In the high Dolomites villages of Alta Badia you can go walking in Summer or skiing and snowshoeing in Winter. At altitudes of around 1500m, these villages get good snowfalls and plenty of sunshine making them a great destination for summer walkers and winter skiers alike. The area is also known as Südtirol, due to its history when it was part of Austria.
We visited Corvara at the end of August to sample an organised walking holiday. Once we arrived we heard about the attractions of Via Ferrata (also known as Klettersteig), a range of protected scrambling routes that have existed in this area since World War I.

A Via Ferrata usually has a series of fixed cables, ladders and gorge-spanning bridges to which you hook up to climb and scramble your way to the end, and they culminate in breathtaking views over the valleys surrounding Arabba, Corvara & Pedraces. The Via Ferrata are clearly marked by the local mountain guides – you can follow them independently or with an organised group. It is best to wear a safety helmet, harness and specialist kit to hook yourself on to the cables. This kit can be hired in your resort for around €10 per day.

We stayed in the village of Corvara, at 1537m high and situated in a wide valley with plenty of waymarked walking paths leading directly from the village.

Local bus services are good and cheap, and you can easily take the bus to a nearby village for the start of your chosen walk. My favourite day’s walk started at Pasa Gardena (Grödnerjoch), part of the famous Sella Ring. The pass is 2136m high and lies above the village of Pedraces. From there we followed the Azalea route through to San Cassiano, then onward to Corvara. To reach the starting point we took two cable cars up to the chapel of the Three Crosses and walked eastwards with views into Switzerland and Austria. At the end there was also a fabulous view of the Marmalada, the highest mountain in this region at 3500m.

Tags: adventure holidays, Italy, walking holidays