Day 12 – Lago di Braies & Malga Grünwald

Oct 19, 2022

Today’s Adventure

The next morning we set an early alarm so that we could be out on the lake for sunrise. Our goal was to have the best light from a photography perspective – this is usually the so-called golden hour just before dawn. The lake is set deep in the mountains so your classic long-range sunrise photos aren’t generally possible but the indirect lighting and flat lake surface made for some stellar images early in the day.

One popular internet image of Lago di Braies involves the rowboats that are available for rent on the lake and anchored just offshore. When we reached the beach in front of the hotel we found a row of photographers with tripods set up literally side-by-side, all trying to capture the exact same sunrise shot. Sigh. Cindy and I left the crowd behind and walked part way around the lake. We found our own memories and were back in the hotel for cappuccinos and breakfast long before most of the other photographers had folded their tripods.

After breakfast we went back to the room, packed up, checked out, and started the day’s hike. We followed the main trail along the lakeshore and then at the southern tip we branched off up the Val di Foresta. This trail took us to the Grünwald Alm, a rifugio that is not too far up the valley from the Lago di Braies. It’s a favorite for many reasons including a truly spectacular location.

The Grünwald Alm was busy, but they have plenty of tables outside to handle the steady stream of folks hiking up from Lago di Braies when the weather is wunderbar – and it was definitely wunderbar today with clear blue skies and lots of sunshine. Cindy ordered a Weihenstephan weizen beer from the Munich while I had my usual pils from the local Forst brewery. After taking care of the day’s “Two Beers With A View” photo we sat back to enjoy our lunches. Cindy decided to try their special burger, which included all local ingredients including speck while Stuart tried their Wiener Schnitzel.

After lunch we reversed our course down the Val Foresta to the Lago di Braies, walked back around the lake to the hotel, and then hopped on a bus back to Niederdorf. At Niederdorf we caught a Südtirolmobil regional train to Fortezza where connected with a Trenitalia train headed south to Brixen. We just love it when a plan comes together!

To return to the main page for Brixen click here.

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