Passo Falzarego – Lagazuoi Trail near Cortina d’Ampezzo – Hiking the Alps

Reaching the starting point

The trail starts at the Falzarego pass which is located 19 kilometers from the town of Cortina d’Ampezzo. You can leave your car free of charge on one of the many parking lots there. We parked our car on the big parking lot at the lower cable car station (coordinates 46.519934, 12.008356). The above attached GPS track starts exactly at this parking lot.

If you are arriving from the west (e.g. western Italy, western Austria etc.) you should drive along the Italian A22 highway (Verona-Trento-Bolzano) until you reach the Bressanone – Val Pusteria exit. Take this exit and proceed on road SS49 towards Brunico. In the town of San Lorenzo di Sebato turn right towards Badia and the road will take you through the towns of Montana, Longega and La Villa Stern to the Falzarego pass. Park your car on the parking lot at the cable car station.

If you are coming from the east (e.g. Slovenia, eastern Italy etc.) drive along the Italian A27 highway towards Belluno and then on road SS51 towards Pieve di Cadore. Just before the town of Pieve di Cadore turn left towards Cortina d’Ampezzo. Go through Cortina d’Ampezzo and keep left. Soon the road will start ascending towards the Falzarego pass. There you can park your car at the cable car station.

You can also reach the Falzarego pass by bus from Cortina d’Ampezzo. Bus number 30 seems to drive from Cortina d’Ampezzo to Falzarego pass quite regularly (every 1.5 hour or so).

Trail

There are many direction signs along the trail as well as hikers going up and down the mountain and therefore you shouldn’t have any problems navigating your way to the top. If you want to take the regular path to the top like us, just follow the direction signs for Monte Lagazuoi. There is also another path, called Galleria, which takes you to the top through the tunnels from the First World War. However, we decided to take the regular path to enjoy the nature and fresh air. For easier navigation you can also download our GPS track above for free and use it with your smartphone or handheld GPS device.

At the parking lot next to the cable car station, you should find the direction sign for Monte Lagazuoi (north of the parking lot) and start hiking on the wide dirt track towards north-east. The path ascends rapidly towards north-east and eventually becomes narrower. After ascending for approximately 1.7 kilometers you will reach a saddle where many paths cross. Here you should go left towards Rifugio Lagazuoi which you will see towards west. The path becomes less steep and soon it brings you to the cliff under the Rifugio Lagazuoi. Then the path ascends rapidly over the rocky terrain to the Rifugio Lagazuoi. This is the steepest part of the trail. On this stretch you will also see many bunkers from the First World War. At Rifugio Lagazuoi you should go in the direction of north-west and after hiking for around 10 minutes you will reach the top. From the top you will see many beautiful peaks as well as the Falzarego pass beneath. We also recommend stopping in the Rifugio Lagazuoi mountain hut where you can buy warm food, delicious cakes and good Italian coffee. Rifugio Lagazuoi has a big terrace with a great view and therefore it’s indeed worth to spend some money on food and eat it while enjoying the view on the amazing peaks of Dolomites. We spent more than an hour there and we certainly don’t regret it.

Getting back to the starting point

While we were enjoying the last bites of cake at Rifugio Lagazuoi we heard thunder and thus we concluded that we need to get back down as soon as possible – thunderstorms are no joke in the Alps. Therefore, we took the cable car down. Going down with the cable car was a great experience since the cable car is super-fast. It takes you from 2700 meters to 2100 meters in only 3 minutes and some people in the cable car looked very scared indeed – my significant other felt like passing out. The price for a single ride is around 12 € ($ 14).

Osprey Talon 22 Daypack

The Osprey Talon 22 daypack is my pack of choice for day hikes because it is lightweight (it weighs merely 750 grams) and very functional. With the volume of 22 liters it offers just enough space for summer day hikes. I really like the well-placed pockets and the Stow-On-The-Go trekking pole attachment system which allows you to easily attach trekking poles so that they don’t get in the way while you are climbing or ascending technically difficult stretches. I’ve been using the Osprey Talon 22 daypack for more than a year now and I literally can’t say a single bad thing about it. You can read the full review here.

• Note: Osprey has since released an updated version of the Talon 22 and the link points to the new version.

Osprey Talon 22L Men's Hiking Backpack with Hipbelt, Ceramic Blue, L/XL

Buy from Amazon

Also available at:

REI | Osprey