Val Gardena: A Gentle Guide to the Heart of the Dolomites

Some mountain valleys make you work for the view. Val Gardena hands it to you. From the village square in Ortisei you step onto an escalator, then into a gondola, and fifteen minutes later you are standing at around 2,500 metres on the Secëda ridge, looking at pale cliffs that fall away like the prow of a ship. Nothing about it is strenuous. That is the quiet genius of this valley.

Val Gardena — Gherdëina in Ladin, Gröden in German — sits in the middle of the Dolomites in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Three villages share it: Ortisei (Urtijëi) at about 1,236 m, small Santa Cristina at about 1,400 m, and Selva (Sëlva) at about 1,500 m, under the great blocks of the Sella and Saslonch (Langkofel) groups. The Dolomites are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and this is one of the easiest corners of them to reach.

It is also one of the gentlest. Lifts do the climbing, meadow paths are wide and well surfaced, mountain huts serve lunch at the top of every cable car, and a flat, paved trail follows an old railway line along the whole length of the valley. If you have ever thought the high Alps were no longer for you, start here.

A little history

The oldest thing in the valley is the language. Val Gardena is one of the valleys where Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language, is still spoken at home and taught in the schools, alongside Italian and German. You will see it everywhere: three names for every village, and greetings in the shops you will not recognise from any Italian phrasebook.

The second-oldest thing is wood. Woodcarving has flourished here since the 17th century, and from the 19th century onwards statues and church altars carved in Val Gardena were shipped to Catholic churches all over the world. Farming families carved through the long winters; the tradition is still alive in the workshops and galleries of Ortisei, and in the bronze and wooden sculptures you pass on the valley paths.

Then came the railway. In 1915–16, when South Tyrol was still Austrian, a 32.5 km narrow-gauge line was pushed up from Chiusa (Klausen) to Plan, above Selva — built largely by the conscripted labour of some 6,000 Russian prisoners of war. Its summit at Plan, about 1,595 m, made it the highest line later operated by the Italian state railways. It carried timber, soldiers and eventually tourists until it closed in 1960. Its track bed is now the valley's best easy walk.

Restored locomotive FS R.410.004 of the Val Gardena Railway, on the site of the former station at Urtijëi (Ortisei).

What to see

Secëda and its ridge

The most famous view in the valley, and deservedly so. Two lift sections — a gondola from Ortisei to Furnes, then a cable car from Furnes up to Secëda — carry you to about 2,500 m in roughly fifteen minutes. From the top station it is a gentle walk of about ten minutes uphill to the viewing platform by the summit cross, where the Odle (Geisler) peaks tilt away in one long green-and-grey wave. Note that the Secëda cableway may use pre-booked, timed-entry tickets, so check before you set out.

Alpe di Siusi (Mont Sëuc)

From the edge of Ortisei, the Mont Sëuc cable car lifts you in about ten minutes onto the Alpe di Siusi, a vast high meadow plateau of rolling grass, hay barns and grazing cows, with the Sciliar and the Saslonch on either side. The ground up here is almost flat, the main tracks are wide and firm, and this is where even a short stroll feels like a proper mountain day.

Resciesa

Quieter, and a favourite of ours. A funicular climbs from Ortisei to the Resciesa alp, where a broad, grassy ridge runs out towards a summit cross with the Odle, Sella, Sciliar and Alpe di Siusi all in view at once. The refuge near the top station is at about 2,170 m, so you can simply ride up, walk a few level minutes, and sit down to lunch with the whole panorama in front of you.

Vallunga

At the far end of Selva, the U-shaped Vallunga valley reaches into the Puez-Odle Nature Park. There are no buildings, no roads and no cable cars in it — only meadows, larch woods and sheer Dolomite walls hundreds of metres high on both sides. The valley floor is around 4.5 km long and rises only modestly, which makes it one of the most forgiving walks in the Dolomites.

