Rifugio Lagazuoi

14th of august 2019. We were right in the middle of our summer trip in the Alps and the day after the long and exhausting loop hike around the Passo Giau and the Cinque Torri. I remember I chose this hike around Rifugio Lagazuoi for two reasons :

• it was supposed to be less challenging for our four and a half daugther
• it was possible to take a cable car to reach the refuge, always an amazing experience for kids

Actually, I can confirm that this cable car is really amazing and goes fast and steep in the mountain from 2117m to 2746m. But I won’t say it was so easy for our daughter. I mean, the trip I describe in this post is not difficult and gives to everyone the opportunity to see breathtaking views without any difficulty. But a descent of more than 600m of altitude the day after a very long and challenging hike was a little bit too much for our daughter. She did it well as usual, but we could feel while hiking that a break would be necessery the day after !

The trip started by a 10 minutes ascent with the cable car to the Lagazuoi refuge. From there, we hiked the easy 20 minutes path that goes to the Laguazuoi peak. All the way the view is just amazing. It is a 360° panorama on the Dolomites and the Tofana Di Roses mountain range. The Marmolada glacier is even visible on a day like we had.

It was not a clear blue sky but a perfect cloudy and sunny sky : the clouds were high, the light was golden (by the clouds and by our choice of going there late afternoon), and the visibility was just crazy. So it was a perfect day for my photography taste, and a perfect day for the whole family. Our little one could hiked a part of the trail and we really took our time to enjoy this famous place with almost nobody around.

It is something to remember about Italy : people really like to hike at mid-day so when you goes up after 4pm or 5pm, you have the summits for yourself.

After reaching the Laguazuoi peak cross we went back to the refuge and started our descent to the car park. We knew that it would be this way but I prefer to make it clear : the cable cars in Italy stop very early, so I you want to do a cable car round trip anywhere in Dolomites you will not be able to do it in late afternoon and enjoy golden lights like we had that day.

The first part of the descent is steep and goes straigh to Forcella Laguazuoi. From there the path goes gentle for some time until you reach the Forcella Travenanzes. This part is the best from the descent : you approach the amazing Tofana Di Roses mountain range and it is one of the best mineral area of the Dolomites (we hiked in the Tofana back in 2012 it is still one of our best memory from this trip).

After the Forcella Travenanzes the path goes steep in the rocks for 20 minutes (as far as I remember) until it cross the skiing “road” that leads to the cable car station. Don’t be surprise once there to see many camper vans, camping cars or tents : a lot of people sleep every night in the area of Passo Falzarego so if you want to enjoy a quiet night close to the road find another spot !

The official website of Lagazuoi says that the descent takes around 1 hour. I would say the same if you are not tired and without young kids like us. I think it took us something like 1 and 30 minutes, even maybe 2 hours to go back to the car park. The first part of the descent is very nice with a lot of nice views and things to observe while the last part once you reach the skiing “road” is less interesting and ask you a lot of energy to convince a tired 4 years of girl to continue to hike with a smile 😉

To conclude I would really recommend this trip to anyone visiting the area. The views on the top are so amazing and there are so many hiking possibilities up there that everybody could find a way to enjoy it according to his abilities. Check the Laguazuoi website to find more ideas to enjoy the area. And if you don’t know which one to do trust me, the trip I describe here is just awesome!

Map

(green track)