A trip to the Dolomites, staying in Val Gardena, included a range of guided and self-guided outdoor activities. I enjoyed hiking, e-mountain biking, climbing, forest yoga and a cultural tour. Many of the activities were provided as part of the Val Gardena Active summer programme.
I travelled to Val Gardena in Northern Italy after a five-day hiking break with Walks Worldwide based in Cortina.
Where is Val Gardena?
Val Gardena is popular outdoors destination located in the Italian Dolomites. More specifically the valley is in Puez-Odle Nature Park, which is part of South Tyrol in the Trentino region.
I stayed in Selva, at 1550m elevation, which is one of three villages in Val Gardena. The other two are Santa Cristina and Ortisei.
The valley is surrounded by many scenic peaks, such as the Sella, the Sassolungo, the Puez and Odle group and the Sciliar.
This is a popular year-round destination in Italy with a range of pursuits, including skiing, climbing and mountaineering in the winter and hiking, climbing, mountain biking and climbing in the summer.
Summer in Val Gardena, Dolomites, Italy
Val Gardena is an acclaimed mountain resort in the Dolomites of Italy. In fact, Val Garden is located in the wider UNESCO World Heritage designated Dolomite Mountains.
It’s perhaps best known for skiing in the winter yet there is also a host of active fun to be had in summer, too. Here is my guide to summer in Val Gardena.
Overall, I would say this is a great destination if you are going as a family or group, or you are a relative new-comer to mountain activities. There are many activities for a wide spectrum of experience and fitness levels as part of the Val Gardena Active programme.
Advantages of the Val Gardena active programme:
- If you travel with a group of people, everyone can book what suits them.
- As a solo traveler, you can join other like-mined people.
- As a newcomer, you can enjoy being guided
- As a more experienced outdoors enthusiast, you’ll benefit form a guide to give you local knowledge and information.
- You can book on to many different group activities.
- Ask for a personalised programme of activities to suit you.
Where to stay:
There are three main locations to stay if you plan to make the most of Val Gardena in the summer. Ortisei at 1236m altitude, S. Cristina at. 1428m altitude and Selva Gardena at 1563m are all recommended and there is a variety of different accommodation to choose from.
I thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of four-star Hotel Continental Selva in Selva Gardena. It’s beautifully located with fantastic views and light next door to a chairlift. The food and service were superb and the wellness, pool and spa facilities were an extra treat.
The infinity pool offers more fantastic mountain views. My room was a suite and I have rarely enjoyed such fabulous accommodation.
Summer activities in Val Gardena
Historic gondola, lunch and a hike downhill
The day started with a gondola uplift from the Passo Sella to Forcella Sassolung. This is also known as the “coffin lift”.
I was a little worried by the name of the cabins but they are so-called because of the shape and size, rather than anything ominous.
Getting into the old-fashioned gondola cabins is a bit of an art and the lift attendants help the public to board in pairs. Once inside, it felt a lot roomier than it looked from the outside, although there is no sitting down, and the views as we rose slowly uphill were fantastic.
I had joined a group of women from The Netherlands for a few days and quickly got to know them while riding the lift and over a lovely lunch of traditional fare at Rifugio Toni Demetz, situated at the top of the gondola at at 2700m elevation.
After lunch, we set off for the hike downhill. After a recent dump of snow there were sections of snow and ice but nothing that I found to tricky. The path zigzags back and forth via a vast couloir with high, jagged mountain ridges and steep cliffs on either side.
The wider views to the north-west are all the more atmospheric when we glimpse them through low swirling clouds.
To return to Selva we ride a chairlift downhill, where we are met by a private taxi transfer.
Tip: If you are feeling more energetic, it’s possible to hike up instead of taking the lift. See Val Gardena Active hike to Forcella Sassolung.
Hike: La marueies de Pic y Sëurasas
The hike is led by a knowledgeable guide, Manuel. We start by riding the Col Raiser cable car uphill and then walk on well-marked trails and path via the Alpe Mastlé to the Sella Cuca.
The ascent to the Monte Pic is the first major highlight of this hike and the views are breathtaking in all directions.
The descent leads to the Alpe Sëurasas before reaching Runcaudië and, finally, the village of S. Cristina.
It was great to have someone else leading the navigation and also providing snippets of information about the mountains, nature and history of the region.
Exploring Ortisei – the village of the artists
We are treated to the huge wealth of knowledge of local guide Carla on a superb tour of the village of Ortisei.
Amazingly, one of the participants of the tour was a former neighbour from my time living near Glasgow. It is such a small world.
E-bike and yoga in Ortisei
One morning, as part of a group, we ride easy-to-use e-bikes from Selva down the valley to Ortisei. Normally I would be worrying about the ride back uphill, but the electric-assisted pedalling makes riding most ascents very easy.
The yoga was planned for a local woodland but the weather was not looking good so we enjoyed the session indoors. We later took some of our practice to a nearby grass hillside once the sun came out again.
E-bike of two local passes
In the afternoon, I took my e-bike for a longer ride with a Dutch woman,Ingrid, whom I had met earlier in the week. We loved the assisted pedal power as we cycled on the road via Passo Sella & Passo Gardena from Selva.
The views were spectacular and the descents were thrilling.
For bike hire, see Dolomiti Adventures.
Alpenglow – Sunset Guided Hike to Sëurasas
Sadly, it was raining on the evening that I was meant to do this hike but, by all accounts, it is a gem of an experience.
Instead, I joined an indoor climbing session at a small but nicely designed climbing centre in Selva.
Solo hike from the hotel
The weather looked too good to sit in the hotel, so I decided to head out to explore on my own. I had considered a run on the Val Gardena rail track course, where a railway used to operate, but I had a hankering to go higher.
Checking the AllTrails app, combined with a chat with one of the staff members at the hotel reception, I headed out to hike up to a local peak, Secёda at 2519m.
My route of 20km took in 1146m of ascent and it was steep in places but the views were superb taking in many peaks of the South Tyrol – from Ortles to Großglockner (Austria).
Route finding was fairly straightforward because I had the app and there were many signposts to confirm I was going in generally the right direction.
Something strange happened, too, because the higher I climbed the more people I encountered. It’s normally the opposite that happens but the extra people at higher altitude had been given a motorised aid by way of the gondola uplift from Selva.
While the lift takes a lot of the effort out of the climb, I’d still recommend the walk from Sevla if you have the energy and time. It allows you to absorb the scenery and really explore the many trails and paths.
You can see my route on Strava (with all the usual disclaimers) or follow some the many signposts. The Dolomites offers a huge network of signposted trails for hiking, running and cycling.
Tip: Buy the Dolomiti Supersummer card to give access to 140 ski lifts in 12 valleys across Trentino, Alto Adige and Veneto.
To find out more about my eight-day trip to the Dolomites and travel, see Hiking in the Dolomites.
Travel notes
SkyAlps operates twice-weekly flights from London Gatwick to Bolzano from €184 (£154) each way, with up to three flights weekly in July and August 2025.
See: skyalps.com
See: www.valgardena.it/en/ and valgardena-active.com.
- I was hosted on the trip by Val Gardena,