Val di Fassa Hut-to-Hut Walking Holiday

Travel to the Dolomites. Make your own way to the Val di Fassa by public transport, hire car, or optional private transfer direct to your first hotel.
Accommodation: 3* Hotel, Val di Fassa (B&B)

10km, Walking Time – 5hrs, Ascent 790m, Descent 680m
The day begins with a transfer from your hotel to the impressive San Pellegrino Pass, the starting point of your trek. Today you will skirt the southern slopes of the wildlife-rich Monzoni, where perhaps you will see more ibex than people. The ibex seem at peace with hikers, and some will pose for the camera unperturbed. The descent to your overnight accommodation in the Contrin valley is punctuated by an unforgettable view of the Sassolungo Group, your destination on Day 4.
Accommodation: Rifugio Contrin (half-board)

18km, Walking Time – 7hrs, Ascent 1190m, Descent 1180m
Today’s itinerary comprises a few saddles and mountain passes before finishing up at Lake Fedaia at the foot of Marmolada, Queen of the Dolomites, highest of all Dolomite peaks and our only glacier. By-passing the untrekkable sections of Marmolada, you descend into the grassy hollow of the Ciampac, a natural amphitheatre of rare beauty with sensational views over meadows teeming with alpine flora to the cathedral-like Sella. The landscape changes abruptly during the latter stages of the day, as you ascend on a long and scenic trail to the Fedaia Pass. Pilgrims have used this trail for centuries to access the Val di Fassa from the south.
Accommodation: Rifugio Fedaia (half-board)

12km, Walking Time – 6hrs, Ascent 1250m, Descent 740m
Today, the colossal Sella mountain group is your glorious destination. It was heaved up 50 million years ago from a prehistoric ocean and remains the perfect shape of a coral island. The panoramic trail toward the Sella Group is an old smuggler’s route known as the Viel del Pan, translating as the Bread Path. It is also called the Merchant’s Route, as it was used by tradesmen moving between the Val di Fassa and Cortina many years ago. This airy trail is a panoramic joy, providing unrivalled vistas of Marmolada’s brilliant-white glacier opposite and the tranquil azure waters of Lake Fedaia below. As you traverse a ridge at the dramatic Pordoi Pass, Monte Sella looms large in front of you with its 1000m sheer flanks and its steep gorges reaching up to a vast summit plateau. Monte Sella is famous for the unique lunar landscape and rugged plateau that radiates from its highest point at 3152m. For a place that seems lifeless and otherworldly, it makes you want to celebrate the natural wonder of this world.
Accommodation: Rifugio Kostner (half-board)

12km, Walking Time – 7 hours, Ascent 900m,  Descent 1220m
Today presents a rewarding challenge. If weather conditions are fair, you are destined for Monte Sella’s summit, Piz Boe at 3152m. Get up early if you can, as Rifugio Kostner enjoys a unique location that faces the rising sun to the east, where spectacular neighbouring 3000m peaks comprise a startling scene. Your ascent to Piz Boe is characterised by an extraordinary lunar landscape on a lifeless plateau that undulates between 2500m and 2900m. It is all quite similar to the images we see from other planets. The descent from Sella is through a beautiful, narrow gorge with 1000m vertical walls. Your hike ends at the foot of the Sassolungo group, where the sunset might absorb you more than anything else you have seen during the day.
Accommodation: Rifugio Friderich August/Des Alpes/Valentini (half-board)

16km, Walking Time – 7 hours, Ascent 930m, Descent 1290m
The Antermoia Group is a vast lofty region with barely any vegetation, featuring a high density of chaotically scattered peaks separated by just a few passable gorges. The trails of Antermoia are remote and little-travelled. There are no roads or lift infrastructure in the vicinity and it is a genuine escape from civilisation. Indeed, interspersed mountain huts are the only sign of human intervention. Today’s trail ascends through the bottom of a glacier-polished gorge to Lake Antermoia at 2495m. Cold and atmospheric, with yellowish cliffs towering 400m above the still waters, this will be one of the most spellbinding moments of your week.
Accommodation: Rifugio Antermoia (half board)

13km, Walking Time – 6 hours, Ascent 830m Descent 1340m
Today, you leave the wild and remote gorges of Antermoia and head for the Rosengarten, another Dolomites superstar that’s pre-historic location under the ocean makes it a fossil-rich paradise for geologists. In effect, it is a perfectly-formed coral reef, spared of any major destruction over 230 million years, stretching southwards over 10kms. Here you will see one of the region’s signature landmarks: the celebrated Torri di Vajolet (Vajolet Towers), a monumental rock with a pinnacle split into several fragments to resemble the towers of a fairytale castle. The trail runs underneath these towers and ascends to the opposite slope, where the view of Vajolet is even more mesmerising. Another key highlight of today’s walk is the panoramic ‘Shepherd’s Trail,’ which traverses a ridge to reveal a magisterial panorama of the Rosengarten’s mountaintops with scree slopes descending to the valley. It is a fitting end to a week overdosing on remarkable scenery, but all good things come to an end, and it is time to descend to your hotel in the Val di Fassa.
Accommodation: 3* Hotel, Val di Fassa (B&B basis)

Make your own way back to Verona, Venice Marco Polo or Treviso Airports by public transport, hire car or optional private transfer. If you book a transfer be prepared for an early start. Depending on your airport, it is a 2½ – 3hr transfer, so if your flight is at 11am, we’ll aim to have you collected between 6-6.30am prompt.