Photographing the Dolomites:
A Two-Week Hiking & Photography Guide
Two weeks in the eastern Dolomites, split across two bases – covering the most iconic locations, the quieter walks that deliver just as much, and everything you need to plan the photography trip properly.
The Dolomites are one of the most dramatic landscapes in Europe. Jagged limestone peaks, deep green valleys, and a quality of light that makes even an average afternoon feel cinematic. This guide covers a two-week trip in September, split across two bases in the eastern Dolomites, with the goal of getting the best photography while avoiding the worst of the crowds.
It's written for photographers who want to do this properly: to understand where to go and when, which famous spots are genuinely worth the effort, and which quieter walks deliver just as much without the coach queues. You don't need to be a professional, but you do need to be reasonably fit, the best locations here involve real hiking, some of it steep.
On this page, you’ll find:
1. Trip planning — flying in, hiring a car, where to base yourself, and why you should avoid staying in Cortina
2. Where to stay — the case for AirBnBs in smaller villages, and the two-base strategy that worked well for us
3. Location guides — every place we visited, with honest takes on the hike, the photography, and whether it's worth your time
4. Photography tips — gear, light, compositions, and how to mix iconic spots with hidden gems
5. Practical advice — booking parking, reading the weather, and what to bring
Trip Planning
Two weeks is the right amount of time. One week forces you to choose between the western valleys and the Cortina area — and you'll end up doing only the famous walks, missing the quieter alpine hiking that gives the region its real character. Two weeks lets you split across two bases, explore both sides at a relaxed pace, and keep days in reserve for weather.
Getting there
Fly into Venice Marco Polo — it's the most straightforward option, and the drive into the mountains takes around two hours. Hire a car at the airport; there's no practical way to do this trip without one.
Hire an SUV if you can.
Parking at popular trailheads fills quickly, and you'll often end up on a roadside verge. The extra clearance makes this far less stressful. Whatever you hire, take the most comprehensive insurance available — mountain roads and tight village streets have a way of finding bodywork. We got caught out, successfully claimed it back with the insurance.
When to go
September is excellent. Crowds are thinner than August, temperatures are cool enough for long hiking days, and the autumn light is genuinely beautiful. We had mostly exceptional weather — a few days of rain, which we turned into waterfall walks and gondola days rather than wasted time.
Booking and planning
Some popular trails now require you to book the parking — Tre Cime especially. Turning up without a reservation means waiting over an hour for a coach, which is as frustrating as it sounds.
Use AllTrails for finding the best walks around famous areas, and to find shorter local walks on rainy days. See below for my personal recommendations.
Check the forecast before committing to your best photography walks. Save the iconic spots for the clearest days.
Bring a serious waterproof.
2. Where to Stay
Avoid Cortina d'Ampezzo as a base. It's the most famous town in the Dolomites and priced accordingly — accommodation is expensive, it gets crowded, and you'll struggle to find anywhere with decent views for evening dinners. The surrounding villages give you better access, better value, and a much more authentic feel.
Stay in AirBnBs. Self-catering is the right call for a trip like this — Italian produce is exceptional, cooking your own lunches saves money and means you can eat well on the trail, and having a kitchen gives you flexibility that hotels don't. Even in smaller villages there are good restaurants for the evenings you don't want to cook.
We used a two-base strategy, and it worked well:
Week one — Penia. A quiet village in the Val di Fassa, well-positioned for the western Dolomites. Less famous than the Cortina area, which means less crowded walks and more of that undisturbed alpine feeling. Some excellent hiking on the doorstep, including Lago di Fedaia which was just down the road. We enjoyed this week just as much as the second, despite the walks being less well-known.
Week two — San Vito di Cadore. Our preference of the two. Cheaper than Cortina, a good restaurant, and incredible views — we had a terrace, which made evenings genuinely special. Close enough to Cortina to access all the famous walks easily, far enough away to avoid the worst of the crowds and prices. If you can only do one base, make it here.
What to look for in accommodation
A terrace or outdoor space — evenings in the Dolomites are worth sitting outside for
Kitchen facilities — essential for packed lunches and keeping costs down
Proximity to your priority walks rather than proximity to a famous town
3. The Walks (& Photo Spots)
The locations below are grouped by base — Penia in the west first, then San Vito di Cadore in the east. This mirrors the two-week structure I’d recommend for the trip, and means each group naturally mixes the well-known with the quieter and less visited.
