Arabba, Dolomites, Italy (July 2026)

The hotel we stayed in Arabba was a beautiful boutique hotel. It was a small hotel, but the surrounding area was like a painting. Particularly, the window box flowers decorating almost all buildings, which were very common in Austria, were wonderful and breathtaking.

The next day, we checked out of the hotel and drove west to Passo Podroi to take a cable car to Sass Podroi, located at an altitude of 2,950 meters above sea level. I was running out of expressions for the beautiful scenery we kept seeing in the Dolomites. 

Our next destination was Canazei, one of three base cities to explore the Dolomites. While we were exploring downtown, we found a cable car that went up to Pecol and further up to Belvedere. Many mountain bikers were also riding the gondolas to take the downslope from the top. 

After we checked out Canazei, we drove down to Lago di Carezza. It is a small lake, but it is popular with tourists because of the emerald color of the lake and its picture-perfect reflection of the surrounding Latemar mountain tops. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the reflection, but the dark emerald color was quite unique and beautiful.

After visiting the lake, we drove to Vigo di Fassa to take a cable car to Champedie to see Rosengartenspitze. The views of the surrounding mountains were fabulous from the chairs in the high plain area. The glowing sunset phenomenon in the almost 3,000-meter-high Alpine folklore is well known, but we could not stay until that late. 

Our next destination was a hotel in Ortisei. On the way via Passo Sella and Passo Gardena, we saw the sign for Val Gardena and Sassolungo. Gardena Valley is the wide area between mountain groups, and Sassolungo is the outstanding mountain that is at the center of Gardena Valley.

 

Our trip to the Dolomites was progressing fast, but our excitement was only rising as the trip progressed. We arrived at our hotel in Ortisei, a condominium called Villa Hubertus. The owner was living in the same building. - Jeffrey