Pasta and Peaks: Hut-to-Hut on the Alta Via 1
TRIP DETAILS:
- Total distance: 46.4 miles
- Total elevation gain: 16,283 feet
- Route Type: Point-to-Point on well signed and maintained trails
- Wilderness Area: Italian Dolomites
- Season: June to end of September (early season you may run into snow, huts close at the end of Sep)
- Permits: Reservations recommended to stay in the huts
Day 1: Agordo to Rifugio Vazzoler (12.1 miles, 6,027 ft)
Day 2: Rifugio Vazzoler to Rifugio Staulanza (10.3 miles, 3,038 ft)
Day 3: Rifugio Staulanza to Rifugio Averau (10.2 miles, 3,763 ft)
Day 4: Rifugio Averau to Rifugio Lagazuoi (7.2 miles, 3,084 ft)
Day 5: Rifugio Lagazuoi to Cortina d’Ampezzo (6.7 miles, 371 ft)
September 16-20, 2025
The true allure of the Italian Dolomites lies in the food. I would not say that I love all mountains equally, and the Dolomites are indeed especially dramatic, but getting to reload with pasta and tiramisu is beyond luxurious. I got a small taste for the range in 2019, so my expectations going into this trip were quite high, and unsurprisingly, the Big D delivered.
For this trip, I chose to do a section of the Alta Via 1, primarily because it is the least technical of the Alta Vias (no via ferrata). This was maybe a popular train of thought, because the AV1 was absolutely rife with Americans (bah!). If you want a more authentically European experience, perhaps the presence of more exposure and the occasional via ferrata act as a good filter?
The AV1 is commonly hiked from north-to-south for no apparent reason, other than the guidebooks typically present the logistics in this order. We ended up doing the southern half of the route from south-to-north instead, simply based on the booking availability at Rifugio Lagazuoi (highly sought after). I flew into Venice, but my friends flew into Treviso nearby. From either of those airports, we took buses or trains or even more fun, a combination of the two, to arrive in Belluno, which is a large enough town to find nice lodging, eat good food, and get any last minute supplies we needed before our trek.
Day 1: Agordo to Rifugio Vazzoler (12.1 miles, 6,027 ft)
An unexpectedly enormous first day northbound on the Alta Via 1 with six thousand feet of climbing. We took the first bus of the morning from Belluno to Agordo, and had initially planned to take a taxi from Agordo to Passo Duran for an easy start. However, if you expect to need a taxi in the Dolomites, be sure to book it well ahead of time, because none that we contacted were available. A local recommended we might as well just start our trek from Agordo, have lunch at Rifugio Carestiato, and from there continue on to Rifugio Vazzoler. This route absolutely kicked our asses. It did lead us through the forest up to some beautiful views, lunch at Rifugio Carestiato (where we had some rushed gnocchi with smoked Gouda for lunch) was incredible, and who doesn’t love some casual suffering? We arrived at Rifugio Vazzoler with 5 minutes to spare (they cancel your reservation if you don’t show up by 6pm) and just before the sky opened up for a downpour.
The showers at Vazzoler have limited privacy, but they were hot (before dinner at least, not so much after). I forgot a towel, so I drip dried before wiping myself down with my sweaty shirt (cool). Dinner was the least impressive of the huts we stayed at, but I was still pretty happy about a large plate of aglio e olio pasta, followed by burger patty (weird?), and ending with tiramisu (chef’s kiss).
I slept in a 4-bed dorm on the top bunk directly under a skylight window, which was great, because I had fresh air to dilute the stink of my roommates AND stars to look at when one of said stinky roommates woke me up throughout the night with their snores. I lost my good ear plugs sometime before the trek and had to make do with significantly less sound proofing provided by sad foam ear plugs.
Day 2: Rifugio Vazzoler to Rifugio Staulanza (10.3 miles, 3,038 ft)
Somehow, subpar sleep doesn’t seem to matter (that much) in the mountains. After a pretty hectic breakfast, we had another beautiful and significantly less rushed day climbing up and over a pass to Rifugio Coldai, where I had a very jiggly lunch (polenta & shrooms). The patio here is perched on a cliff with a big view of the valley below.
After lunch we descended and descended and descended and basically undid all the climbing we had done that morning. Our destination, Rifugio Staulanza, turned out to be not-so-ideally situated on the highway. This did involve a rather unpleasant last half mile or so of walking on paths directly adjacent to the highway or on the asphalt itself. On the plus side, I was able to get a private room (with a small twin bed), the showers ran infinitely, and it was equipped with a full spa (very nice after 2 big days). If I were to plan this route again, I would probably choose a different hut despite the nicer amenities – the whole point of hut to hut is the inaccessibility of it all, isn’t it?
Day 3: Rifugio Staulanza to Rifugio Averau (10.2 miles, 3,763 ft)
After meeting and being completely enamored by the hut dog Lola, we began our hike climbing up through a slightly muddy forest trail. Eventually, we exited the trees to a great barren alluvial fan moonscape in the shadows of some nice big gray spires. All the mountains in the Dolomites are so sheer, like someone took a big old cleaver to them.
We rounded a pass into a green expanse with a large grassy half pipe off in the distance. The trail wound along the spires in a path through the rock debris. The views were, as usual, spacious and dramatic. We took a break in a big rock garden to fuel up on snacks since there were no huts in the lunch-zone, filtered water from a burbling brook, and continued the climb.
