23 November 2025
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The sawtooth peaks of the Dolomite mountains slice through the forests of Italy’s north with inverted cliffs, vertical switchbacks and sideways-rising pyramids. Their craggy, geometric spires glow an incandescent pink at sunset — the magic trick of dolomite rock, a phenomenon known as enrosadira in Ladin, a local language. Ladin is still spoken by a minority in this predominantly German region, though this onetime Austro-Hungarian territory has been part of Italy for over a century.
With the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina, the Dolomites are ready to dazzle the world. Once primarily a wintertime favorite of visitors from nearby Austria and Switzerland, the Dolomites have become one of Italy’s most desirable year-round destinations for travelers from across the globe for skiing, hiking, mountain-biking, spa retreats and indulgent eating. Here, mountain life meets gourmet tradition: hearty speck, local cheeses like graukäse and polenta with game sit alongside MICHELIN-Starred restaurants reimagining Alpine classics. After a day on the trails, canederli bread dumplings and a glass of local Lagrein wine feel like the ultimate reward. In short: visit for the peaks — stay for the mountain flavors.
A designated UNESCO World Heritage site, the area maintains its land-first traditions. As you pass through, you’ll see cows, horses and sheep filling pastures that slope up from the roads; dig a little deeper and you’ll find that sustainable practices and renewable energy run the region. It’s an approach that also helps visitors connect with nature, bringing them under the spell of these magic mountains.
There are countless small villages, wilderness slopes and glassy lakes worth visiting, and it’s all very well zipping through the Dolomites by car and stopping at every postcard-perfect viewpoint. But this is also a place to set down your bags for a few nights. Even if you have just two days in the Dolomites, it’s worth taking one to slow down, get your bearings, and let the lay of the land sink in. Watch the colors of the peaks shift with the light, take a morning hike along forested trails and let yourself fully absorb the drama and calm of this majestic landscape. Then continue to Cortina, the ski town whose slopes have attracted Italy’s elegant crowd since the postwar era — and which returns to the Olympic spotlight this winter for the first time since 1956.
Where to Stay in the Dolomites
For a truly immersive and luxurious stay, Forestis Dolomites, a Two-Key hotel, is unbeatable, while Milla Montis, with One MICHELIN Key, offers supreme style and a great spa at more accessible prices. The Parkhotel Mondschein offers a romantic yet affordable urban escape in Bolzano, while the mid-range Faloria Mountain Spa Resort makes an ideal base in Cortina.
Day One
Morning — Head Into the Woods
Drop your bags at Forestis and start your Dolomites adventure in the Puez-Geisler Nature Park — the hotel can arrange a guide — where jagged peaks rise from emerald alpine meadows. Morning hikes wind through pine forests and open ridges, with trails ranging from gentle strolls to more challenging climbs toward the Plose summit, accessible via the nearby chairlift. In winter, these same slopes transform into a playground of groomed runs and quiet snowshoe trails, where the only soundtrack is the crunch of fresh powder underfoot.
Lunch — Go From Huts to Haute Cuisine
Courchevel and its surroundings also claim the highest concentration of Starred restaurants in the Alps, including locally loved spots Many of the mountain’s hiking and skiing paths wind past a baita — an Alpine hut generally serving local stick-to-your-ribs food — and the Dolomites are known for hearty, skillful cooking. These rustic lunch lodges serve canederli bread dumplings, schlutzkrapfen ravioli and Kaiserschmarrn, a dessert of sweet shredded pancakes. Nearby Bressanone (Brixen in German) offers elevated dining options like Elephant, with its traditional stube-style dining room, and the historic Oste Scuro. An hour’s drive will take you to Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler, open for lunch on weekends only, where you can taste the Three-Star cooking of Niederkofler, the “eat the mountain” chef who pioneered the fine-dining reputation of the Dolomites.
3 p.m. — Explore Downtown Tyrol
The medieval center of Bressanone is full of arcaded streets, Tyrolean facades and quaint pastel buildings. Wander among the bakeries and shops lining Laubengasse and head toward the lively Piazza Duomo, where the ornate Duomo di Bressanone traces its origins back more than a thousand years, and the neighboring cloister holds dramatic Gothic and Renaissance frescoes. Don’t miss the nearby Hofburg museum, with beautifully preserved rooms for its collection of religious and historical art.
5.30 p.m. — Don't Miss Forest Bathing
The Dolomites are made for wandering, with trails threading through pine forests, alpine meadows and jagged peaks — but they are just as compelling to behold from a place like Forestis. The hotel’s floor-to-ceiling glass walls turn every moment into an invitation to watch the mountains shift color in the sunlight, whether you’re soaking in the heated indoor-outdoor pool, enjoying a sauna or simply pausing to drink it all in. Here, the landscape isn’t just for crossing off; it’s for slowing down with, letting the peaks and valleys sink into your rhythm. 
