Six days,above the clouds.
Your whole journey in the strip below, one frame per day. The gold-ringed mornings are the ones we do not move.
The journey
Overview
Six days in the Dolomites, split between two very different houses. You start with two nights at FORESTIS, up at 1,800 metres above Bressanone, where there is nothing to do after dark and that is the point. Then three nights at Rosa Alpina in San Cassiano, walking distance from bakeries, chairlifts and one of the best restaurants in Italy.
I've kept each day to one big morning. Afternoons are loose on purpose.
Where you'll stay
- FORESTIS, the Plose, above Bressanone
- Rosa Alpina, San Cassiano, Alta Badia
Day One — Mon, Jun 21
14:20 · VENICE → BRIXEN — private transfer up the valley. There's prosecco in the car
Up the mountain to FORESTIS
Your driver meets you at Venice arrivals with a sign and takes your bags. It's about two and a half hours up into the mountains, and the last twenty minutes of switchbacks are worth staying awake for. Rooms are ready from three, but if you land early they will hold your luggage and feed you in the bar. You sleep at 1,800 metres here, so the first night goes deeper than usual. Nobody sets an alarm.
Dinner above the clouds
Dinner is in the tower restaurant, facing the Odle, and it's included every night you're here. Service starts at seven and there's no dress code beyond a warm layer if you want the terrace. Tell them it's your first night and ask the sommelier for the Sylvaner he likes; the local whites are the reason to be in this valley. You'll be in bed by ten, which is correct.
FORESTIS
Half monastery, half spa. The rooms look straight at the Odle peaks, the bar closes early, and sunrise is the show. Ask for a Tower Suite on a high floor.
Day Two — Tue, Jun 22
Seceda at first light
You've seen this ridgeline in a hundred photographs. We're going before breakfast, when it's empty. The Ortisei cable car is a twenty minute drive and we're on the first one up, with coffee and pastries in a thermos bag from the kitchen. It's near freezing on the ridge in June even when the valley is warm, so take proper jackets. The walk along the top is flat and easy, about an hour if you do all of it, and you can turn back whenever you've had enough.
2 photosThe spa, properly
Four pools, a larch sauna and a quiet room looking straight at the mountains. Nothing is scheduled this afternoon, which is deliberate. Treatments book out days ahead in June, so tell me now if you want massages and I'll hold the times before we arrive. The upper pool is adults only after four, and there's a family hour before that.
2 photosDay Three — Wed, Jun 23
10:00 · FORESTIS → SAN CASSIANO — over the Gardena Pass, stopping whenever you want a photo
Picnic on the Gardena Pass
The kitchen packs lunch and your driver knows the meadow. Speck, mountain cheese, dark bread, a cold bottle of Kerner, and blankets in the boot. You'll be looking straight at the Sella group while you eat. The pass tops out just over 2,100 metres and there's real wind up there even in June, so keep a layer in the car rather than the suitcase.
First aperitivo in the Alta Badia
Check in at Rosa Alpina, then walk into the village around six. San Cassiano is small enough to cross in ten minutes and everything worth finding is on the one street. The peaks turn pink at dusk here and the Ladin have a word for it, enrosadira. The hotel bar pours the best Hugo in the valley, and dinner tonight is downstairs whenever you feel like it.
Rosa Alpina
The Pizzinini family has run this house since 1939, and it shows in the good way. By the second morning the barman knows your coffee order. The village is right out the door.
Day Four — Thu, Jun 24
A first via ferrata
Harnesses, helmets, and a private guide who has been climbing these cables for twenty years. We're doing Piz da Lech: a chairlift up, about three hours on the wire, and an easy walk down. All the equipment comes from the guide, so bring nothing but boots and gloves. It feels braver than it is, which is the fun of it, and anyone over ten who is comfortable on a ladder will be fine. If somebody would rather not, there's a marked footpath to the same lunch.
2 photosLunch at a rifugio
Rifugio Pralongia, at 2,200 metres, with the whole Sella group laid out in front of the terrace. Canederli, a Forst on tap, and the apple strudel everyone orders a second slice of. You'll have earned it. They take cards now, though cash still moves faster at the bar.
Day Five — Fri, Jun 25
E-bikes through the meadows
E-bikes make the Armentara meadows easy: about eighteen kilometres, and most of the return is downhill. Anyone who can ride a bicycle can do this. The shop in the village fits everyone in the morning and helmets come with the bikes. In late June the wildflowers up there are absurd. Lunch is at whichever hut you feel like stopping at, and there's nothing on the calendar until dinner.
The St. Hubertus table
Norbert Niederkofler's three-star dining room, ten minutes' walk from your bed. The menu is built entirely from what grows and grazes in these mountains, which sounds like a gimmick until you eat it. Book for eight and give it three hours. The wine pairing is worth taking and isn't in your rate. Jackets, no ties, and they'll do a shorter menu for the teenagers if you ask when we confirm.
2 photosDay Six — Sat, Jun 26
09:30 · SAN CASSIANO → VENICE — down through the passes, flight at two
One last slow morning
Breakfast without a plan, one more look at the peaks, then the drive down. Check out is eleven and they'll keep your bags as long as you want the morning. Venice is about three hours from the door, so anything departing after three in the afternoon is comfortable. Most families go quiet in the car on this stretch. That's normal.
2 photosWhat it comes to
Rates held until 30 September 2026, based on four travelling together.
What's included
- All accommodation, breakfast and dinner
- Private mountain guide throughout
- All lift passes and via ferrata kit
- Private transfers, Venice to Venice
What's not included
- Flights to Venice
- The St. Hubertus wine pairing
- Travel insurance
- Gratuities