The Belluno Dolomites
Half the Dolomites are in the Veneto, and almost all of that in one province.
The province of Belluno has not a metre of plain and contains a very large part of the Dolomites: the Civetta above Alleghe, the Pelmo and the Antelao around Cortina, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo on the border with Alto Adige, the Pale di San Martino towards Trentino, and the Marmolada, which at 3,343 metres is the highest summit of the group.
Since 2009 they have been a Unesco site along with the rest of the Dolomites, and in 1990 the Belluno Dolomites national park was created, covering the southern part, that of the Vette Feltrine and Monte Serva: it is less frequented than Cortina and has a particular flora, with species that survived the ice ages.
Cortina and the valleys
Cortina d'Ampezzo sits in a basin at twelve hundred metres, ringed by walls visible from the middle of the village: it hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956 and in 2026. Around it are Lake Misurina, the Cinque Torri with their restored wartime trenches, the Giau pass and the Falzarego pass. The other valleys are the Cadore, the Agordino, the Zoldano and the Comelico.
Walking
Dolomite high routes one and two start here and are walked hut to hut in a week or a little more. For a single day there is the circuit of the Tre Cime from Auronzo, which is level and which everybody does, the lake of Sorapiss with its blue water, and the Cinque Torri, reached by chairlift.
The campsites of the province are few and seasonal, nearly all between Cortina, Auronzo and the Zoldo valley. From the Venetian coast it is two and a half hours' drive: better to stay a few days than to come for the day.