If you're only doing one week, use this as a guide to which base suits your priorities: Penia or simiarl for a more local, less crowded experience with some exceptional scenery; San Vito or similar for access to the Dolomites' most iconic locations without Cortina's prices.
Seceda | Photography & Hiking Guide
Seceda is one of the Dolomites' most photographed ridgelines — and unlike some famous spots, it fully delivers. The iconic view from the cliff edge, with the jagged Odle Towers rising behind and the valleys dropping away below, is as dramatic in person as it looks on every Instagram grid you've seen before visiting.
Getting there
Drive to Ortisei in Val Gardena and take the Col Raiser gondola — €34 return per person, which feels steep until you're standing at the top. It's worth every cent. The gondola skips a long, unrewarding climb and deposits you close enough to the good stuff that the remaining walk to the Seceda viewpoint feels earned rather than exhausting.
The walk
From the top of Col Raiser, follow the trail up to the main Seceda viewpoint — the famous clifftop ridge with the Odle Towers behind you and the valleys of Val Gardena spreading out below. This is the hero shot, and it's every bit as good as you'd hope. One thing to know: the exact clifftop position used for the most iconic compositions has now been fenced off for safety. You can still get excellent shots from nearby, but don't arrive expecting to stand exactly where you've seen it done online.
Also worth knowing — there's a short stretch of the ridge (around 500m) where you'll be charged a €5 fee to pass through. It felt a little arbitrary on the day. You can walk around it to avoid the charge, which we'd suggest unless you're short on time.
Don't turn back at the viewpoint. The return route down through the valleys is where Seceda surprised us most — quieter, less photographed, and genuinely beautiful. The Langkofel massif dominates the view in the opposite direction to the Odles, and the light through the valley in the afternoon was some of the best we found anywhere on the trip. There's a rifugio at the bottom worth stopping at — good food, and a surprisingly photogenic cafe terrace if you're still shooting.
One of my favourite frames from the entire trip was looking back down the cable car from the top station, with the Langkofel looming over it — not a shot you'd plan for, but exactly the kind of thing you find when you slow down.
Practical notes
Take the first gondola of the day if you’re able to — the ridge gets busy and early light is better
Walk up the second leg rather than taking the Fermeda chairlift — it's not long, and arriving at the viewpoint on foot makes it more rewarding
The famous clifftop composition is now fenced off — great shots are still possible, just not from the exact spot
A €5 fee applies to a short ridge section — easily avoided by taking the path around it
The circular route back through the valleys is significantly less busy than the main ridge path
Verdict: One of the best days of the trip. Go.
Piz Boè & Passo Pordoi
If Seceda is the Dolomites at their most elegant, Piz Boè is the Dolomites at their most alien. The landscape up here is vast, rocky, and almost entirely without vegetation — a high plateau of pale limestone stretching toward a summit at 3,152m that genuinely feels like another planet.
Getting there
Park at Passo Pordoi and take the Sass Pordoi cable car — €32 return per person. The car park fills early, but don't panic if it's full — we found free roadside parking a little further along without much trouble. The cable car itself is worth the ride for the views alone.
The walk
From the top of the cable car, the path to Piz Boè is clear and well-marked, though you'll still want a phone for navigation. It's not a long hike in terms of distance, but the altitude makes it tiring — at over 3,000m the air is noticeably thinner, and the heat on a clear September day adds up. Give it a full day rather than rushing.
The ascent gets scrambly and steep near the summit, which is part of the appeal — there's a real sense of achievement reaching the top. The return route loops around the other side, which is easier underfoot and gives you more chance to actually look at the surrounding landscape rather than watch your feet. You pass a small lake on the way back, a welcome surprise in an otherwise austere terrain.
One honest note: Piz Boè is harder to photograph than it is to experience. The scale works against you — it's difficult to convey in a frame just how vast and dramatic the rock plateau is. Don't go primarily for the photography. Go because the hiking is extraordinary and the sense of place is unlike anything else in the Dolomites.
Photography
The best shot of the day wasn't from the summit — it was from the top of the cable car, looking across at the Langkofel from a completely different angle to Seceda. Worth taking your time here before pushing on to the summit. The dramatic canyons and rock valleys below are visually stunning but genuinely difficult to capture — one of those places where you end up putting the camera down and just looking.
Practical notes
Passo Pordoi car park fills early — roadside parking nearby is free and perfectly usable
Allow a full day; the altitude makes it more tiring than the distance suggests
The return loop is easier than the ascent and passes a small lake — don't skip it
Clear path but bring navigation on your phone
Verdict: Not the easiest location to photograph, but one of the most memorable days of the trip. The scale and strangeness of the landscape at this altitude is worth it entirely on its own terms.
