailing what we did at each of the four locations that we selected to operate out of during our 16 days in the Dolomites.
Our four bases:
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO
SAN VIGILIO DI MAREBBE
SAN MARTINO DI CASTROZZA
SANTA CRISTINA / VAL GARDENA
ChatGPT gave us a list of suggestions that fit our likes which focused on excellent scenery and moderate day hikes. From that list, we chose to do the two longest hikes. And on the third day we did a hike that I saw someone rave about on facebook.
San Vigilio di Marebbe was a relatively short hour and a half from our first base in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Our accommodations were just outside of town on Lago della Creta making it an even shorter drive to Pederü Rifigio where we parked for our first hike.
There was a bus system in Marebbe that would take you into the park, saving you a parking fee. For the sake of convenience we chose to pay the €13 to drive ourselves into the park and park at the rifugio.
The hike that we did here was the “Pederü → Munt de Sennes → Lago Sennes → Rifugio Fodara Vedla” hike on AllTrails.
Hike: Pederu – Munt de Sennes – Lago Sennes – Rifugio Fodara
7.3mi Length
2,778ft Elevation gain
The first and last mile of this trail were just unpleasant. In the morning on the way up, it was very crowded and very steep. You’re sharing a gravel road with delivery vehicles, mules, ATVs, eBikes, dirt bikes and many other hikers. Once you get to the point on the trail where it connects to the loop, the situation is much better. The stretch taking you up into the mountains was almost the total opposite of the start. It was still a constant climb, but you were in the forest and it seemed that almost no one hiked that direction. We must have hiked for over an hour before we ever saw a single other person. It was very nice. Part of the hike takes you to Rifugio Fodara Vedla which is on a working farm in a high mountain valley. They had excellent coffee and tasty apple strudel. It was very peaceful there and we enjoyed taking a break near the highest point on the trail. The trail takes you past two more rifugios on the way back to the start. Both were larger and busier than Fodara.
Hike: San Vigilio – Piz de Plaies
View on AllTrails
7.7mi Length
2,106ft Elevation gain
ChatGPT’s second suggestion was a hike called “San Vigilio – Piz de Plaies”. We got creative with this hike and changed it up a bit. The hike starts and ends in town but the higher altitude part of the hike begins at the Piz de Plaies picnic area. It’s kind of a playground with a lot of kid activities. There is a cable car that takes you from just outside of town up to this plateau. We decided to skip the first 1000 feet of climbing and just took the cable car up and started the trail from there.
In the end, I’m very glad that we did because that first (and last) part of the trail is steep and exposed in a way that made me uncomfortable. It cuts across the top of a very steep ski slope. While it wasn’t like walking along a rock cliff, the foot path was narrow and I’m sure that if you lost your footing, you’d end up rolling a long way downhill.
On the other hand, the views from that part of the trail of the town of Marebbe below were absolutely fantastic and kind of made the whole hike worthwhile. The loop near the top takes you to a high point, but the views from there weren’t *that* great. They did have this cool/weird wooden stump… obstacle course? I really don’t know what it was, but I’ve now seen two of them here in northern Italy so they must be a thing. The loop also takes you through a residential mountainside village which is also quite scenic.
Hike: Adolf Munkel Trail
View on AllTrails
6mi Length
1,525ft Elevation gain
On our third and last full day in the area we hiked the Adolf Munkel Trail. This wasn’t a ChatGPT suggestion, but one that I’d seen mentioned on facebook. It was kind of far from our base — about an hour and a half. And it required driving on some of the narrowest mountain roads on our stay in Italy.
Since the drive was kind of long we ended up not arriving until after 9am and the large parking lots were filling fast. We did manage to get a spot which cost us €10 for the day. There is a bathroom there, too, which was also nice.
The first part of the trail takes you up a gravel road in the forest before you branch off to get into the foot only part of the trail. Views of the surrounding mountains are great. Once you reach the high point of the trail there is a Rifiguo just a bit farther down. We ended up eating the food that we brought with us that day and just sat on a bench to do so. After lunch we decided to turn around and do the first half of the trail backwards. So, we didn’t actually see the second half of the trial. We got to see the first part again with different lighting.
Activity: Owl Park San Vigilio (Owl Sanctuary)
Another item that wasn’t from ChatGPT was visiting “Owl Park San Vigilio.” We learned about this one from the collection of brochures at our hotel. It was nearby so we decided to go and check it out. The park breeds captive birds and rehabilitates wild birds that are injured. It was really awesome to see so many owl species. Unfortunately, the cages don’t really lend themselves to photography since the cages have robust mesh to keep the sharp talons and beaks away from curious tourists, but it was cool to visit nonetheless. We happened to visit during feeding time for some of the birds and… that was a new experience. I knew that owls were carnivores but I’d never really thought about what it would look like to watch an owl eat a baby chicken. Let’s just say that they can swallow the head in one gulp. A visit cost €15 per person.
After checking out of our hotel the next day we had plenty of time before checking in at our next location so we decided to make two stops. The first was to visit a museum.
Museum Ladin
https://museumladin.it/en/
For me, the main draw for the museum was that it was inside of an old castle. Parts of the building are over 800 years old! I feel a little guilty that we didn’t carve out more time to really delve into the museum because it presents a detailed account of the history of the people native to the region. And apparently their language (Ladin) is still spoken by some residents today!
Biglietteria Porta Vescovo gondola
Our second stop on the way to base #3 was to have lunch. Since we had our prepaid passes for the cable car system we went up to Rifugio Luigi Gorza which is at the top of the fantastic Biglietteria Porta Vescovo gondola. Views from the restaurant are great. Excellent views of the Marmolada Glacier can be had from the mountain ridge and also of the surrounding mountains. I felt a small tinge of guilt since most others up there had hiked in, and we just rode up for a meal. But I’m glad we did. We had only seen Marmolada Glacier glacier from a farther distance before this, and we didn’t plan on coming back to the area.
I guess I should also add that this stop was a ChatGPT suggestion. I told it where we were and where we were going and asked for a suggestion for a restaurant with a view that was along our route. This was its second suggestion and the one that seemed to fit into our drive the best.
Where we stayed in Marebbe was peaceful, but just like in d’Ampezzo we were located in a spot where you couldn’t casually walk to additional dining options. That said, the restaurant at our hotel was excellent, so I felt little desire to go anywhere else. We paid for half board, meaning that breakfast and dinner were already included in the price.
