I had to talk Gayle into this Summit Hike of Schlern (AKA the Witch's Mountain) on Day 2 of our…read morevisit to the Alpe di Siusi or Seiser Alm. We started at the top of the Seiseralm Bergbahn at Compatsch, continued up the Spitsbuhl Chair, meandered through the Saltner Dairy Farm, and then went straight up ~2000 feet (with switchbacks) just past the Saltner Hutte. Gayle still calls this the Death March, as this 12 mile (round trip) journey went slow but sure up the Hill. The ultimate insult was near the top, where a small grey dog passed her up while giving her a dismissive "look". Gayle also didn't appreciate lagging behind while her "mountain goat" husband clamored up the mountain (without poles). The payoff was the Rifugio Bolzano, where we were able to go inside, get warm, and enjoy a good meal and an adult beverage. Tip: Stick to the German selections rather than the Italian options. The sausage, bread, and potatoes are really good in the South Tyrol and you can always have pasta in other parts of Italy at another time. Service was good and I left the Schlernhaus with a real appreciation on what it takes to keep such a remote sanctuary seasonally going. You can stay overnight here too and maybe continue on to the next hut (Alpe di Tires), but suggesting that would have been seriously pushing my luck. From this dramatic setting, we also enjoyed the stunning views of the Rosengarten range. Oh Wow! was a repeated understatement. We walked down the mountain happy and with a real sense of accomplishment. That good will evaporated at the bottom, when Gayle discovered that we had about 5 km left to walk to get back to Compatsch. At that point, my dear Wife started jabbing her poles into the air, while shouting "Stupid Stupid Stupid!". Yet, with the beauty of Seiser Alm, we continued on and with the promise of another good meal in Castelrotto/Kastelruth and our comfortable room at the Hotel Cavallino d'Oro waiting for us to enjoy and cherish our experiences.

We were stoked when we finally made it here to Rifugio Balzano, as we had hiked around 10 miles…read morealong the ridge of the mountains above Seiser Alm by the time we finally made it here. It was pretty packed when we showed up, and we were lucky enough to snag a table just as another party was leaving. There's a smaller, more intimate room that we were in, as well as a larger dining area that had higher ceilings and was filled up. Like most of these spots, you simply need to get the waiter's attention, and they will bring over menus and eventually grab your order on their electronic tab-keeper (not sure that's quite the right word for it). The waiters were quite nice and able to accommodate requests (e.g. one of our friends wanted an egg on the side for her salad), and the food did some out relatively quickly. That said, I will say that we were pretty disappointed in the food here, especially since we had passed up a rifugio several miles back because the food here was apparently better. The speck was brought out simply as a chunk, forcing us to slice it by hand (not easy, given how thick it is) and definitely degrading our enjoyment of it, as our rough, thick slices were nowhere close to the soft, pillowy slices produced by a proper cutting machine. We noticed another party complaining about the presentation when it was brought out, so this was not something particular to us. As for my main, the spaghetti al pomodoro was very uninspired, with the biggest issue being that the pasta was soggy and cooked just like it would be in the U.S. Even at the cheap eats in Italy, my experience had been that the pasta was still prepared in excellent fashion, but at least here, it was cooked like the place knew they were serving hungry tourists. The tomato sauce was very bland, and the cubes of mozzarella were rubbery and devoid of flavor. The house red wine was too jammy and uninspiring, just like the rest of the meal. In all, while this might be a great place to hunker down if you are staying overnight, this was by far the worst meal we had during our time in the Dolomites, whether at a rifugio or at a restaurant. You don't have many other choices (you are on top of a mountain ridge, after all), but I would certainly have given Rifugio Alpe di Tires (the one we stopped by earlier) a closer look instead.

Had lunch at Rifugio Lavaredo during our hike of Tre Cime, and it was a very welcome meal. Service…read moreis fast and friendly, even with a very packed restaurant. Their menu offers a wide variety of options - we got a sandwich, salad, and grilled turkey. My friend who got a cappuccino said it was the best cappuccino of our trip. Food was pretty straight forward but with good flavor. Only downside is that their bathrooms are paid, but leave a LOT to be desired (squat ground toilets, messy and smelly).

More like a Hostel than a Hotel... Front Desk Staff was…read morefine. Rooms were modern, bathrooms large. Beds were foam on slats.... a bit hard for this gal. To say it was clean might not have been accurate... the bathrooms were clean, the floors were not. They ran out of towels on our second day... and yes we were reusing what we could. The cleaning staff was quite irritable.... but the seemed overworked. The breakfast had a large selection of pastries, meats, and bread... but lacked the freshness we had seen previously. The coffee sucked, one had to stand at this one-and-only machine and run thru several cycles to get a medium cupful. The grounds were not fresh. The new guests would become quite irritated, but they would find out quickly that this was the only way. We booked late for this area, many Italians run for the mountains for the month of August. I was just glad to get to experience these gorgeous Southern Alps. Clean and dry... we were!

Great for socialising, staff were exceptionally involved with the customers, excellent vibe…read more Staying at Hostel Marmota was a pleasant experience. It is located just near the second-last stop of Tram 3. So connectivity to the hostel is very good. The room was very clean, well ventilated, spacious & mountains-Innsbruck facing. The bathroom/toilet was attached to the room & was also clean. The hostel has very good big kitchen on the ground floor which was very useful for us for cooking. The staff was also very helpful. Price-wise also its quite affordable. Overall a very nice experience.