Hiking around Lago Di Braies

Today we hiked the full loop around Lago Di Braies, which was a relaxing three mile jaunt.

We started our day with a quick to go coffee from a local cafe, and then immediately hit the road as we’d heard Lago Di Braies parking fills up fast. Upon arriving we were impressed by how busy it was for only being 9am, but there was still plenty of parking left.

At the start of our hike around the lake there is a boat rental station which is what has made this spot “instagram famous”. For 60 euro you can rent the boat for 45 minutes to take pictures on the lake. We opted not to do this, but there was a line of people down the side of the lake waiting for a rental, and we saw later in the day that every single boat was not only rented, but that there was the same size line waiting for a boat as they came in.

Our hike around the lake was super relaxing, and was quite picturesque. Interestingly, parts of the lake were filled with hordes of tadpoles(thousands!) which reminded Chelsea of her time growing up in New Jersey.

The back half of the lake was fun to hike around as there was a significant elevation gain, with waterfalls falling down the side of the rock face we hiked along. Ultimately by the time we were getting to the end of the hike the lake was VERY busy with tourists everywhere and all parking full, so we opted to head back to our apartment.

At home we had a relaxing afternoon, cooking both lunch and dinner and enjoying our second to last day in the Dolomites. To our surprise we were greeted by a torrential thunder and lightning storm, so we enjoyed that with a bottle of Lambrusco on our balcony!Read more