Even though my SD card corrupted on the afternoon that we made our way from Misurina to Sassolungo via the famous Passo Giau, we still had an exceptional time.
Given that I've been living just a few hours' drive away from the Dolomites for nearly four years, I can't believe it's taken me this long to finally visit. It's been at the top of my bucket list for so long! To be honest, planning a trip to the Dolomites simply overwhelmed me. There is so much information out there and the region is huge, spanning across three of Italy's northern regions: Veneto, Trentino-South Tyrol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. You could spend weeks exploring in any season of the year and still not cover it all.
I've tried to compile my guides in a straightforward way that reduce as much feeling lost at where to start as possible. Alongside this post, I've written a detailed guide on how we spent our four days in the Dolomites including where we stayed, what we ate and everything we did.
COMING SOON → How to spend 4 days in the Dolomites!
One of the most famous things to do in the Dolomites is to ride one of the many cable cars up a mountain to reach an iconic viewpoint. The Sassolungo cable car is exceptionally well-known; the cable cars are so skinny they're nicknamed coffins! Read on for my complete guide to visiting Sassolungo.
The Sassolungo area is located in the Trentino-South Tyrol part of the Dolomites, but quite close to Veneto to the east.
The Sassolungo area
By flight: There are a number of airports used to reach the Dolomites; the main one is in nearby Venice. Munich, Germany has the next major international airport, but there are also other smaller airports in Verona or in Innsbruck or Salzburg, both in Austria.
→ From any of these airports, you can rent a car to explore the Dolomites.
You can take a Flixbus directly from Venice airport to Cortina in the Dolomites in just over two hours.
By car: The best way to explore the Dolomites is with a car; either with your own wheels or with a rental. Parking is available at every attraction and this gives you the freedom and flexibility to explore on your own schedule, pulling over whenever and wherever you wish.
By bus: There is a great bus network servicing the Dolomites, perfect for if you don't have a car. Sassolungo can be reached with bus 471 between May and October from Selva di Val Gardena or Ortisei; get off at Passo Sella.
→ Find out the entire bus route to explore the Dolomites with.
Passo Sella
We spent the night at Passo Sella Dolomiti Mountain Resort. It was nice enough but for the price we paid, we expected a lot more. It was cool to wake up next to the base of the cable car but our "mountain view" room looked onto a parking lot so it didn't feel like there wasn't privacy nor any other extra benefit for spending the money to be on site.
→ Book your stay at Passo Sella Dolomiti.
→ Check out other places to stay to suit your budget and accommmodation type in Selva di Val Gardena.
We also saw plenty of vans camping at pull-outs all along the road, a popular option all throughout the Dolomites!
Sassolungo is the main mountain of the Val Gardena region. You can hike, ski and rockclimb around the mountain throughout the year.
There are two main ways to reach the top of Sassolungo in the summer: hiking or riding the cable car.
To be honest, the hike didn't look that fun to us; it's a sun-exposed switchback trail straight up the rocky mountainside to the summit. Instead, we chose the way that looked like a ton of fun, which was to ride the cable car.
The cable car to Sassolungo is nicknamed the "coffin" cable car because they are straight, upright, skinny cable cars that look like hanging coffins. Only two people can fit in each car and jumping on and off is quite an experience!
The ride to the top of Sassolungo takes about 15 minutes, giving you plenty of time to enjoy the incredible views of Val Gardena all the way up; arguably better than the views from the summit of Sassolungo itself. You can choose to ride the cable car round-trip or just one-way if you want to hike either up or down.
→ Check out the latest prices, schedule and operating time for the Forcella del Sassolungo.
At the top, you can enjoy the view, carry on hiking further, partake in popular rockclimbing and indulge in some local polenta from the Rifugio Toni Demetz. We felt the top looked like the moon when we arrived and there was even snow still in late June!
The base of the cable car and the start of the hike
Spot the rock climbers!
On the way back down
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Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.
