Dolomites in April: 2 days in snowy paradise

Dolomites in April can be a hit and miss. Well, even Dolomites in spring, really.

These mountains in the north of Italy are, well, mountains, which means that there is quite an equal chance of warm weather and snowy everything.

I knew this very well when planning my trip to Dolomites with my friend. It was clear to both of us that a lot of things that I’d like to do might not be possible, as the mountain passes and trails might still be closed.

And, well, that’s how it went – we couldn’t or just wouldn’t do most of the things that I wanted.

BUT!

We still managed a lot. And the main thing – we found some hidden gems that were just amazing.

See for yourself!

Arriving to Dolomites

Since my friend flew to the Vienna airport, I picked her up from there with my car and we travelled on to Dobbiaco, Italy. This meant a whopping 6 hours of driving!

I chose Dobbiaco (Toblach in German) as the place to stay for our trip to the Dolomites in April as it’s quite close to most of the places I wanted to visit. Plus, there are shops and nice restaurants around which are open the whole year. Perfect!

On the way, we stopped at one of my favourite rest stops on this route – Marche Worthersee. The restaurant is expensive and not that great, but the view, as you can see, is amazing.

Then on to Italy!

The way we took had some quite magnificent views.

Since it was still snowing this April in Dolomites and, well, the Alps both in Austria and Italy, the snowy tops of the mountains made them that much more impressive.

Unfortunately for the driver (me, haha), it’s not so easy to enjoy them. The roads are quite wibbly wobbly.

But we made it! And it was definitely worth it.

Welcome to Dobbiaco – or Tobblach, as it’s known in German.

What are the Dolomites

The Dolomites, or the Dolomite mountains or Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a quite dramatic mountain range in North-East Italy that ranges from the Adige River to the Piave River. There are 10 natural parks protecting the area, with countless hiking trails for all levels and abilities, museums, viewing platforms, and immeasurable beauty all around.

The mountain range is located in the regions of Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (South Tyrol) and Friuli Venezia Giulia. It goes all the way to lake Garda and on good days, you can see them when driving next to Venice.

You might also like: Dolomites and other interesting short trips from Venice

In June 2016, they were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List “for the beauty and uniqueness of their landscape and their geological and geomorphological importance.”

As the name suggests, the Dolomite mountains are made of the material dolomite, which makes them look quite pale. And they offer a ton of Alpine lakes, mountain rivers, and mountain trails to enjoy, for every taste.

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After settling in in our apartment – Haus Greg in Dobbiaco, we headed out to dinner at the nearby restaurant called Winkelkeller. It was a very tasty experience, let me tell you, so I can definitely recommend it to you if you end up going to Dobbiaco.

Then back off to the hotel. It gets dark quite early in Dolomites in April so we were treated to some nice views on the way!

Our first day in Dolomites in April

Although the weather forecast was saying that it was going to be cloudy and rainy/snowy, we woke up on the first day of our trip with the sun shining. Perfect!

After breakfast, our first destination was, obviously, lake Braies or Pragser Wildsee.

It’s called the jewel of the Dolomites and is one of the most Instagrammed lakes in the world. And that’s for a very good reason – the lake is magnificent!

Lago Braies is located at the altitude of 1469m above sea level and is turquoise-green in colour… unless you visit the Dolomites in April or early spring, as that’s when most of it is covered by a layer of snow.

Quite a deep one, actually.

But anyways, on our trip, we got a bit of a glimpse of the actual colour of the lake from the Braies river – and it’s gorgeous, isn’t it?

Since it’s such a popular destination, there are always loads of people at lake Braies. Wherever you look, it’s full.

There’s a trail going around the lake, with climbing actually possible as well.

We wanted to go all around, but there was a sign saying that the trail was closed. Although someone had put it aside and it looked like people were going around the lake, we didn’t want to risk it.

So we went right back and to the other side of the lake.

The trail is quite good even for strollers, so if you’re taking a family trip to the Dolomites in spring, don’t worry about enjoying lake Braies.

There’s even a hotel right at the lake. And a gorgeous little church and a café, and a souvenir shop.

As I said, Braies is very popular with tourists and locals alike. However if you visit the Dolomites in April, it’s possible to catch some views without people – or with little people.

What’s the weather like in the Dolomites in Spring?

Well, as I mentioned, the weather can be warm or cold. It depends on where you go, of course, and on how the spring is going. That’s what generally happens in the mountains, though.

The higher you go or the earlier in spring you go, the bigger the chance that it will be cold and snowy.

So, in march, wherever you go, it will most probably be snowy and cold.

May, on the other hand, can be quite warm and sunny, even in the higher altitudes.

April can go either way, so make sure to check the weather forecast… often. And especially the morning before you go on your trip so you can repack if needed.