8 p.m. — Experience Woods-to-Table Dining
Hotels in the area often have in-house options, like at Forestis, where the dining room is built like an amphitheater of round booths before a giant glass wall facing the mountains. Both breakfast and dinner are included for Forestis guests, served with the hotel’s eminent attention. The hotel also opened a second restaurant on-site last summer: Yera, with a dining room carved into a mountainside cave, is open to both hotel guests and outside visitors, and offers an experience based on forest ingredients.11 p.m. — Gaze Up at the Starry Night
Thanks to the lack of light pollution, the Dolomites offer some of the clearest, most dazzling night skies in Europe. If you’re booking a room at Forestis, be sure to request a suite in one of its towers, where you can lie on the outdoor bed on your terrace and watch constellations wheel above the jagged peaks, before slipping into a larch-lined room for a deep alpine sleep.
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Day Two
Morning — Have Breakfast, But Elevated
If you’re waking up at Forestis, then fuel up with a hearty breakfast, taking in the morning mountain vistas from the amphitheater dining room. Don’t miss the locally made cheeses, house-made croissants and other baked goods before you head off to Cortina. The mountainside roads are windy and narrow, so drive cautiously or hire a driver through your hotel.
10 a.m. — Dip Into Cortina
Cortina is a see-and-be-seen town, with a small center where well-heeled regulars like to take each other in as they stroll in designer après-ski wear and sunglasses. Just five minutes down the road, leave your bags at the Faloria Mountain Spa Resort, which treats guests to architect Flaviano Capriotti’s cozily contemporary design and a 10,000-square-foot spa.
10:30 a.m. — Get Into Your Peak Performance
Cortina earned its reputation as the “Pearl of the Dolomites” for its sought-after ski slopes. In snowy periods, take the lift up to the accessible and iconic Faloria and Cristallo peaks, or head to the Tofane mountain group for expert-level runs — all of which become hiking trails in warmer months. With the Olympics coming, enthusiasm for winter sports is reaching a fever pitch in Cortina, where events such as alpine skiing, curling and bob sledding will be held, and new infrastructure including a luge track, the Apollonio-Socrepes cable car and the Olympic village are to be finished for the Games. Be your own sports star on the slopes or hike the paths of skiing greats.2 p.m. — Tuck Into Alpine Bites
Cortina is a great town for fine dining, much of it in the cozy ambience of wood-paneled stuben — the traditional Alpine dining rooms found in historic inns and restaurants, now transformed by ambitious chefs into some of the most exciting places to eat in the Dolomites. Near Faloria, the family-run Baita Fraina, today in its third generation, serves inventive takes on local specialties. Meanwhile,Tivoli and Alajmo Cortina offer exquisite contemporary cuisine in timber-lined, antique dining rooms close to the Tofane slopes.
4:30 p.m. — Book a Spa With a View
Whether you’re a hotel guest or not, after a big day of sports and food, book some time to unwind in the Faloria sauna with a view of the mountains you now know so well, then dress to impress for an evening in Cortina.6 p.m. — Take a Tyrolean Passeggiata
Time to peruse the town center, lined with both luxury boutiques and shops selling traditional Tyrolean wear. As Cortina’s heart is only a few blocks long, you’ll see the same denizens looping back and forth through town, taking a look at who’s around and working up an appetite for dinner. Pause for an aperitivo drink at Hotel de la Poste’s American bar — a favorite haunt of Ernest Hemingway.
7:30 p.m. — Get to Know the Mountain Stars
You’ll want to arrive early enough to catch the last sunlight at Larieto, home to a pair of restaurants doing some of the most exciting culinary work in the region. High in the mountains at 1,800 meters (nearly 6,000 feet), Chef Riccardo Gaspari and his wife, restaurant director Ludovica Rubbini, have transformed what began as a small alpine animal farm into SanBrite, a MICHELIN-Starred restaurant inside a converted barn. Nearby, its more casual sibling El Brite offers à la carte dishes of mountain fare in a timber-walled dining room. Vegetables come from the garden outside; cheese, butter, and other dairy products from the cows and goats grazing the pastures here — and both restaurants have earned MICHELIN’s Green Star for their innovative work around sustainability. Digest with a local amaro and have a good look at the stars before heading back to the Faloria to sleep off Gaspari’s exceptional cooking.Hero Image: The dazzling Gallina mounatin pass at sunset in the Dolomites, Italy. © Cortina Marketing
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