August 2024
Hiking Seceda Ridgeline Circuit Trail – Dolomites, Italy
Seceda Mountain features an absolutely stunning view that is iconic to the Dolomites – the views of the Odle Peaks, which are often compared to a Swiss army knife. And what is even better about visiting is that you do not need to hike for hours to see this stunning view. This also means it is an extremely popular spot for all tourists, not just the active ones. That being said, this was one of our favorite viewpoints of the trip.
From the viewpoint, there are miles of hiking trail available to discover. What is interesting is you cannot see the pasture or the peaks from below so we could not wait to see what was atop this giant mountain top. Visiting Seceda can be an all year round destination where it becomes a ski resort in the winter time and once the snow melts, the hiking trails are available to enjoy.
How to Get There
Getting to the top of Seceda is quite easy though it does come with a hefty price tag. There are two gondolas that take you from downtown Ortisei direction to the top of Seceda. Depending on where you are coming from, you can walk or drive to Seceda Cableway Valley Station, there is limited paid parking on site so arrive early if you need to park (at the time of this post, 2.50 euro / hour).
You can purchase tickets in advance online or at the ticket office. A round trip to the top is 45 euro a person so this is certainly not an inexpensive journey, open in the summer from 8:30AM to 5:30PM. While I am sure many people indeed go to the top to snap some photos and come back down, I do hope you dedicate several hours up here both because it is so beautiful (the hiking is not strenuous) and to make the most out of the value of the ticket.
Once you have your ticket, take the Ortisei-Furnes gondola followed by the Furnes-Seceda cable car to the Seceda Mountain Station at the top. The ride up takes about twenty minutes to reach the top between the two gondola rides. And though you have a great view of Ortisei down below, the top remains a surprise until you get off the gondola at the top. From there, get ready to enjoy the views.
When planning your day, remember that one of the highlights of this trail is visiting all the huts or rifugios along the way. There are several you will pass and you are going to want to stop in for a beverage, snack or even a full meal. So there is a balance of starting the trail early enough to get a parking spot and beating the crowd but also wanting to arrive at the rifiguios when they are open to enjoy. For example, Rifugio Firenze which is often the ultimate destination for hiking at Seceda opens for lunch service at 11:30AM. One benefit is you do not need to worry about packing a lunch as the rifugios have you covered – just make sure to pack cash/euros as while these huts typically accept credit cards, technical issues may occur this high in the mountain tops.
Circuit Trail
There are so many hiking options once atop Seceda – the massiveness of what is up here is almost hard to believe! The pasture is enormous and there is so much going on. You definitely need to come up here with a plan. We followed Moon and Honey’s guide to Seceda and made a few modifications since our last two days of hiking had been quite strenuous – their content is fantastic for anyone planning a trip to the Dolomites.
The Circuit Trail is 8.4 km / 5.2 miles to complete and without stopping it should take about three hours. For us, we stopped at two of the multiple rifugios so our hiking total time was just over four hours. Definitely make sure to budget more time as part of the beauty of this hike is enjoying the stunning views and relaxing at the rifugios. The AllTrails description that is most similar to what we completed can be found here. Note that when you get off the second gondola, you will be at over 2500 meters / 8200 feet in elevation so be mindful of how you are feeling.
| Trail Section | Est Time | Difficulty |
| Seceda Mountain Station to Seceda Summit / Panorama Point | 10 minutes | Moderate |
| Seceda Summit to Pieralongia | 20 minutes | Easy |
| Pieralongia to Malga Pieralongia Alm | 30 minutes | Easy |
| Malga Pieralongia Alm to Rifugio Firenze | 40 minutes | Easy |
| Rifugio Firenze to Seggiovia Fermeda Chairlift | 40 minutes | Easy |
| Seggiovia Fermeda Chairlift to Seceda Mountain Station | 15 minutes | Easy |
Seceda Mountain Station to Seceda Summit / Panorama Point
The first portion of this trail is easy to find but definitely sneaks up in difficulty. Coming out of the gondola station, turn left and go up the hill to the top and follow the signs for the panoramic point. This only takes about ten minutes but it does have a burn to it. This takes you to the summit of Mount Seceda. The view from this spot is wonderful so definitely take time to enjoy it at this location. The views of the Odle Peaks are stunning and so massive.There are several areas to explore to get your favorite photo. There is also a metal circular structure that is actually a map which identifies peaks in the neighboring Alps which are visible on a clear day.