Lago di Fedaia
The closest major location to Penia, and one of the most unexpectedly rewarding stops of the whole trip — visually spectacular, and hiding an almost entirely unmarked WWI frontline on the hillside above it.
Getting there
It's right on the doorstep of Penia — a short drive with free roadside parking. Walk across the dam from the main road or take the path around the lake edge.
The walk
After crossing the dam, we scrambled up the mountainside above it — no formal trail, and the path disappears fairly quickly, so this is more of an adventure than a structured hike. What makes it genuinely special is what you find up there: this whole hillside was a WWI frontline, and once you start looking you'll find it everywhere. Trenches cut into the rock, old field kitchens, and we even stumbled across an underground tunnel. The history is extraordinary and almost entirely unmarked — you're just discovering it as you go. The views back down over the dam and the full expanse of the lake from above are excellent.
Photography
The lake is best shot wide. The combination of vivid water colour, the geometric dam, and the mountain looming behind it makes for a classic panoramic frame — unsurprisingly, it works beautifully on an ultrawide monitor. The elevated position above the dam gives you a great angle looking down over the full scene that you can't get from the shoreline.
Practical notes
Free roadside parking, short walk to the dam
The scramble above the dam has no formal path — go with a sense of adventure rather than expecting waymarkers
Worth reading up on the WWI Dolomites front before visiting — the history adds a lot to what you find up there
Verdict: Not the most famous spot on the list, but excellent for panoramic photography and genuinely surprising for the history. A great half-day from Penia.
Cabinovia Alba-Ciampac
The cable car that leaves directly from Penia, and an easy one to overlook in favour of the more famous locations nearby. Don't. Combined with the Sasso di Rocca chairlift at the top, it puts you on a dramatic ridgeline with sweeping views south across the mountains — and once you're up there, you have a menu of ridge walks to choose from depending on your energy and ambition.
Getting there
The cable car departs from Penia itself — no driving required. At €25 return for the cable car and chairlift combined, it's the best value uplift of the trip.
The walk
Plan for around 3–4 hours, though the beauty of this location is its flexibility. The ridge opens up in multiple directions once you're up there, so you can choose your route based on how you're feeling rather than committing to a fixed itinerary. Both the cable car and chairlift sections are steep, but the reward is immediate — the southern mountain panorama is some of the finest scenery of the entire first week.
Photography
The ridgeline compositions here are exceptional — steep drops on both sides and a vast southern horizon. One of my favourite shots from the entire trip came from here: a single mountain peak receding into the distance, the kind of frame that only reveals itself when you slow down and look beyond the obvious foreground.
Practical notes
Departs from Penia — no car needed
€25 return covers both the cable car and the Sasso di Rocca chairlift
Flexible route options once on the ridge — suits any fitness level
Verdict: The most underrated location of the first week. Quiet, dramatic, and right on the doorstep.
Tre Cime di Lavaredo
The most iconic location in the Dolomites, and the one that demands the most planning. Get that right and it's an exceptional day. Get it wrong and you'll spend two hours waiting for coaches. We did it the hard way so you don't have to.
Getting there — book the parking. Seriously.
There are two car parks: the main one near the top, close to the trailhead, and a lower car park at the bottom for everyone who didn't book in time. If you're in the lower car park, you'll need to buy return coach tickets (around €12 per person) and join the queue. We waited over an hour for a coach up. On the way back, the queue looked like over two hours — so we walked down instead, which took an hour on tarmac road at the end of a long day. It was a slog. Book the upper car park. It's the single most important practical note in this entire guide.
The walk
From the upper trailhead the Tre Cime loop is one of the great mountain walks — dramatic at every turn, with the three towers dominating the skyline throughout. We extended the standard loop to take in Rifugio Locatelli, where there are caves worth exploring, before continuing around the far side. Allow a full day.
The undisputed highlight was Punto Panoramico Dolomiti — the famous viewpoint looking in the opposite direction to the Tre Cime themselves. If you've seen a single photograph of the Dolomites, it was probably taken from here. In person it's every bit as extraordinary as you'd expect.
Photography
The Tre Cime themselves are the obvious subject, but the Punto Panoramico is where the real photography happens — arguably the single most dramatic viewpoint in the entire Dolomites. The loop gives you constantly changing angles on the towers, and the extension to Rifugio Locatelli is worth making time for. The caves create excellent opportunities for using the dark rock interior as a natural frame around the mountain views beyond — bring a tripod if you want to expose for both.
