12 Dolomite Hotels Beneath the Iron Roads

A via ferrata is an iron road: a route across a rock face fitted with fixed steel cable, rungs, pegs and occasionally a ladder, which a walker clips into with a harness and two lanyards. It lets people cross terrain that would otherwise need ropes and climbing skill.

The Dolomites have more of them than anywhere on earth, and the reason is a war. Between 1915 and 1917 the front line between Italy and Austria-Hungary ran directly through these mountains, and both armies fitted cables, cut tunnels and drove galleries through the rock to move men and supplies across peaks at three thousand metres. Some routes still pass through wartime tunnels. The infrastructure of a mountain war became, a century later, the reason people come here in summer.

Why the rock goes pink

The other thing worth knowing is geological. These are not granite Alps. The rock is dolomite — a magnesium-rich limestone laid down as a tropical reef in a shallow sea around 250 million years ago, which is why fossilised coral turns up at altitude.

That mineral composition is what produces the enrosadira: at sunrise and sunset the faces go through orange to deep pink to violet, for maybe twenty minutes, and then stop. It is the reason every photograph of these mountains is taken at one of two hours in the day, and it is worth organising an evening around.

The valleys

The Dolomites are not one place. They span three provinces and two language communities, and the valleys are genuinely different.

Alta Badia, in the Ladin-speaking heart, has the best food density in the range and connects directly into the Sellaronda ski circuit.

Cortina d'Ampezzo, east and Italian-speaking, is the glamorous one: the 1956 Winter Olympics, the fur coats, the Corso.

Val Gardena and Alpe di Siusi, west, hold Europe's largest high alpine meadow at around 1,800 to 2,300 metres, with the Sassolungo above it.

The Isarco valley and Plose, around Bressanone, are the quieter German-speaking side.

Most of the range is South Tyrol, which was Austrian until 1919, and the food, the architecture and the first language reflect that. Menus arrive in German and Italian and the dumplings win.

The twelve below are grouped by valley.

Alta Badia

The Ladin valleys, and the best eating in the mountains.

Rosa Alpina occupies a position at San Cassiano with a spa across several floors, a wine cellar of serious depth and two restaurants, one of which has held three stars. It is the best hotel in the Dolomites.

Hotel La Perla sits in Corvara in a family-run house at the foot of the Sellaronda, with a spa, a cellar carved into the rock and a level of eccentric personality the chains cannot manufacture.

Ciasa Salares occupies a smaller property at San Cassiano with a spa, a garden and a kitchen that draws people up the valley.

Cortina d'Ampezzo

The Olympic valley, east.

Cristallo, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa occupies a 1901 building above the town with a spa, a pool and terraces facing the Tofane. It is the grand hotel of Cortina.

Hotel de Len sits in the centre of Cortina in a recent timber and stone build with a rooftop, a good bar and the Corso outside.

Grand Hotel Savoia occupies a position above the town with mature grounds, a spa and views across the bowl.

Val Gardena and Alpe di Siusi

The western valleys and the high meadow.

Alpina Dolomites sits on the Alpe di Siusi plateau at around 1,800 metres, reachable by cable car, with a pool over the meadow and no road traffic around it.

Adler Lodge Alpe occupies a lodge on the same plateau with individual chalets, a spa and the Sassolungo directly in front.

Adler Spa Resort Dolomiti sits in Ortisei with one of the largest spas in the Alps, several pools and full family facilities.

Alpenroyal Grand Hotel occupies a position in Selva at the foot of the Sellaronda with a spa and ski-in access.

Bressanone and the Plose

The quieter German-speaking side.

Forestis occupies a ridge at 1,800 metres above Bressanone in a timber building with floor-to-ceiling glass, a pool facing the Odle peaks and a deliberately austere design. It is the most striking building in the range.

Lefay Resort & SPA Dolomiti sits at Pinzolo in the Brenta group west of the main range, with a very large spa and a wellness programme.

What we have left off

The rifugi are excluded. These are mountain huts at altitude, reached on foot, serving dinner and offering dormitory or simple private rooms, and staying in one is the point of a Dolomites walking trip. They are huts rather than hotels, and you should do at least one night in a rifugio regardless of what this list says.

What to do

Walk a via ferrata with a guide if you have not done one before. The Brigata Tridentina above Corvara is the classic introduction and ends at a rifugio.

Do the Alta Via 1, or a section of it — a hut-to-hut traverse of the range that takes about ten days end to end and works in three-day pieces.

Ski the Sellaronda, a circuit of four valleys and four passes on one lift pass, done clockwise or anticlockwise in a day.

See the enrosadira. Ask the hotel which face catches it and be outside twenty minutes before sunset.

Eat. Alta Badia has an unusual density of starred kitchens for a mountain valley, and the mountain huts serve canederli, speck and strudel at a fraction of the price.

Practical notes

Venice, Verona and Innsbruck are all two to three hours by road. Bolzano is the closest rail hub. A car is close to essential; the valleys connect over passes that close in winter.

The ski season runs December to early April. The walking season is late June to late September, when the lifts and the huts reopen. May, June and November are the closed months when much of the range shuts entirely.

Book the rifugi ahead in summer. They are small and they fill.

Questions people actually ask

What is a via ferrata?

A fixed-cable route across rock, clipped into with a harness. Many here were built by soldiers during the First World War and some still run through wartime tunnels.

Why does the rock turn pink?

Dolomite is a magnesium limestone and at sunrise and sunset it goes orange to pink to violet for about twenty minutes.

Which valley?

Alta Badia for food and skiing, Cortina for the scene, Alpe di Siusi for the meadow, Bressanone for quiet.

How many nights?

Seven. The range is too large and the passes too slow for less.

If you only book one