Seceda Panorama Point to Pieralongia
When leaving the summit, follow the trail down the hill and signs for Trail 6 towards Rifugio Firenze. This section takes you across the green field you see from the summit and Panorama Point and eventually switchbacks down into the valley a bit. There are ample spots here as well to capture beautiful photos. The pasture is gorgeous – it is hard to believe it is not a painting but when you look closely and see the highland cows grazing and tiny people moving, it reminds you it is indeed real. This portion is easy and took us twenty minutes but can be done much fast if you aren’t taking hundreds of photos.
Pieralongia to Malga Pieralongia Alm
Once you get to the fence and go through the gate, the next section of this trail has begun and takes you further away from the Seceda Mountain Station. Continue to follow signs for Rifugio Firenze which will be Trail 2B / 1. The landscape slowly begins to change as large rocks begin to pepper the green pasture and the sharp Seceda rocks facade changes. Pieralongia literally translates to “long rock” in Ladin, the local language, which definitely describes this area. At the end of this trail section is the first rifugio of the trail – Malga Pieralongia – where you can enjoy a snack or refreshment. There is a playground here as well and a swing that just makes a beautiful photo. This section is again easy and took less than a half hour to complete.
Malga Pieralongia Alm to Rifugio Firenze
The trail continues on Trail 2B before picking up Trail 13B in the direction of Rifugio Firenze – we were getting close! This is where the scenery changes even more – the rocks are even larger, more other worldly. The green is even a different color here, more rich and dark. Swiss pine trees begin to take over as we descended further into the valley. After 40 minutes, we reached Rifugio Firenze at 2040 meters / 6700 feet which is quite a distance down the valley from where we started at the summit of Mount Seceda at 2518 meters / 8300 feet.
Rifugio Firenze was built in 1888 as one of the first mountain huts in the Val Gardena region. This full service rifugio has a lunch service from 11:30AM to 3PM. This spot was bopping with people at the rifugio seating and around it as well – many people packed blankets to picnic out here. Bikers in addition to hikers make this rifugio their resting place when visiting Seceda. We grabbed a seat and ordered lunch – Kevin and I shared a schnitzel which was delighfult. We stayed for about an half hour before we got back on the road. A few rumbles of thunder got a pep in our step as we did not want a repeat of yesterday’s hike.
Rifugio Firenze to Seggiovia Fermeda Chairlift via Col Raiser
This is where we deviated from Moon and Honey’s guide so we could shorten the time back to the gondola. The elevation difference between where we were and where the Seceda Mountain Station meant there was some intense climbing in our future. By skipping the rest of the circuit, we skipped Lech da Iman, Baita Troier, Baita Sofie Hütte of which this last one has lounge chairs on their lawn with highland cows. If you want more rifugio stops and have the time and energy, definitely complete the circuit as outlined by Moon and Honey. Instead, we took the trail to Col Raiser to the Seggiovia Fermeda Chairlift which would take us 450 meters / 1500 feet back up the mountain in elevation – our legs were grateful. The trail was much farther into the valley so the trail varied in going up and down, passing cows, and rifiguios along the way. Once we reached Almhotel, we followed signs for the chairlift as the trail took us further down into the valley. We followed Trail 4 and 4A to the entrance of the Chairlift.
Seggiovia Sesselift to Seceda Mountain Station
When we arrived at the chairlift, they just stopped for thunder in the area. If the chairlift did not restart, we were in trouble – that climb is no joke. Fortunately the chair lift resumed about a half hour later and we ran back to get on – best 15 euro I spent. The views from the chair lift were so beautiful. While hiking back up to the mountain station is a great option, I am certainly a big fan of this chairlift as a way to finish the day at Seceda. Once off the chairlift, it is a short walk to the Seceda Mountain Station where we begun. All in, this took an hour and a half but would have taken an hour if the chair lift was not down for a half hour.
Visiting Seceda is a must do when visiting Ortisei – there really is nothing that compares to it. The scenery is spectacular and we really enjoyed this hike. By using the chairlift, this ended up being an easy hike that makes for a great five hour adventure. What is wonderful about venturing up to Seceda is the ‘choose your own adventure’ nature of the pasture. Limited on time and just want to see the Summit and Panoramic Point? You can do that. What to hit every rifugio along the trail? Go for it! You could even hike all the way back to Ortisei if you wanted to. There are so many options to explore so take some time to find the journey that is best for your trip.