Ortisei itself

The largest village has a pedestrianised centre of painted houses, pastry shops and woodcarving galleries, with escalators and covered walkways linking the car parks and the valley floor to the square and the lift stations. On a day when cloud sits on the peaks, an hour among the carved saints and a slice of strudel is no consolation prize.

The Val Gardena Dolomites seen from Secëda (2,519 m) under August snow, in the Puez-Odle Nature Park.

Easy and gentle walks

• La Ferata, the old railway trail. The former railway line has become a paved path running along the sunny side of the valley, about 10 km end to end from Ortisei through Santa Cristina to Selva, past woods, meadows, hamlets and bronze sculptures by local artists. It is suitable for strollers and wheelchairs, and because the buses between the villages are frequent, you can walk any single piece of it — half an hour or two hours — and ride back.
• Vallunga valley floor, Selva. Flat for the first long stretch, with the option of continuing gently up to the hut at the head of the valley in a little over an hour. Turn round whenever you like; the view does not get worse behind you.
• Compatsch to Saltria, Alpe di Siusi. About 7 km across the plateau, easy, mostly downhill in that direction, with huts along the way and a bus or lift link at the end rather than a climb back.
• The Secëda top-station stroll. Ten gentle minutes to the platform and the summit cross, then as far along the level ridge path as you feel like going.
• Resciesa ridge. From the funicular, broad grassy paths lead to the refuge and on towards the outer summit cross, with very little height gained.

The Dolomites of Val Gardena seen from Mont de Sëura.

The most comfortable ways to enjoy the scenery

Val Gardena is built around lifts, and in summer that is a gift rather than an inconvenience. Each village has its own way up: Ortisei–Furnes–Secëda and the Mont Sëuc cable car and Resciesa funicular from Ortisei, Col Raiser from Santa Cristina, Dantercepies from Selva. Where you have a choice, pick an enclosed gondola or cable car rather than an open chairlift: the boarding is slower, there is a seat and a roof, and staff will hold the cabin for you if you ask.

For scenery without walking at all, drive or take the bus over the Gardena Pass (2,136 m), which links Selva with Corvara in Val Badia and is one of the great Dolomite roads — hairpins, meadows and the sheer south wall of the Sella above you. Keen drivers link it with the Sella, Pordoi and Campolongo passes to make the Sella Ring, a loop of four passes around the Sella massif. It is spectacular, but it is also several hours of tight bends, so if anyone in the car is prone to travel sickness, do one pass well rather than four in a hurry.

And do not underestimate the valley buses. Lines run often between the three villages, which means you can take a lift up in the morning, walk downhill or across for as long as it is pleasant, and come home on a bus instead of retracing your steps.

The village of Sëlva (Selva di Val Gardena) with the Sella and Langkofel groups behind.

A day trip nearby

Cross the Gardena Pass and you are in Val Badia, a neighbouring Ladin valley with the same language, a softer landscape of green hills, and villages such as Corvara and San Cassiano under the Sassongher. It is roughly 30–40 minutes by road from Selva to Corvara in good conditions, and the pass itself is the point of the trip: stop at the top, walk a hundred flat metres from the car park, and let the Sella walls do the rest.

If the weather closes in, go down instead of up. Bolzano, about 40 km and an hour or so away by road or bus, is a handsome arcaded city with a famous archaeological museum, and Bressanone (about 34 km) has a cathedral, cloisters and a gentle riverside promenade. Both are warmer and lower than the valley, which can be welcome after a few days at altitude.

The Langkofel (Saslonch) Dolomites seen from Sacun, South Tyrol.

