Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009, the Dolomites form a spectacular majestic mountain range in North Eastern Italy. They fare part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley. ‘The Dolomiti’ are nearly equally shared between the provinces of Belluno, South Tyrol and Trentino.
This wonderful itinerary commences in amongst the incredible spires of the Rosengarten Massif where we will hike balcony trails and have time to better understand Otzi, the Copper Age Iceman found at the base of a glacier at 10,000ft, who perished in the Alps some 5,300 years ago. Utilising the rugged Alpine paths we will hike in the amphitheater of the Conca del Principe and then stay in the remote Rifugio de Tires before we journey across the Alpe di Siusi Plateau and descend into Ortisei via cable car, to stay at a luxury 5* Gardena hotel with it’s award winning Tyrolean restaurant. Our journey continues on to Corvara with magnificent vistas of the eastern Fanes and Sella mountains where we can enjoy a delicious alpine lunch along the way. Our second Rifugio (Lagazuoi) is set in a breathtaking location, and steeped in WWI history with a network of tunnels constructed inside the mountain that were used as part of the Italian stronghold against the Austrians. For our final stage of this Dolomiti adventure we descend in the shadow of the Tofane massif with many of the peaks over 10 500ft in height. Alpine meadows our at their best in early summer and we lavish in the flowers fields with obligatory photos to save the moment before descending into Cortina d’Ampezzo and enjoying our 2nd 5* luxury hotel for two nights before a farewell dinner in this beautiful Italian town.
(Private departures also available)
Duration: 9 days
Grade: Challenging
Airport: Venice (Italy) or Innsbruck (Austria)
Cost: from €5700 pp
All accommodation incl 5 star hotels, breakfast, lunch & most dinners
Professional experienced licensed guides
Authentic, flavourful local Tyrolean cuisine
Traditional mountain Rifugios
Private vehicle support during the trip
Spa Entrance
Transfers
Days 1 - 3
After breakfast we start the day with a chairlift to Rifugio Fronza where our trail traverses underneath the face of Rosengarten massif to reach Rifugio Roda di Vael where we can enjoy a cappuccino with far reaching views of the Latemar massif in the distance. We then hike along the Bella Vista Restaurante at Ciampedie to enjoy a tasty lunch, then descend by cable car into Vigi di Fassa. There is time here in the afternoon to relax and enjoy the hotel’s beautiful spa facilities, visit the Otzi museum in Bolzano before meeting early evening as we host a Grappa tasting. The following day we take a spectacular trail to the Grasleitenhütte before hiking up the a steep col through an ampitheather of amazing rock formations before arriving at the Tiers mountain lodage via a mini Via Feratta.
Days 4 - 6
Days 7 - 8
Days 9 - 10
- Cima Piccola / Kleine Zinne (“little peak”)
- Cima Grande / Große Zinne (“big peak”)
- Cima Ovest / Westliche Zinne (“western peak”)
Returning to our hotel we enjoy a farewell dinner.
Need To Know
Accommodation
4 x nights in 4* hotels – Carezza and Covara
2 x nights mountain Rifugios – shared dormitories & bathrooms
What’s included
All breakfasts, lunches and dinners ( except 3)
Traditional Tyrolean Cuisine *Specific dietary requirements catered for on request.
We provide private vehicle support throughout the trip.
2/3 Licensed Guides
Entrance to spa facilities in each hotel.
Guides
We adopt an excellent guiding ratio meaning we can cater for differing levels.
Booking and Price
Terms & Conditions
1. Insurance
All clients need to be adequately insured for all activities they are taking part in. Insurance must include repatriation and details should be provided at the beginning of each trip.
All European clients should obtain a European Health insurance card (EHIC), however, this is not a substitute for travel insurance.
2. Health and fitness
Trip members have the responsibility to select a trip appropriate to their abilities and interests. In order to assist with this, all trips are graded and we welcome the opportunity to discuss trip details/answer questions in advance of your reservation. Trip members must be in sufficiently good health to undertake the trip, and if unsure seek medical advice in advance. For your own safety, you need to inform us of any medical conditions in advance or at the start of the trip. Trip members are also required to bring adequate clothing/equipment as advised in the pre-departure information.
3. Dietary Requirements
We endeavor to work with clients and accommodate their dietary requirements. However such is the nature of adventure travel we may be limited to specific menus e.g remote Mountain Huts, Tea Houses in the Himalaya’s etc. We fully encourage you to contact us in advance to discuss your requirements then we have every opportunity to explore options thereafter.
