Day 11 – The Kronplatz & Lago di Braies

Oct 18, 2022

Today’s Adventure

On Tuesday we started another overnight adventure. Our getaway to Lago di Molveno turned out so well we decided to try the same trick with visits to the Kronplatz (a major ski area) and Lago di Braies, a spectacular mountain lake hidden in the Fanes-Sennes-Prags Nature Park.

The Kronplatz (Plan de Corones in Italian) is nestled between the Val Badia and Val Pusteria just south of Bruneck. It’s a massive mountain that rises to 7,500 feet above sea level and has an unusually flat and open summit, at least for this part of the world. The gentle dome shape of the Kronplatz is perfect for skiing and, as you might imagine, offers beautiful views all around. There are 32 lifts servicing the 60 ski trails that make up this resort, with major cable cars heading off the summit in just about every direction. Obviously the Kronplatz was not yet open for skiing during our visit, but preparations were definitely underway with numerous cable cars and chairlifts undergoing maintenance.

We arrived at the Kronplatz via a combination of trains from Brixen to Fortezza and Fortezza to Bruneck followed by a Südtirolmobil bus from Bruneck to the base station for the Gondelbahn Kronplatz. From there an enclosed cable car, the Kronplatz 2000, took us on a scenic ride to the top of the mountain. Once on top we hunted around until we found Trail B, the Rundweg Corones, and set off to make a circuit around the summit. Unfortunately unmarked trail segments and intersections made it all too easy to get lost, and we weren’t alone given the number of other people walking around with maps in their hand and confused looks on their faces. Fortunately the terrain was open so we had a good general idea of where we wanted to go.

After completing what was essentially 1-1/2 circuits around the summit of the Kronplatz we dropped down below the Kronplatz 2000 to the Kronplatzhütte (Rifugio Plan de Corones in Italian), a classic wooden mountain lodge that stood in stark contrast to the other modern, concrete structures scattered around the ski area. The reason for this contrast may well be that the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI) owns and operates this facility for their membership. We found a nice table in the sun and anjoyed a pleasant lunch while the cable cars passed by overhead.

Following lunch we linked together a ride down the mountain via cable car, a bus back to Bruneck, a train to Niederdorf, and finally another bus to the Lago di Braies, a stunning lake set deep within an alpine valley. We first visited Lago di Braies in the winter during our January 2020 visit to the Dolomites. The lake was completely iced over during that first visit, so it was very interesting this time around to see the same landscape complete with the lake’s classic blue-green color and with the larch trees showing their autumn finery.

In recent years Lago di Braies has become one of the must-see destinations in the Dolomites. It has turned into a Mecca of sorts for the Instagram crowd with countless people trying to capture the exact same images that have already been shared countless times on the web (yes, I have an opinion on the subject). This unfortunately means that there can be significant crowds so we timed our visit for mid-week to try to avoid the worst of the circus.

We also decided to spend the night in the iconic Hotel Lago di Braies (https://www.lagodibraies.com/en) so that we’d be able to enjoy both a sunset and a sunrise without too much interference from the day-trippers – this turned out to be a great strategy and is highly recommended for anyone interested in visiting the lake.

The Hotel Lago di Braies, built in 1899 and operated by the same family ever since, is a classic lakefront tourist hotel. Think the Chateau Lake Louise but on a much smaller scale mixed with the worn edges of your favorite National Park Lodge and a healthy dose of Kellerman’s from ‘Dirty Dancing’. There’s even a little bit of the Overlook Hotel from ‘The Shining’ thanks to the creaky wooden floors and some dark history from the closing days of World War II. We were happy to see that the owners have made significant investments in the hotel since our 2020 visit and think that they are positioning themselves well for continued success.

We arrived at the Hotel Lago di Braies in the late afternoon after most of the day’s crowd had thinned out. We checked in, dropped our backpacks in our room, and headed out for a relaxed walk on the Giro del Lago, i.e. the hiking trail around the lake. This allowed me to capture some golden hour images without a lot of people around and made sure that we had a good appetite for what promised to be a nice dinner.

After our warm-up hike we returned to the hotel and relaxed in the lounge for a while before moving into the dining room for an excellent fixed menu dinner. Our lodging was half board so the dinner included a selection of antipasti, two options for primo piatto and secondo piatto, and then dessert (of course). We both chose the fish for our secondo piatto so we paired our meal with a nice bottle of local white wine. Overall it was a classic Italian presentation and we appreciated the smaller servings that allow you to enjoy a bit of everything.

We then adjourned upstairs for a well-earned night’s sleep to rest up for the second day of this outing.

To return to the main page for Brixen click here.

To return to the main page for the entire trip click here.