Alta Via 8 Dolomites Western Traverse: Full Traverse AV8-11

Accommodation

The accommodation along the Alta Via 8 is diverse, with everything from simple mountain huts to a  comfortable spa hotel. Regardless of the package you choose, Ultralight or Classic Package, you can expect to have a mix of different accommodation types, with the majority of nights spent in hotels. This is our only Dolomites itinerary that is longer than 4 days that provide the opportunity to have private rooms every night for customers who book the Classic Package, pending availability, of course. 

While there’s a lot of variation from hut to hut, you can read our Staying in Mountain Huts Webpage for information about the hut experience.

Meals

Breakfast and dinner will always be available at, or near, your accommodation. It is not necessary to carry your own food for these meals. The huts allow us to book half-pension for our customers, which includes a multi-course set menu for dinner (usually with a vegetarian and non-vegetarian option) and breakfast. Drinks are never included. In hotel-style accommodation, we generally do not include dinner, but there will always be a restaurant nearby.

Read about dietary restrictions at the huts

For lunches, there are three options. We recommend planning a combination of these:

1. There are so many huts and towns along the way, that on some days, you’ll have options to sit down for a warm lunch. While this sounds appealing, it is also very expensive and time-consuming. This is not a great option on long hiking days or for slower hikers who are already concerned about covering the planned route.

1. Most huts offer sack lunches that you can bring with you on the trail. We find these to be overpriced and repetitive to breakfast, and this option generates a lot of trash. Most huts do not include picnic lunches in their reservation process, which is why we are unable to book these in advance for you. Sack lunches should be requested immediately upon arrival at the hut for the next day. Huts are generally not very flexible in honoring dietary restrictions with their sack lunches.

1. The third option, and our favorite option, is to bring your own food. It is possible to purchase groceries at a few stops along the way to refill supplies.

Here's what conditions to expect at different times of year:

Late June: Huts are open and routes from the valleys to the huts are clear. Problematic snow may still remain on the passes and at high elevations, and in some years, it may be necessary to bypass certain sections of trail using transportation (which is not convenient and is usually expensive). Even if the passes are clear in time for your hike, they usually clear at the very last minute, and June hikers always have a couple of stressful weeks leading up to their hike as they check webcams and eagerly wait for the snow to melt in time for their hike. In almost every year, it is not possible to predict what trails are going to be like in June until one or two weeks before. This is true even after a winter with low snowfall. 

July and August: Problematic snow can remain on the route through the first week of July, but it is less likely than in June. Beginning the second week of July, trails are almost always clear. Summer settles in and days are usually mostly sunny with an afternoon thunderstorm or two. These thunderstorms rarely interfere with hiking itineraries and are not usually problematic. Of course, thunderstorm safety should be practiced. The wildflowers at the higher elevations should be all out by mid-July. Hiking conditions during this time are often favorable, and it’s a great time to be on the trail.

Early September: The first snow of the winter usually falls in the first week of September. The snow rarely sticks around for more than a day, but the visibility can be very low, making navigation problematic on this one day. Most days in early September are beautiful and perfect, and the thunderstorms are less, but there is a higher risk of snowstorms and conditions that may prevent you from completing your hike during this time. Many hikers have incredible weather in September, but some do not. It’s simply a matter of luck. The later you push into September, the higher the risk that unfavorable conditions (usually snow, but sometimes extremely cold temperatures) can interfere with your hiking itinerary. We notice that customers who are on the trail beyond September 15^th are much more likely to quit their hike early due to conditions. In early September, the wildflower season is mostly over, with the exception of brilliant bursts of fireweed that mark the end of summer. 

In all months, it’s reasonable to expect 1 to 2 rainy days on the trail.

To research more detailed information about average temperatures, precipitation, etc., we recommend checking Meteoblue (go to “History & Climate” and then “Climate (modelled)”) for Compatsch (Trentino-Alto Adige), Passo Lavazè , and Truden.

Read more about Understanding the hut-to-hut hiking season in the Alps.