Practical notes
Book the upper car park well in advance — without it you're looking at significant coach queues both ways
Lower car park costs standard parking rates plus ~€12pp return coach tickets
The walk down from the upper car park to the lower one is on tarmac road — fine as a last resort but not a pleasant end to a big day
Extend the loop to Rifugio Locatelli for the caves
Allow a full day
Verdict: The most famous walk in the Dolomites, and it earns the reputation. Just book the parking.
Cinque Torri
Five distinctive rock towers rising from a high plateau above Cortina — less dramatic in scale than Tre Cime or Seceda, but a genuinely rewarding location for photographers who enjoy working with geometry and form. This is a place to explore rather than arrive at a single viewpoint.
Getting there
Free parking at the trailhead, which makes a pleasant change. The hike up takes around an hour to an hour and a half at an easy pace — one of the more accessible walks of the trip.
The walk
You can take a gondola directly to the towers, but walk up — the hike is straightforward, not too long, and arriving on foot makes the towers more satisfying when they finally appear. Once you're there, the real pleasure is wandering in among the rock formations themselves. The towers are clustered closely enough that you can move between them, look up at climbers on the faces above, and find your own lines and angles.
Photography
The overcast sky on our visit wasn't ideal for dramatic light, but the geometry of the towers more than compensated. The best compositions came from moving just a few metres to find positions where all five towers lined up within a single frame — small adjustments make a significant difference here. It rewards patience and exploration over a single hero shot. If you can time a visit for golden hour the dramatic light on the rock faces would be extraordinary.
Practical notes
Free parking at the trailhead
Walk up rather than taking the gondola — easy hike, worth it
Go at golden hour if you can — the geometry plus good light would be exceptional
Verdict: Not the most dramatic location on the list, but excellent for compositional photography and a very enjoyable half day. A good one to pair with another location nearby.
Lago di Sorapis
The most physically demanding day of the trip, and arguably the most rewarding. The lake at the top has a colour that stops you in your tracks — an otherworldly, vivid blue that feels almost artificial against the grey limestone. Worth every metre of ascent.
Getting there
Skip the main trailhead and take the Sorapis Loop — the alternative route that starts a little further along the road. Park on the roadside right by the trail start, past all the cars queuing for the main path. The difference in crowd levels is significant.
The walk
The AllTrails description doesn't undersell this one: it's a severe route, steep and scrambly, with a strenuous scree section climbing up through Forcella Marcoira before descending to the lake. No equipment needed beyond good boots and the confidence to scramble — there are ladders and some fun climbing sections that require nimbleness rather than technical skill. The reward for all of this is almost complete solitude on the way up, which after a week of popular trailheads feels extraordinary.
Rifugio Vandelli sits near the lake and is worth knowing about if you want to split this into two days — small dormitory accommodation, shared facilities, €6 for a sleep sack.
The descent to the lake is followed by a return along cliff edge paths with sweeping views of the Cristallo and Sorapis groups — genuinely stunning in their own right, and a very different character to the ascent.
Photography
The lake is the main event. The blue is unlike anything else on the trip — vivid, almost unreal, and you can get right to the water's edge for compositions with the mountain backdrop behind it. The cliff edge paths on the return offer some excellent elevated shots too, but it's the lake that will fill your memory card (or film canister!).
Practical notes
Take the Sorapis Loop alternative route, not the main trail — quieter and more interesting
Park on the roadside past the main trailhead car park
No technical equipment needed but you must be fit, sure-footed and comfortable scrambling
Rifugio Vandelli near the lake makes a two-day version possible
Allow a full day
Verdict: Our most rewarding hike of the trip. The lake colour alone justifies everything it takes to get there.
Cascate di Fanes
A shorter walk that earns its place on the itinerary precisely because of that — when the forecast turns against you, this is the answer. Free parking right at the trailhead, around two hours of walking, and a genuinely impressive waterfall at the end.
Getting there
Free parking directly at the trail start. One of the easiest access points of the trip.
The walk
A relatively gentle two hour walk to the waterfall — short enough to fit around an afternoon of uncertain weather, and a good change of pace after the bigger days elsewhere on the trip. The waterfall itself is impressive in scale, though the flow when we visited wasn't at its most ferocious. A wetter day likely helps here.
