Dolomites Camping & Hiking Itinerary (3 days)

On one hand my expectations of this lake were really high! I had seen so many pictures of Lago di Braies, that it almost felt like I had already seen it with my own eyes. 

On the other hand, I read in some articles, that most of the time the lake is crowded and that hundreds of people already arrive in the early morning to catch the best light conditions.

Even though I am also interested in good light conditions, I am even more interested in having a place more or less to my own. So I planned to not arrive at the lake in the morning, but to arrive in the late afternoon, when most of the visitiors were about to leave. And this was a success! We got there around 4pm, parked our van and walked to the lake. The parking lot was already quite empty, maybe 20-30 cars - and the lake seemed even more empty! Everything was quite and peaceful, exactly what I wished for.

After circling the lake, we sat down at the restaurant and had a nice beer. We sat there until the sun set and it was beautiful!

We spend the night on the parking lot and decided to rent one of the wooden boats in the next morning. Even though it is quite expensive, I highly recommend to do this! It is such a unique experience! However, 30mins are enough to paddle along the lake and take some pictures ;)

After the beautiful Lago di Braies we decided to change the lakes for mountains.

Seceda was the next place on my Dolomites bucket list! Actually we were really lucky, because the lift up there just opened 2 days before we visited. As you can see on the pictures, there was still a lot of snow on top of Seceda, which was why the lift just started operating.

If you are afraid of heights, this will not be an easy one for you! I am so anxious when it comes to gondolas. However, the only way (for me) to get up there was to take the gondola. Yes, you are also able to hike up there, but this would take a day (return) AND high level of fitness. As we are not advanced hikers, the gondola was the only way :)

Especially the last 200 meters are extremely steep, so I was beyond relieved when we got to the top! From the lift you have to hike around 30mins to the famous view points. If there is no snow, I bet you will even be a bit faster.

After our beautiful Seceda visit, we decided to drive towards Geisleralm. This one was kind of a fail, but also a success :D Let me explain.

There is a parking lot called "Geisleralm" and when you drive up there with your car, the Geissler Spitzen seem to be really close. I just wanted to take a short hike to get closer to them, but this "little walk" turned out to a 1,5 hour hike, ooops. 

After these 1,5 hours we reached a beautiful view point, which you can see in the pictures. We saw a sign, that if you want to get to Geisleralm it takes another 1,5 hours. Therefore we decided that we were satisfied with that view and returned back to our car.

What I want to tell you with that: you do not need to do the whole hike, do enjoy some beautiful views! Related: Favorite Hikes in Europe

The next stop we planned in a little village called Val di Funes. This village is mainly famous for its two curches - St. Johann im Ranui and St. Magdalena. Both churches are absolutely beautiful and worth a visit!

We stayed at a camp ground called Gletscherhons. It was located perfectly between both churches, so we went for a little hike to St. Johann in the late afternoon and to St. Magdalena the next morning. Both hikes took us around 1-2 hours.

If you are also visiting with a camper, I highly recommend this camp ground to you! The owner is such a cute lady! They run a little farm with chicken, cows and pigs. We helped to feed the chicken and cuddled with the cows J

Even though there are so many beautiful mountain lakes in the Dolomites, this lake is a special one! With the pines and the mountain panorama in the background, it really creates a special atmosphere. The lake is crytal clear and its emerald color is really special.

We hiked in the afternoon and had the whole lake almost to ourselves!

If this lake lies within your route, definitely do a stop! However, if would need to take a detour of 2-3 hours, I would say, this is not a must-visit. During your stay in the Dolomites, there will be plenty of beautiful mountain lakes to explore!