An Easy Walking Trail for Alpe di Siusi – Dolomites, Italy

August 2024

An Easy Walking Trail for Alpe di Siusi – Dolomites, Italy

Alpe di Siusi is the largest alpine pasture in Europe with over 450 kilometers of hiking trails to explore. And while you can hike to your hearts content, you do not need to hike for hours to see the stunning view. This also means it is an extremely popular spot for all tourists, not just the active ones.

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 Alpe di Siusi is quite easy. There is a gondola that takes you from downtown Ortisei direction to the top of Alpe di Siusi. Depending on where you are coming from, you can walk or drive to Ortisei-Alpe di Siusi Ropeway Gondola Valley Station, there is limited paid parking on site so arrive early if you need to park. This is conveniently located right in downtown Ortisei as well and a short walk over a bridge brings you right to the gondola entrance.

You can purchase tickets in advance online or at the ticket office. A round trip to the top is 32 euro a person so this is certainly not an inexpensive journey, open in the summer from 8:30AM to 6PM. 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-Alpe di Siusi Ropeway Gondola straight to the top to Mont Seuc Gondola Station. The ride up takes about ten minutes to reach the top. 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. 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 Alpe di Siusi – 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. I had marked for us to complete Moon and Honey’s guide to Alpe di Siusi – their content is fantastic for anyone planning a trip to the Dolomites. But we ended up modifying our time here and I was super disappointed that we did not get to complete this – always next time (hopefully!).

The Circuit Trail is 14.4 km / 9 miles to complete and without stopping it should take about four and a half hours without stopping that is easy in difficulty. 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.

Seceda Mountain Station to Seceda Summit / Panorama Point

At this point in the trip, we had multiple days of 20,000+ steps, many miles walked, and even some injuries were sustained. So my plans for completing the circuit as planned at 15 km / 9 mile hike were put on the back burner. But that did not mean we could not go up in the gondola and see what the largest pasture in Europe has to offer.

Instead, we walked a simple and easy 2.6 km / 1.6 miles along the panoramic view trail to the Rifugio Malga Contrin where I regret not getting donuts. Just turn right out of the Mont Secu Gondola station and follow the trail. As you walk further and further away from the gondola station, the views of the pasture get grander. Once you hit the Rifugio Malga Contrin, have a snack with an epic view before heading back to the Gondola station.

This is definitely a family friendly portion of the Alpe di Siusi trail map and it was a bit crowded given how easy it is and the stunning views you get. I would certainly suggest this if you are not looking to do anything too long or strenuous but still want to go up to Alpe di Siusi and see what is going on. Viewpoints are stunning and could be a painting – bring a blanket and take some time to sit, enjoy, and watch the world turn.

Visiting Alpe di Siusi 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. What is wonderful about venturing up to Alpe di Sisui is the ‘choose your own adventure’ nature of the pasture. Limited on time and just want to see the Panoramic Viewpoint? You can do that. What to hit every rifugio along the trail and complete the circuit? 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.

Continue reading about our week in Dolomites here!

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Packing in a carry on? Read the full packing list here!

See our complete itinerary here!

Planning your trip? Check out the Perfect One Week Itinerary to the Dolomites here!