WalkWithErica

TL;DR: The Alpe di Siusi is an iconic Val Gardena and Dolomites hiking area. This hike combines severl shorter routes to make one clasic loop. Beautiful and definately recommended. Great for an easy recovery day of mostly flat with rolling hills.

Where I stayed: Ortisei in Val Gardena is an excellent Dolomites hiking home base

I stayed in Ortisei, in the Val Gardena region of the Dolomites, as a home base for 3 days / 4 nights. I’ve been intermittently researching the Dolomites for a year now, daydreaming about this trip. So I knew that I’d either home base in Ortisei or Santa Cristina. After seeing both, I’m happy I went with Ortisei, which seemed a bit larger and with better access to the top hikes on my list.

My apart-hotel was Residence Altea — basically a small hotel where each room is more like a studio apartment. Rooms come with a kitchen, workspace, and patio. Breakfast was excellent every morning. And it’s run by two best girlfriends (which reminds me of me and my bestie). I can’t recommend this place enough! It was my favorite of the whole trip and I’m already daydreaming about spending another week or two there next year working remotely.

But enough of that! Now for the hike!

Alpe di Siusi is Europe’s largest alpine meadow. It is nearly 14,000 acres, with 280 miles of hiking trails. Everywhere you look is rolling green meadow and wildflowers, surrounded by the craggy peaks of the Alps that I so love! When I say there are views in every direction, I mean it!

Maps I used:

• Moon & Honey Travel Seiser Alm Meadows Loop Trail (honestly, their blog basically planned my trip)
• Which is basically these two AllTrails maps combined: Monte Sëuc – Piz – Schgaguler Schwaige (clockwise) + Saltria – Biotopo Gran Palù (clockwise)

I again followed the Moon & Honey recommended circuit route (the red route, above), taking a few detours to have lunch and take in some iconic views along the way. The Moon & Honey route generally follows the AllTrails routes but detours to take smaller single-track trails rather than the larger dirt roads. I always prefer the smaller hiking trail over the larger paths.

Getting to the Trailhead by Gondola: Ortisei-Alpe di Siusi (aka Mont Sëuc) Gondola Valley Station 

From Residence Altea it was just a few blocks walk to get to the gondola (map) that took me up to Alpe di Siusi. The cost was 28 Euro round trip. At the top, there is a restaurant and trails that fan out in all directions. Many people arrive at the top, eat, walk around a bit, maybe walk to another mountain hut or restaurant, sunbathe, take some photos, then leave. This is a mistake. The trails are easy even for beginner hikers. And there is even a chairlift that can shave off a couple of miles and some elevation gain/loss into the meadow if you need it.

The Hike: Alpe di Siusi Circuit Trail

The trail from the gondola station immediately heads downhill all the way to Sporthotel Sonne — a hotel that I would LOVE to one day stay at for winter or summer. There is actually a chairlift that goes from the gondola station down to Sporthotel Sonne so that you can skip the hike down (and back up). I think this would be a great place to stay with family — amazing views and relaxation for those who don’t want to be active, and tons of trails and adventure for those that want it. Plus easy access to town via chairlift and gondola.

Then the trail cuts across the meadow. Always with views of mountains and wildflowers. Sometimes with horses, cattle, or sheep. Then in Saltria (another place I’d like to have had more time to explore the hikes around; a chairlift up into the lower peaks was calling my name!) a steady ascent begins, basically until lunchtime.

I tried to take my lunch at the highly recommended Rauchhütte, but it was closed for a week for a pre-high-season holiday. So I continued on a found myself at a small little restaurant called (I think) Baita Tuene. Their specialty is appelstrudel with vanilla creme. So of course I had to have that, which I took with a class of local white vino.

After starting lunch with dessert, I moved on to the next hutte, Gostner Schwaige, which I read somewhere online had an excellent local soup called “hay soup.” Hay soup is basically, heavy creme, butter, and salt, simmered with hay and local herbs and wildflowers that grow across the meadow. It is excellent! I could have had another bread bowl, but my head thought better of it. So I finished my soup and headed off to complete the last leg of the hike.

The final leg was view after view! Then one last slog uphill back to the gondola station. (I could have skipped that last uphill via chairlift, but I was committed to finishing the entire loop!)

Then back into town where I, of course, ate gelato.