Within about a mile and a half of our destination, we crossed the highway at Passo Giau, where we stopped to have some espressos and desserts before continuing the climb to Rifugio Averau. This was the first time northbound on the AV1 where I felt truly ALIVE, as in, “Don’t fall off the mountain!” The final ascent to Averau is an exposed scramble which is totally doable if you put your poles away and keep 3 points of contact with the rock. If you hate that, it does look like you could go left and up the road (and maybe the gondola?). Upon arrival the nice bartender poured me a tall beer to dampen the adrenaline from the exposure and I put my things away in a very nice and tidy dormitory on the second floor. The showers here were not time-limited which meant I had plenty of time to wash and brush out my very matted hair.
Averau was easily my favorite refuge – perched at the top of a mountain with 360 views, and the best dinner and breakfast of any of the huts. My dinner began with venison & truffle tagliolini, followed by a big salad and a fillet of trout, and finished with panna cotta.
Day 4: Rifugio Averau to Rifugio Lagazuoi (7.2 miles, 3,084 ft)
Fourth day on the AV1 was one of my favorites. Woke up before the sun rose to sit out on the lovely cliffside hut patio and paint watercolors. I moved around to different seats as the pinks and peaches in the eastern horizon transitioned into fiery oranges on the western peaks. Once the show was over, I was treated to the world’s best hut breakfast, including coffee service, fruit, and a classic European egg-boiling station (turns out 6 minutes is a bit short at elevation).
We did a choose-your-own adventure day, so I embarked on a short descent to Rifugio Scoiatolli to wait for Phil, who had stayed at a different hut down in the valley, while Jimmy and Ari took another more direct route. At the cafe I purchased a delicious Nutella croissant to eat while I sketched the Cinque Torri and watched hoards of tourists unload from the gondola to take selfies in front of the geology on display. The rock towers house a rather unexpected open-air WW1 museum where you can walk through the trenches & infrastructure built into the mountain by the Italian soldiers in 1915. After meeting up with Phil & exploring around the towers, we climbed back up and around, and accidentally found ourselves off trail, BUT in doing so, discovered a random war tunnel that deserved a small explore.
Our descent took us down through a canyon with a rare alpine lake, and finally down to Ristorante da Strobel, where I had another big salad and casunziei – beet ravioli with poppy seed sauce – which I will be thinking about for the rest of my life. The raviolis were good fuel for the upcoming giant ascent to the highest hut on the AV1, Rifugio Lagazuoi. After climbing many very exposed switchbacks during the absolute hottest part of the day, we reached the entrance to the old WW1 tunnels. The tunnels were originally dug during the war by Italian soldiers to surprise the Austrian soldiers who occupied the summit! The experience could best be described as an hour of cold, dark stairmaster. Various reviews suggested you need a helmet, but really the only equipment needed is a headlamp (even the flashlight on your phone will do). Every once in a while there would be a small window or platform to the outside, then back into the mines you go! It seemed like it would never end, but at last we popped out onto this narrow little ledge for an airy walk over to Rifugio Lagazuoi. We were received onto an epic patio complete with tantalizing sauna, and another mind blowing meal (this time spinach spaetzle). The sunset from this hut was also quite an event.
Day 5: Rifugio Lagazuoi to Cortina d’Ampezzo (6.7 miles, 371 ft)
Before I knew it, the last day of our hut to hut was upon us! I honestly could have gone on doing this forever – mornings painting the sunrise, hours frolicking through the mountains, and extravagant three course dinners in the evening. The occasional mountain top sauna. Maybe with a rest day thrown in the mix?
Once again, woke before the sun rose to hike out to the cross at the end of ridge and watch the sky do its thing. Another solid breakfast spread (although admittedly not as good as Averau’s). As there were only 2 buses running to Cortina d’Ampezzo that day, Jimmy & Ari opted to ride the gondola down to the morning bus, while Phil & I who had not gotten enough mountainage decided to hike on a bit further before dropping down to the highway to catch the afternoon bus. After reading some trail reviews about how sketchy Trail #404 was, we took the fork for #412 instead. It was also a bit exposed in some parts, and we encountered the least hikers relative to other days. We wound along the base of Tofana with views of mountain layers that really made me want to pull my paints out. Instead, we made it to Rifugio Dibona too early for lunch, so we continued downhill to have lunch at the restaurant near the bus stop, Baita Resch, which (shocker) turned out to be delicious.
After lunch there was still about an hour and half before the bus would come, so Phil decided he would just jog on down to Cortina from there (we could see it…. in the distance). After 5 days and 16k feet of climbing and probably just as much going down, I was over it and ready to wait for the bus. I took off my shoes and set up shop on some of the recliners the restaurant had placed out on the lawn, and when bus time rolled around, I went and stood on the highway in full sun. I waited and waited and waited, and after ~40 minutes I lost my patience and stuck my thumb out to hitchhike. A nice German rock climbing couple picked me up in a few minutes and told me they had seen a bunch of cranky looking groups standing along the highway – the bus was probably quite late. Anyhow, my saviors dropped me off at my hotel in Cortina d’Ampezzo where my luggage had safely arrived from Belluno, and I had a nice lay down!
Helpful Tips:
- Avoid trying to do public transportation things on Sundays in Italy. I was able to get a TrenItalia bus, but all regional buses take the day off.
- Summer days are infinite but rifugio breakfast and dinner schedules are not. Typically we left breakfast by 8am. Check-in to avoid reservation cancellation at the next hut is usually around 6pm.
- 3B Meteo is the most accurate app for weather forecasting in this region (according to an airbnb host). We found it to be quite spot on.
- Download Dolomiti Bus app for bus schedules and purchasing your regional bus tickets.
- I know you hate to checking a bag but you will regret not having poles. The descents are steeeeep.
- 35L backpack is the sweet spot. 25L is too small (I was feeling cocky and regretted my decisions).
- EAR PLUGS. Get the good ones, not the foam imposters.