Overall, if you’d like to visit the Dolomites in April or Spring in general, make sure to check out the specific destination you’d like to go to at the specific time. And, well, even if the weather forecast says it’s going to be warm, make sure to pack some warmer clothes as well; and vice versa.

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After enjoying Lake Prags (yes, it has many names) for a few hours, we went on to look for another beautiful turquoise lake that I saw on a map – lake Valdaora.

I didn’t know anything about this little beauty, just found it randomly on Google maps. So we were going blindly, haha. There was no official parking, so we just drove from one end to the other of it. I tried to access it on some smaller roads, but it was wayyy too scary for me.

Luckily, my friend had noticed some kind of parking spot on the side of the road so we went there!

And down a steep and narrow forest trail…

Right to this beauty.

Lunch time!

Since we stayed in an apartment and had a kitchen, we decided to save on a meal and have a picnic.

A picnic next to a calm lake with gorgeous views – what can be tastier?

The water was very cold, by the way, as it generally is in the Dolomites in April, but I just had to try it.

After enjoying the lake for a bit, we moved on!

Just as an accident, after crossing a bridge, I noticed a kind of parking spot just on the side of the road. We had to stop and look for the river that we just crossed!

And of course, we found it. Less impressive than we thought it would be, but still.

As the next stop, I had planned lake Misurina. I knew there was quite a big chance that it would be rather not impressive since there was quite a lot of snow all around, I wanted to try.

On the way, though, we saw a parking spot and decided to check out the views around it. Of course, as everywhere in the Dolomites, they were quite nice!

The mountains are impressive wherever you look.

Well, I was right about lake Misurina, though. No view, haha. Just a lot of snow and clouds. When planning our Dolomites 2 day itinerary, I was thinking of going to lake Antorno as well, but since it’s even higher up in the mountains than Misurina, we let it pass.

Well, since Lake Misurina turned out to not be that impressive, we took a couple of quick pictures and decided to drive back.

As you can see, the views are rather beautiful wherever you look.

The next lake I took my friend to? It’s called Lago di Landro, and it looks much better when the sun is shining on the water, haha.

I still like the colour, though.

But you know one place that everyone has to see when in Dolomites? The symbol of these mountains – Tre Cime di Lavaredo or Drei Zinnen. And you know what was not possible this April in the Dolomites? Going up to the parking where the trailhead is for the best views, as it’s closed due to snow.

It’s good that there’s a viewpoint, though. So that’s where we went.

On thing about spring in the Dolomites is that many of the rivers are still dry, as you can see.

That’s because the water in them comes from the snow in high altitudes – which might not still be melting. Later in the spring or at the beginning of summer they’ll be full and have some rapids.

What to do in Dolomites?

There are many things to do in the Dolomites, especially if you visit in the main seasons which are Summer and Winter.

Winter is good for all kinds of winter sports, such as skiing, snowboarding, and even tobogganing.

In the summer, on the other hand, Dolomites become quite of a hiker’s paradise. There are many trails available for all kinds of shapes and sizes.

The shoulder seasons are a bit trickier. Depending on the weather, it might be good for hiking or for winter sports. Or, as in our case, for having a little bit of a road trip in Dolomites and enjoying the views.

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After having enjoyed the view of Tre Cime for a bit, we moved on to the next lake on our Dolomites 2 day itinerary which was – lake Dobbiaco.

It’s actually one of my favourites in the Dolomites. As beautiful as Braies is, this is so much more peaceful and offers that typical mountain lake view that you expect.

The water is as turquoise as it should be.

And of course, we found a river! And this one even had some water!

After that, it was time to go back to the hotel – being outside the whole day is quite tiring, really.

Two things I didn’t want to leave without were a cup of Bombardino and a cannolo – they are perfect for winter, which this April in the Dolomites definitely felt like. Accomplished!

Second day in the Dolomites

For the second day of our road trip in the Dolomites, I had quite some plans. I’d planned a 6h circle from Dobbiaco through different mountain passes and with stops at different lakes back to Dobbiaco. And those 6h were shown by Google Maps, which means that the whole trip would have been like 12h!

But when eating breakfast, we decided that it was a bit too extravagant of a plan and settled for just a couple of places. The previous day was already so full of impressions that we wanted something easier and more relaxing. So we decided to look for rivers right there near Dobbiaco!

We got into the car and drove towards Cortina d’Ampezzo. It’s one of the most popular ski resorts in Northern Italy and arguably one of the most beautiful little towns in the Dolomites. Actually, at first, I planned that we’d stay in Cortina, but there wasn’t any accommodation there that I’d really like.

We knew that the river Boite was running just by the road and had checked out some parking spots along the way on Google maps.

But first, I wanted to get that “proper” colour of Lago di Landro, but nope, no sun to shine on that turquoise water again.

I did get to take a picture with the wheel which I somehow didn’t notice the day before! And the water kind of looks like it does on a sunny day!