4. Cancellations and Fee Schedule Per Person
91 days or more prior to departure – €250 cancellation fee
61 – 90 days before departure – 25% of the trip cost
46 – 60 days before departure – 50% of the trip cost
45 days or less: 100% of trip cost
Fees are calculated from the date we receive written cancellation notice which can be via email. If clients are unable to access email and cancel over the phone we will confirm in writing the cancellation.
If you cancel 91 days or more prior to departure, it may be possible to transfer to another trip without occurring any fees. Please discuss this with us in the first instance.
With specific departures, there may be an increase in cancellation fee if the accommodation provider T & Cs mean we are liable for payment.
4.1 Cancellation due to COVID travel restrictions.
If your chosen destination country or the country where you reside have restrictions in place due to COVID, meaning you are unable to travel, you have three options:
4.11 Postpone your trip until a later date.
4.12 Take a credit note and use against a future trip with LBH.
4.13 Request a full refund.
If any other reasons prevent you from travelling, including quarantine measures then our normal (4) T&Cs will apply. We recommend that you check with your travel insurance provider to fully understand your level of cover.
5. Complaints
If you have a complaint, please contact us as soon as possible, in the first instance your leader is often your obvious point of contact. This ensures we have every opportunity to explores solutions to the problem(s) arising and we will do all we reasonably can to resolve the complaint. You must tell us within 4 weeks after your holiday of any complaints that you feel have not been dealt with properly.
6. Alterations By Us
We will tell you as soon as reasonably possible if we must make any alteration to your holiday. Most alterations are minor, but very occasionally we might have to make a major alteration. A major alteration is a change of location or to a lower standard of accommodation for a substantial part of your holiday, a change in start/finish dates or necessary price rise in your holiday caused by rises in costs (e.g. exchange rates, internal transport etc). You may then choose as follows:
- To accept these alterations
- To withdraw from the holiday, in which case we will repay all monies paid to us including your deposit and this is the sum of our liability to you
- To accept an alternative holiday that we may propose to you, in which case if the proposed holiday is a lower price we will pay you the difference and if it is a higher price we may ask for the difference.
You must inform us of your choice as soon as possible after we contact you.
7. Group Leadership
On a guided holiday your leader is responsible for the safety and enjoyment of the whole group and has sole discretion, on behalf of Live Breathe Hike, to exclude temporarily a participant from the group. They may also choose to terminate the participants holiday without the possibility of a refund if the leader thinks the participant is likely to endanger the group safety or spoil its enjoyment.
8. Your Responsibility
Mountain holidays by their very nature are adventurous, with a certain level of risk is undertaken. Individuals need to conduct themselves in a safe and responsible manner at all times; responding to advice, guidance, and instruction that may be given by the group leader / experienced professional and take all reasonable actions to eliminate accidents or injury.
9. Our Responsibilities
We will take all reasonable care to ensure that the information we give to you is accurate, including on our website, in your schedule and information pack. We will do all that we can to provide the service as described in the information we give to you. We are not liable if any failure is:
- Attributable to anyone other than us
- Attributable to a third party unconnected to us, and unforeseeable or unavoidable
- Due to unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control and could not have been avoided even if all due care had been taken
- Due to an event which even with all due care we could not foresee or forestall
10. Cancellation By Us
Live Breathe Hike reserves the right to cancel any trip prior to departure for any reason whatsoever, including insufficient signup or logistics problems that may impede trip operations. The refund of all land payments received shall relate Live Breathe Hike from any further liability.
Live Breathe Hike must normally make substantial payments to its suppliers far in advance of the scheduled trip departure date. If a trip is canceled due to force majeure; (acts of God, war, strikes, earthquake, flooding etc), Live Breathe Hike will promptly refund the portion of the trip cost not already advanced to suppliers and use its best efforts to recover and refund the balance as promptly as possible. However, Live Breathe Hike does not guarantee recovery of any or all of the advance payments made.
11. Additional Costs
Live Breathe Hike shall not be liable for (a) expenses such as additional nights and meals not specified in the individual trip itineraries, but which may required to get to from a trip start or end; expenses due to the delay of a trip for any reason (e.g. bad weather, trails conditions, land slides, flooding, sickness etc); (c) expenses occurred in recovering lost luggage by airlines, belongings left behind on a trip or in shipping purchases or other goods home from abroad; (d) visa and other incidental costs.
Live Breathe Hike reserves the right to take photographic or film records of any trips, and may use any such records for promotional and/or commercial purposes without payment.