If you really want to experience the mountains and immerse yourself in the alpine world, take advantage of one of the many hut-to-hut hikes or tours available. On a typical hut-to-hut tour, you hike from one mountain hut to another and spend the night in these simple shelters.
Because you move on every day, you will discover a much larger mountain area than on single-day trips. Often, the next hut can be found along the same elevation, meaning that you don’t have to walk through a valley to get to it.
During a hut-to-hut hike, you can clear your head. Although many mountain huts nowadays do have a (simple) internet connection, most of the time you are cut off from civilization. You are hardly reachable by phone, and there are no buildings except for a few mountain huts and alpine huts.
There is only nature, peace and quiet, and space of the mountain landscape around you to relax in the evening in the cozy mountain hut. A hut-to-hut tour is for beginners as well as experienced mountain goats, but which tour you choose depends on your own knowledge and experience.
If you’re asking yourself if this is what you should plan for your next trip, the answer is “Absolutely!” And right now, hut-to-hut hiking adventures are hot and trendy!
Hut-to-Hut Hikes: Things to Consider
When?
Most mountain huts are open in summer from mid-June to mid-October. By that time, almost all snow on the paths will have disappeared, and the access routes for hikers will be open again. Some all-round huts are open all year round. These huts are usually situated a bit lower and are almost always accessible.
Where?
You can go hiking anywhere in the Alps, but a few routes absolutely stand out and every season the huts are full to the brim. These are some of the best options:
Alta Via 1
The Alta Via 1 is the first of a total of 10 Alta Vias in the Dolomites. It was created and marked in the 1960s. That is why it is also called the “classic trail.” Among the Dolomite high trails, the classic trail is the easiest and longest. It runs between 1,500 and 2,800 m above sea level and crosses impressive mountain ranges such as the Fanes Group or the Civetta.
Depending on your preference, the Alta Via 1 covers about 120 km in 9-13 stages from the Pragser Wildsee lake in South Tyrol to Belluno in Veneto. You can hike it completely without a via ferrata. However, there are some routes that include metal cables as handrails in the tougher sections for those hikers itching to see what a via ferrata is like.
On the hike, as in so many places in the Dolomites, you still come across evidence of the First World War. Remains of positions with barbed wire, tunnels, and shelters hewn out of the rock can be seen again and again, especially in the northern part.