Day 7 – Lago di Braies

Today’s Blog Entry

On Saturday Cindy and I decided to explore the Lago di Braies. The Lago di Braies is a beautiful lake high in the Dolomites not far from our home base in Dobbiaco. The lake is completely frozen now, but in the summer it has the surreal green-blue coloration of other glacier-fed lakes that we’ve seen. Overall the lake reminds us very much of Lake Louise in Canada.

Our day started with a quick bus ride to the neighboring town of Niederdorf where we found the trailhead not far from the train station. The trail led us on a single-lane road up through the trees and across several large farms. In one case we literally went right between the farmhouse and the barn. After another wooded section there was a short descent into the village of Schmieden. At Schmieden we picked up another trail that took us to Oberhaus and eventually Lago di Braies.

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch overlooking the lake from the main dining room of the Hotel Lago di Braies (https://www.lagodibraies.com/en/), a landmark originally built in 1899. We had seats by the window and a great view of the lake and the surrounding mountains. It was easy to see why they call this lake the Pearl of the Dolomites.

After lunch we took a quick stroll out onto the frozen lake, visited the gift shop in the hotel, and then went out front to catch the next scheduled bus back to Dobbiaco.

All told we walked around 6 miles with 1200 feet of elevation gain today – far from our records in either category, but we were both ready for a bit of a break after yesterday’s rather challenging walk. The weather didn’t help either as it was cloudy all day with temperatures in the low 30’s and occasional snow flurries that were expected to change to real snow at just about any time. The snow never did materialize, but we still didn’t want to get too far afield in case it did.

Today’s Map

Today’s Photos

Miscellaneous

The Meals

Breakfast : In the apartment

Lunch : Hotel Lago di Braies

Dinner : In the apartment