Days 2 & 3 Dolomiti
We knew that we were having thunderstorm threats on day two and possibly day three. We woke up to very overcast skies and the rain held out till about 3 PM. There were no thunderstorms.
Our first stop with San Candido. We were so close to the Austrian border. We walked up to the ski resort which is called 3 Zinnen Dolomites. It seems like it is very large from the trail map. We then walked into the central Square and really wanted to go into the Parrocchia di San Michele Arcangelo, but it was closed. The town had some people in it, but for the most part it was not crowded at all.
https://www.italia.it/en/south-tyrol/bolzano/san-candido
Here is what I missed.
https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiesa_di_San_Michele_(San_Candido)
Ski resort info:
We decided to go check out Lago di Misurina. We did not realize that this was one of the lakes that we passed on the way to Braies. Today was a different scene with the weather. There were no restaurants opened anywhere. They did have open bars that had sandwiches and they were far a few between as well. I think we are here very very preseason and it doesn’t start picking up here until July through September.
We did walk over to another ski lift and even found a patch of snow and we not made a snow ball lol.
I was getting hangry and I was now raining. We wanted to check out Tre Cime but the road closed for cars and we didn’t want to hike in the rain.
On the way back to Braies we stopped at a military cemetery from WWI. It was very unique and since it was raining no one was there.
https://www.kriegerfriedhof-nasswand.it
One last stop was Lago di Dobbiaco. I was attracted to the huge swans and the restaurant that was open. Sadly it was only serving pizza which did not look appealing. We settled for some chicken snitzel back at the hotel. It was meh.
The rain continued through the night but we woke up to dry weather. However, there was more rain predicted for the afternoon.
We headed over to Tre Cime Lavaredo to hike. Sadly, we did not download any maps before we got there and we had no signal, but we just followed the trail head and ended up hiking less than halfway on the loop hike. Once we got to snow (I did make a mini snowman) about a mile and a half up the mountain, we hiked a little further in the snow. We did not have trekking poles so it was very slippery so we sat on a rock and waited for the clouds to pass by so we could see the famous three peaks. It never happened. The weather is very difficult to predict. Luckily it did not rain because it would’ve been very slick coming down on the loose gravel rocky trail. We waited where we parked our car a little longer for some of the clouds to pass and we did get one or two good photos, but the clouds really did hover.
The hike is quite amazing and if we ever come back, we need trekking poles. We are still pre season and there is a good amount of snow.
https://throneandvine.com/tre-cime-di-lavaredo-drei-zinnen-guide
The rock formations and colors are unreal. It is white black gray and blue.
https://www.italia.it/en/italy/things-to-do/dolomites
We decided to drive into Cortina for lunch, which was only about 9 miles away. With the mountain road it took about 30 minutes or so. We took a trip down memory lane since we skied Cortina six years ago. We briefly walked into the square and walked into the beautiful BASILICA MINORE DEI SANTI FILIPPO E GIACOMO APOSTOLI.
They are doing major renovations and major prep for the winter Olympics of 2026. We saw the Olympic sign and after we ate lunch (chicken salad and delish asparagus pasta) we drove up the mountain to find the place that we stayed. They took the lift out and they must be putting a brand new one in. They already built an Olympic center where the tram is.
It started to rain when we left Cortina and was down to a drizzle at our hotel. But turned into a heavy steady rain.
We hung out in our hotel lounge and had some German beers and the WiFi is better. Each day they have an event. Last night was a movie. Today is a smoothie night.
We are getting on the road early tomorrow to return our car in Trieste for a 1245 pm train to Ljubljana, Slovenia, for just one night.
I am sad for our last night in Italy. 🇮🇹