Honest advice for comfortable travel

• Altitude is the real effort here, not distance. The villages sit at 1,200–1,500 m and the lifts take you to 2,100–2,500 m, where the air is thinner. Walk slower than you think you need to on your first day, drink more water, and expect to be short of breath on even small rises.
• Go up in the morning. Summer afternoons in the Dolomites often bring cloud and thunderstorms; the clear, still light is early. Lifts also queue less before mid-morning.
• Dress for two seasons. It can be 28°C in Ortisei and close to freezing with wind at the Secëda platform. Take a warm layer, a windproof jacket, sunglasses, a hat and strong sun cream even in August — UV at altitude is fierce.
• Shoes matter more than fitness. Most easy paths are gravel or grass with loose stones. Trainers with good grip are the minimum; walking poles help on any descent.
• Where to stay. Ortisei for the flattest, most walkable centre and the widest choice of lifts, shops and restaurants; Selva if Vallunga and the Gardena Pass appeal most; Santa Cristina for quiet, but check how far your hotel is from the bus stop, as the village is spread over a slope.
• Ask about the slope before you book. Many hotels are above or below the village centre on steep ground. A lift inside the building and a room on the valley side are worth asking for by name.
• Check the lift calendar. Cable cars generally run from late spring to autumn and again in winter, with closures in the quiet weeks of spring and November. A shoulder-season trip can mean a valley with nothing running.
• Book Secëda if required. Timed tickets have been introduced on that cableway; a glance at the operator's site a day ahead saves a wasted morning.
• Huts are part of the plan. Nearly every top station has a refuge with toilets, hot food and a terrace. On a gentle walking day you are rarely more than an hour from a chair and a coffee.

What to eat

Val Gardena eats like what it is: an Austro-Hungarian mountain kitchen with Ladin roots and an Italian accent. Look for canederli (bread dumplings in broth), panicia (barley and smoked-pork soup that is a meal in itself), cajinci arstis — pan-fried pastries filled with spinach or potato — and tutres, their fried cousins. Schlutzkrapfen, little half-moon ravioli of spinach and ricotta with browned butter, appear on almost every menu, as do goulash, venison in autumn and local speck with dark rye bread.

Puddings are unapologetic: apple strudel with warm vanilla sauce, fritters, and berry tarts made with whatever is ripe. Drink the South Tyrolean whites — Gewürztraminer, Sylvaner, Kerner — or ask for an elderflower cordial with sparkling water, which is what the locals hand you on a hot afternoon.

Two practical notes. Mountain huts serve lunch within fairly tight hours in the middle of the day, so eat earlier than you would in Rome. And portions are generous at altitude; one dumpling course and a shared strudel is usually plenty.

Getting there

Our verdict

Val Gardena is the Dolomites made easy, and we mean that as the highest praise. The scenery is first-rank — Secëda, the Alpe di Siusi, the Sella walls above the Gardena Pass — yet almost all of it can be reached sitting down, with a hut and a toilet at the top and a bus home at the bottom. The paved old railway path along the valley floor means that even on a tired day there is a beautiful, flat, shaded hour to be had.

It is not undiscovered, and in late July and August the villages and the passes are busy. Come in the second half of September instead: the meadows are turning gold, the lifts are still running, the air is cool and clear, and the huts have time to talk to you.

If you have been putting off the high Alps because of your knees, your breath or your nerve, this is the valley to prove yourself wrong in.

Val Gardena, a valley in the Dolomites of South Tyrol, known for its mountain scenery and woodcarving.

“In Val Gardena the mountains come down to meet you, and all you have to do is look up.”

Photo credits

• Val Gardena with Sella and Saslonch from Resciesa: This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder . Feel free to use my photos, but pleas, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• FS R.410.004 - Val Gardena railway 01: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Crëpes de Gherdëina da Secëda nëif d'agost: This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder . Feel free to use my photos, but pleas, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Dolomites Val Gardena from Mont de Seura: This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder . Feel free to use my photos, but pleas, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Sëlva Wolkenstein Selva di Val Gardena Sella Saslonch: This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder . Feel free to use my photos, but pleas, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Saslonch da Sacun ora: This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder . Feel free to use my photos, but pleas, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Val Gardena, Italy; July 2020 05: luca.sartoni, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons