Meet up in our hotel lobby for a tasting of local wines coupled with a trip overview and introductions.

Bolzano is a gateway to the Dolomites and a cultural center for the South Tyrol region. Today, we will explore the city’s history with a walking tour, visit it’s most famous citizen, Ötzi, and if time allows visit Reinhold Messner’s local castle/museum.

We will have options for today where each person can choose their adventure.

One group will opt to spend the day on bicycles, riding up to 80km from the Swiss border, along Lake Résia and back down the valley to Bolzano. While the mileage is might seem high, it is mostly downhill.

Another group will explore the area around Lake Résia on foot. Enjoying the towns at a slower pace before heading back down valley in the late afternoon.

Today we will depart from our Bolzano hotel and shuttle to Val Fiscalina and the base of Tre Cime Nature Park. This fabulous area offers us an entrance into the limitless hiking area of the Dolomites.

Today’s robust hike will get your heart pumping as you climb to a local high mountain pass for a rifugio lunch and views of Tre Cime. The hike will challenge most be the reward is well worth it.

No visit to the Dolomites would be complete without a visit to the nest of the mountains in Cortina. This will be our base for a few days as we explore local rifugios and hiking trails to see the mountains Italian style.

Rifugio Lagazuoi has become one of the most famous of the Italian rifugios, and with good reason!

We’ll take a gondola up to rifugio where there is a WWI open air museum to explore before we eat lunch on the incredible patio.

After lunch we’ll descend back to the valley and depending on interest, visit a museum that tells the same WWI story but from the valley floor.

Back to Cortina for dinner and lodging.

Today will be a hiking day. We will have a couple of options depending on group desires and local conditions.

After a casual morning in Cortina, we will shuttle back to Bolzano for a causal afternoon in the city followed by a final celebratory dinner together.

Folks will depart the group today, on to other adventures or homeward bound.