And we checked out the lake on the other side of the road which had an incredible green colour.

When is the best time to visit the Dolomites?

Well, it generally depends on what you’d like to do.

The best time of the year for hiking is definitely going to be the summer months. Even at the end of May, it might be possible to hike. But the best time for hiking in the Dolomites is going to be the middle of June until September.

The shoulder seasons, which are spring and autumn, are good for road trips and exploring the lower altitudes of the Dolomites. Unfortunately, the higher elevations might not be accessible yet or already due to snow. But there are still tons of things you can explore, especially different mountain passes.

Winter, obviously, is the best for different kinds of sports you can do in the snow. Skiing, snowboard, there are a lot of them available in the Dolomites. The ski resorts are generally open from December until sometimes even March.

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Back to looking for rivers in Dolomites.

Our first random stop for finding a river, though,  didn’t work out – although Google Maps showed that there’s a river close by and that you can drive towards it, there was only a very narrow HIKING trail there and the hike would take like 2h one way. Nope, we wanted relaxing!

So on we went! The map showed a parking near the Cortina d’Ampezzo airport (airstrip is a better word though). And we got lucky! There was a river we could get to.

Awesome!

Next, we decided to go to a free parking lot in Cortina. Yup, if you’re ok with walking for a bit (uphill, I might add), you can park for free. Otherwise, it’s rather expensive to park in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

We went down to the river there, which had a rather scary bridge over it.

As we could see that the road continued and someone actually walked there, we decided to check it out as well. And boy were we happy that we did!

The view was magnificent. Definitely worth the cardio.

Cortina itself was nice to see, too, as it’s your typical mountain town that you can just find in the Austrian and Italian Alps.

And the lunch that we had in Il Vizietto di Cortina was very tasty, too. Even though the restaurant still had Christmas decorations up – may I remind you, we visited Dolomites in April.

After filling up, we felt so tired that we wanted to just relax in Dobbiaco or maybe go to the lake Dobbiaco instead of looking for whatever.

How much does a trip to the Dolomites in April cost?

Our short trip to Dolomites (and Slovenia, and Austria) cost approximately 600euro per person, but of course, no two trips cost the same.

The three nights in Haus Greg cost 476 euros. We spent one more night in a hotel by the lake Worthersee, though (130euro).

Altogether, we drove 1500km, and the fuel cost approximately 120 euros for the two tanks of gas. Yes, my car is very economical, I love it! But we drove from Slovakia and back, so keep that in mind.

As for the food, it was only 2 meals in restaurants, the rest we cooked ourselves. One meal in a restaurant for 2 people costs approximately 50 euro, and in the stores, we spent approximately 100euro. So food (and wine, obviously) costs were 150eur.

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We were just driving back to the hotel and looking for some rivers on google maps, when I decided to let some faster cars park in a pocket on the side of the road.

There, we noticed this sign:

So we decided, ok, let’s go and check!

At that point, some regrets were had, as the road was quite scary.

After parking and not seeing really anyone else besides a man raking the road (yes, exactly), we followed the signs for “Forra del Felizon”.

We found this waterfall which didn’t exactly have any water.

The images on the signs (and on Google maps) made us realize that maybe Dolomites in April are not exactly the best time to see fancy waterfalls, but oh well.

Still, we decided to continue on the trail and see what’s available further down, as we could see that there should be some river – the same one that we saw by the Cortina airport, actually, which gave us hope for a river with water.

And we were so incredibly happy that we continued! As we found out, river Boite right there has quite the correct amount of water to enjoy it closely!

We ventured on by the river and ended up in a gorge. I believe it’s full of water later on, so it wouldn’t be possible to walk right here.

The cliffs are high and the water – clear as a day.

We actually spent a few hours here, just enjoying the water, taking pictures, and looking around.

My friend even walked in the freezing cold Boite river!

I wasn’t so brave – I only managed to dip my feet in a bit. But for me that’s actually an achievement – this was the first time in my life that I stepped into a mountain river!

This was the most perfect accidental find we could have managed.

It was incredible, with the views, the waterfalls, and altogether atmosphere. And judging by the (lack) of people there, it’s quite a hidden gem – especially if you’re visiting the Dolomites in April like we were.

And in the end, for the first time on our trip, we got to see the Dolomites coloured in orange and red during sunset – the perfect goodbye.

So, in summary about this trip to Dolomites in April

I think our trip to the Dolomites really did work out nicely. Of course, we didn’t get to do quite a few things – I wanted to see the Tre Cime or hike to Lake Sorapis, for example. We did those trails in the summer, but when visiting the Dolomites in April, you have to keep in mind that there can still be snow – which means that many hiking trails are inaccessible.

But still, what we did see and get to enjoy was quite incredible. It’s one of my favourite places to visit in Northern Italy, and I think it should be on almost everyone’s bucket list.

What do you think?

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