Dolomites hut to hut hiking should be high on your Dolomites bucket list! Whether you’re hiking, doing a via ferrata or skiing, the Dolomites mountain hut culture is ready to welcome you.
The concept of alpine hut was born in the second half of the nineteenth century: mountaineers needed shelter where to spend the night before climbing to the top. Times were definitely different, there were no roads that reached high altitudes and just to reach the base of a mountain required many hours of walking, in some cases more than a day.
It was therefore necessary to be able to count on facilities, even if very basic, that could offer shelter for the night. At the bottom of the valley there were rustic inns, but higher up there was nothing. Therefore, one of the first objectives of CAI (Italian Alpine Club), after its foundation in 1864, was to provide for these shelters.
Nowadays, the Dolomites have a wide mountain hut heritage that supports hikers and mountaineers in their adventures and endeavors, each of them with its peculiarities. For our Dolomites hut to hut hiking tours, we have chosen our 5 favorites ones.
1# Dolomites hut to hut hiking > Rifugio Sennes
The Rifugio Sennes was built by the Palfrader Corjel family between 1937 and 1939. It overlooks the peaks of Col de Lasta at 2,126 meters above sea level.
Where? The Dolomites of Braies are a mountain group located between the province of Bolzano and the province of Belluno, within the amazing Natural Park Fanes - Sennes and Braies.
2# Dolomites hut to hut hiking > Rifugio Fodara Vedla
Rifugio Fodara Vedla stands on the Sennes plateau surrounded by green pastures in the heart of the Fanes – Senes – Braies Natural Park. It was originally built by a baker from San Vigilio di Marebbe who converted the officers’ hut of an Austro-Hungarian encampment into a mountain inn. Here you will find the Mutschlechner family’s warm hospitality.
Where? The Plan de Corones is a mountain in the Southeastern Dolomites between the Puster Valley and the Marebbe Valley in South Tyrol, 3 kilometers south of Bruneck.
3# Dolomites hut to hut hiking > Rifugio Fanes
Rifugio Fanes lies on Fanes Piccolo alpine pasture, just beneath the Limo Pass (2,172 meters above sea leve) along the old military road that reaches Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The hut was built in 1928 and expanded in 1938. After the Second World War, the owner Alfred bought a jeep from the Americans and a three-wheeled tracked vehicle from the German army, thus easing the supplies for the refuge. He later equipped the shelter with an electric power plant and now the hut boasts the first system of solar power! It is one of the best-equipped Dolomites huts and it displays old mountaineering equipment, newspaper articles, war remnants that witness the long history of this remote place.
Where? The Fanes Group is located east of Val Badia and it extends to the Braies Dolomites to its northeast.
Related trips: Rifugio Sennes and Rifugio Fanes are two legs of the hiking journey to Alta Via 1 in the Dolomites
You may also like: Alta Via 1 - Dolomites Hiking in the heart of UNESCO heritage
4# Dolomites hut to hut hiking > Rifugio Lagazuoi
It is located on the summit of Mount Lagazuoi above the Falzarego Pass, halfway between Cortina d'Ampezzo and Val Badia, along the Alta Via delle Dolomiti n. 1 and 9, between the Natural Parks of Fanes and Sennes and the Ampezzo Dolomites.
It is the highest altitude hut in the area and the terrace is famous for its incredible view of Dolomite peaks and it is an excellent base for visiting galleries, trenches and restored positions of the open-air Great War museum. From here you can reach the wonderful ski resorts of Cortina and Val Badia and along the famous Armentarola, the longest and most spectacular slope in the Dolomites.
Where? Lagazuoi is a mountain part of the Fanis Group, within the Eastern Dolomites chain, west of Cortina d'Ampezzo and northeast of Livinallongo del Col di Lana.
5# Dolomites hut to hut hiking > Jimmy Hütte
Whether in winter or summer, the Jimmy Hut, located at the Gardena Pass, is a stop worth putting on your schedule while hiking in Val Badia and the Dolomites of Val Gardena (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) or skiing or biking the Sellaronda circuit. On the sunny terrace, the breathtaking curtain of mountains of the Sella Group, Sassolungo and Cir massif will hold you spellbound.
Where? The Gardena Pass is an Alpine pass in the Dolomites, located at 2,121 m above sea level between the Gardena and Badia valleys, between the Sella group to the south and the Cir group to the north, connecting Selva di Val Gardena with Corvara in Badia.