Getting down to the base of the falls looks possible but requires via ferrata gear — helmet, harness, carabiners. We didn't have the equipment, so viewed it from above. If you're carrying gear it would be worth attempting.
The via ferrata route looked excellent from what we could see — one to return for properly equipped.
Photography
Good rather than exceptional. The waterfall makes for a solid subject and the surrounding landscape is pleasant, but this isn't a location that will define your trip photographically. Come for the walk and the experience rather than expecting headline shots.
Practical notes
Free parking at the trailhead
Around 2 hours walking — good for a rain day or a shorter afternoon
Reaching the base of the falls requires via ferrata gear — helmet, harness, carabiners
Flow will be more dramatic after rainfall or earlier in the season
Verdict: A solid half day and a smart choice when the weather closes in. Not the most dramatic location on the list, but it earns its place.
4. Photography Tips
The Dolomites are an extraordinary place to photograph, but they reward preparation and intentionality more than luck. A few things we learned across two weeks.
Work around the light if you can
Our trip was primarily a hiking holiday, which meant we were mostly shooting in daylight rather than planning around golden hour. You can still get exceptional results — the landscapes are dramatic enough to carry midday light — but if photography is your priority, structure your days around early mornings and late evenings at the key locations. The quality of light in September is beautiful, and the famous ridgelines at dawn or dusk would be something else entirely.
Shoot panoramics
Some of these landscapes are simply too wide for a single frame. Stitching panoramics in Lightroom is straightforward and the results can be spectacular — Lago di Fedaia in particular lends itself to this treatment. Don't be precious about it; bracket your shots generously and stitch later.
Try black and white
It sounds counterintuitive in a landscape famous for vivid colour, but several of the mountain compositions work beautifully in monochrome. The graphic quality of the rock faces and ridgelines translates well — worth experimenting in post even if you don't shoot it that way in the field.
Bring a polarising filter
Essential for the lake shots. Sorapis and Fedaia both have vivid, highly reflective water — a polariser cuts the glare and brings out the colour in a way that's very difficult to replicate in post.
Consider bringing film
I shot the trip on a Fujifilm XT5 for digital and a Fuji GSW690 medium format film camera for the shots I really wanted to commit to. With only 32 exposures across the whole fortnight, every frame had to earn its place — and that discipline made me more intentional with my digital shooting too. You don't need to shoot film to take that lesson on board: treating a handful of shots per location as your 'considered' frames, and the rest as exploration, is a useful discipline regardless of what you're shooting with.
Don't ignore the details
The Dolomites are so vast that it's easy to spend the whole trip shooting wide. Some of the most interesting frames come from slowing down — a cafe terrace at Seceda, the cave mouths at Tre Cime, looking back down a cable car with a peak beyond. The landscape will look after itself; make sure you're also looking at what's immediately around you.
Tripod
Bring one, but don't feel obliged to use it constantly. It earns its place for long exposures at waterfalls and for careful panoramic work, but for most of the hiking locations you'll be moving too much to set up regularly.
5. Practical Advice
Before you go
Book the Tre Cime upper car park well in advance — this is non-negotiable
Check the forecast before committing to your biggest photography walks and save the iconic spots for the clearest days
Take out comprehensive car hire insurance at the desk — it feels like an upsell until you need it
Download AllTrails maps for every walk before you leave your accommodation — mobile signal in the mountains is unreliable
Getting around
An SUV makes roadside parking significantly less stressful
Popular car parks fill early — arriving late often means roadside parking or coach queues
Driving around the Dolomites is straightforward; parking is the only real headache
On the trail
Bring a serious waterproof — not an afterthought
Carry a portable battery pack if you're relying on your phone for navigation
Pack your own lunch — self-catering from an AirBnB keeps costs down and Italian produce is excellent
Mix famous walks with quieter local ones; the crowds at the iconic spots can erode the alpine feeling you came for
Use AllTrails to find shorter walks on rain days rather than writing off the day entirely
Accommodation
Stay in AirBnBs in smaller villages rather than hotels in Cortina — better value, more flexibility, and a more authentic experience
Look for a place with outdoor space — evenings in the Dolomites are worth sitting outside for
Food
The food isn't as strong as elsewhere in Italy, but there are genuine gems in the smaller villages — worth exploring beyond the obvious options
Pizza in particular can be excellent; don't write off a place for having a short menu or modest reviews
September
Highly recommended — cooler temperatures, thinner crowds, and beautiful autumn light
Expect a few days of rain; plan around them rather than fighting them
