The Dolomites: When to Plan, How to Plan, and What We Actually Did

The longer version is that how you plan this trip depends entirely on when you start planning it, and both routes work, just very differently.

Here's everything I wish someone had told me before we went, split into "plan ahead" and "plan late," because the honest answer is most people fall into one of these two camps and there's no shame in either.

First: When Should You Actually Plan?

Rifugios, or mountain huts, in the Dolomites, especially along multi-day routes like Alta Via 1, open bookings in January or February for the following summer, sometimes as early as September or October the year before. If you know you want a specific hut-to-hut route with specific huts, that's your window. Miss it, and you're not locked out of the Dolomites, you just end up planning the way we did.

There's no single booking platform for rifugios, by the way. Each hut runs its own reservations, some by website form, some only by phone or email. So whichever way you plan, you'll be doing some manual work either way.

If You're Planning Ahead

Pick your route by difficulty first, not by photos

Dolomites routes generally fall into three bands:

• Easy/moderate day hikes, with well-marked trails, some elevation, and no exposure. Think Lago di Sorapis via trail 215 or the Lago di Braies loop.
• Moderate multi-day hut-to-hut routes, where Alta Via 1 lives for most of its length. Expect long days, real elevation gain, and no technical climbing required.
• Via ferrata or exposed sections, with fixed cables, ladders, or narrow exposed ledges. Alta Via 2 has more of this than Alta Via 1, and you want proper gear and, ideally, experience before attempting these.

Alta Via 1 itself is typically done in 8-11 days over roughly 120 km, but it's flexible. You can do 2-3 day chunks and exit at various points if you don't have the full time.

How to Actually Book the Huts

• Each rifugio is booked individually, with no centralized system.
• Many hut websites are Italian-only or don't have a live booking calendar. Don't be put off by this. Call them. It's completely normal, and often faster than emailing.
• Popular huts on Alta Via 1 and Alta Via 2 book out within weeks of reservations opening, especially private rooms. Dorm beds tend to have a bit more flexibility.
• Mark your huts on your route map before you start calling, and know your Plan B hut for each night in case your first choice is full.

If this all sounds like a lot of admin: it is, and that's exactly why late planning tends to look different.

If You're Planning Late: Here's What We Actually Did

This is the version most people don't write about, because it's messier. But it's real, and it still gets you an incredible trip.

Start in Cortina for a night

Accommodation in Cortina d'Ampezzo is genuinely not hard to find, even last minute, unlike the huts. We only stayed one night here, but that one night gave us easy access to one of the best day hikes in the Dolomites without needing to have booked anything six months ago.

And while you're there, you should absolutely do Lago di Sorapis. This is the hike, if you only do one. Trail 215 starts at Passo Tre Croci, about 15-20 minutes from Cortina by car or a short Dolomiti Bus ride, and takes roughly 2 hours each way to reach the lake, a genuinely surreal, milky turquoise color you won't quite believe until you see it.

It's rated moderate: manageable for anyone with decent fitness and proper shoes, but with narrow, exposed sections and some cable-assisted scrambling near the end, so it's not a flat stroll. It gets busy, and starting early, before 9am if you can, makes a real difference.

A Bonus If Your Timing Lines Up

We happened to be in Cortina during the Coppa d'Oro delle Dolomiti, a historic car rally that's been run out of Cortina since 1947. It's now a regularity race, not a speed race, for classic and vintage cars, typically held in mid-July.

Watching beautifully restored cars from the 1920s through the 1970s wind up and down the same mountain passes we'd been hiking around was a genuinely unexpected highlight. If your dates happen to overlap with it, it's worth building in time to watch a stage pass through or catch the cars parked up in town.

Huts around Lago di Braies exist too, but if you're planning last-minute, don't count on getting one. That area books out fast even compared to other parts of the Dolomites.

Transport: The Car Question

I'm not a car person by default when I travel. But the Dolomites is one of the few places where I'd tell you: get a car if you can.

There are buses that get you to most trailheads. The Dolomiti Bus network connects Cortina to spots like Passo Tre Croci reasonably well in summer. But the schedules are limited, especially later in the day, and if your hike runs even a bit long, you can miss the last bus back.

My partner found this out the hard way. He did a solo hike without a car, ran over on time, missed the last bus, and ended up waiting a long while before he could get a lift back. That's the risk with buses here: they're workable, but they're not forgiving.

The Car Becomes Unnecessary Once You're Hut-to-Hut Hiking

Once you start hiking hut to hut, the car isn't doing anything for you anymore, because you're not going back to it each night. The catch, if you're planning late, is that it's genuinely hard to find huts along a hut-to-hut route on short notice. So what we did instead:

• Day 1: Hiked Lago di Sorapis, then drove to and stayed at Rifugio Col Gallina, near Passo Falzarego. This hut is actually car-accessible, unusual for a rifugio, which made it a perfect low-stress first night. It also sits right in the Lagazuoi / Cinque Torri area, home to some of the most striking WWI open-air sites in the Dolomites.
• Day 2: Parked the car at the base of our next hike, hiked in, and reached our hut on foot rather than by car.

This "car for logistics, feet for the actual trail" split is really the workaround for late planning. You use the car to buy yourself flexibility on where you sleep, then let it go once you're properly into the hiking.

One Correction from My Research

Rifugio Gardenacia, which I'd recommend booking if you get the chance, is a stunning, serene spot in the Puez-Odle Nature Park with incredible views over the Badia Valley. It actually sits on the Alta Via 2 route, not Alta Via 1. Easy mix-up since both trails cross similar territory. Worth knowing so you don't go looking for it on the wrong stage map.

If You're Planning Ahead Instead

Same principle as above, just with more lead time: pick your routes and mark the huts along the way before you book anything else. Most rifugios take bookings by phone, so don't hesitate to call rather than waiting on a web form that may not even work.