South Tyrol

Some people say South Tyrol is “Italy’s best-kept secret”. After many times we visit Italy, this time is certainly different. The scenery is super stunning, the food is great as always, even the mountain food has  Italian standard, the outdoor adventures are countless, the landscape with vertical walls, sheer cliffs and a high density of narrow, deep and long valleys,the Dolomites is a big wow!

Hikes and mountains

The hikes in south Tyrol I would say are easy, not because the route itself, it is along the way you can easily find what you need, for instance hotels, restaurant, etc. That makes your hikes way more luxury. But it doesn’t mean that the beauty of the scenery will be compromised. Here in south tyrol, you find day trails and multi days long hikes as well, all you need is put on your hiking shoes and start walking.

Val di Funes St. Johann church

It is a famous photograph spot, and it definitely worth a visit. We waited for a long time in the late afternoon hoping for a magic blue hour, but it didn’t happen the way Gunther wanted. Yup, next time.

Tre Cime di Lavaredo

This is the best place to hike. There are so many different hiking routes, you just can’t finish them all. We did the classic circle, we saw the three peaks, many beautiful lakes, cute huts, this is the dolomites we expected. And don’t miss in the end of the trail, there are small lakes where you can take nice reflection photos.

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Seceda

Another hotspot in South Tyrol, we took the Seceda Cable Car from St. Ulrich to the top. We had luck to encounter the peaks looming in the clouds, super special and everywhere is just so pretty.  We didn’t do too much research about the hike routes here, just followed the signs, and it worked very well. Just be aware of the last cable car goes back if you don’t plan to sleep in any mountain huts.

After the morning fog we got this amazing view of the area. Sitting on the ridge side, relaxing and making us ready for a long hike.

After your long hike, you can enjoy ice cold beer and food on the terrace. That was quite chillax as well.

Piramidi di terra di Longomoso

This is a hidden treasure that we visited. If you google “what to see in the Dolomites”, it barely appears in your results. We found it when we saw the sign along the road. We were curious about this place and just went for it. It is a good spot to visit, good walk in the forest, very nice valley to see and then this rare kind off Pyramids

Lakes with magical water

In some other countries, like Peru or China were we traveled before, you have to hike really long distance and sometimes you have to face high altitude sickness, to see some turquoise blue water. Here in South Tyrol, a super stunning lake is just next to the highway. How cool is that！

Lago di Landro

This lake with a very beautiful background view, you find on the way to Tre Cime di Lavaredo. We were fully alone in the morning when we past this lake. We stopped the car on the side of the road and just walked around it in full silence.

Lago di Braies

It is also called Lake Prags, it is abslutly the most famous lake in South tyrol, famous means there is no off-hours. Although we woke up very early, it was full of visitors already. I think the only way to avoid crowds is to stay close by. We had a fogy morning, after a while, the mountain appeared with reflection in different shapes of turquoise water, that was amazing.

Lago di Carezza

To take this photo Gunther went to the edge of the lake.. A no entry zone because its a steep decent to it. Sitting on his ass to go down, he forgot that there was a phone in his back pocket. You can image the result… not good for the phone.

A pearl: alpe di siusi

If I can only name one place to represent the fascinating dolomites, it must be alpe di siusi. In this largest high-altitude plateau of Europe, you can enjoy the blooming flowers in spring, countless hikes in summer, colorful forest in autumn, and skiing in winter. There is so much to offer here, and every corner is a photography spot.

It is impossible to see all the beauties just in one short period of time, our suggestion is base in one or two locations, and make a nice plan but not tied to a schedule. The public transportation is sometimes free for visitors, ask more details at your accommodation, we used buses and trains in our resting days to visit many cute village’s nearby, it was nice we didn’t have to drive on a mountain road by ourselves.