Rifugio Nuvolau to Rifugio Città di Fiume

Alta Via 1 · Stage 5

13kmStage distance
430mMapped ascent
5Stage number

The way down from Nuvolau towards Passo Giau has a rock step with a ladder and fixed ropes, graded EEA by the official guide; OpenStreetMap maps about 160 m of it as via ferrata.

Best season: Late June to late September, while the huts are open. The official guide gives the end of June to the end of September. The huts open in June and close between 20 and 30 September in 2026, each on its own dates, shown beside each night. Snow can lie on Forcella del Lago, the Vant dei Piazedìai and the Marmol gully early in the summer, and the guide warns of early snowfall and icy ground in September; after the huts close it says to carry a tent and a sleeping bag. Before you go

Rifugio Nuvolau to Rifugio Città di Fiume

Loading topographic map…
2,000m2,100m2,200m2,300m2,400m2,500m02 km4 km6 km8 km10 km12 km13.2 km2,529m1,917m
Flat (<5%) Gentle (5–10%) Moderate (10–15%) Steep (15–25%) Very steep (>25%)
Green: Rifugio Nuvolau to Rifugio Città di Fiume. Grey: full trail. Elevation follows this mapped track.

Rifugio Nuvolau to Rifugio Città di Fiume

5 / 12
GPX

Where this stage starts and ends

Facts read from the operators' own pages and OpenStreetMap on 16 September 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with the hut before you rely on a date or a bed.

Stage start

Rifugio Nuvolau

Staffed mountain hut · 2,575 m

An Instagram excerpt embedded on the same homepage says rooms are open until 21 September; the page text says 20 September. Confirm the last night with the hut. rifugionuvolau.it, read 16 September 2026

Season
2026 20 June 2026 to 20 September 2026 (partly published) Rooms until 20 September 2026 and restaurant and bar at lunch until 27 September 2026 are stated on the site. The opening date comes from the OSM opening_hours tag ('Jun 20-Sep 20 Camere aperte'), not from the operator's page. rifugionuvolau.it, read 16 September 20262027 20 June 2027 to 20 September 2027 The refuge plans to open from 20 June to 20 September 2027. rifugionuvolau.it, read 30 September 2026
Places
Number of places not published · Restaurant meals Summer only; reachable only on foot. The oldest hut in the Dolomites, built 1883.
Booking
Book online Online booking on the site; 2027 bookings open in January 2027 (no day given). The phone is active only in the opening months.
Contact
Official site +39 0436 867938

OpenStreetMap Wikidata

Stage end · overnight

Rifugio Città di Fiume

Staffed mountain hut · 1,917 m · Intramont SRLS

Season
2026 13 June 2026 to 27 September 2026 Also opens for some winter periods; the site listed Christmas 2025 and New Year 2026 programmes. rifugiocittadifiume.it, read 16 September 2026
Places
20 places in total · Half board offered Four rooms, 20 beds. Half board covers dinner, the night and a buffet breakfast.
Booking
Booking request Overnight booking request form. Lunch is not reservable; the kitchen serves 12:00 to 15:00.
Contact
Official site +39 0437 720268

OpenStreetMap Wikidata

What the operators say about this leg

Neither hut states a time for the whole stage. Rifugio Nuvolau gives about 2 h 15 down to Passo Giau on paths 439, 464 and 452; Rifugio Città di Fiume gives 4 h from Passo Giau on path 436. rifugionuvolau.it, read 16 September 2026

Technical grade along this stage

Hardest graded terrain: T3 demanding mountain hiking, 0.84 km in total. The longest such stretch runs from km 0.88 to km 1.64.

0.23 km has no grade tag in OpenStreetMap. Treat it as unknown, not as easy.

0.16 km of the mapped line is tagged as via ferrata. That needs a harness and a lanyard set, or a variant.

0 km13.17 km
  • Not graded in OSM · 0.23 km
  • T1 hiking · 1.62 km
  • T2 mountain hiking · 10.49 km
  • T3 demanding mountain hiking · 0.84 km
  • Via ferrata · 0.16 km

Grades are the sac_scale tags on the ways of OSM relation 177743, matched to this stage's line on 16 September 2026 from OSM data of 15 July 2026. A mapper's grade for the way, not a certification of today's conditions.

Make it your trip

Choose your nights

Every night is in a mountain hut, except the last on the Schiara in the unstaffed Bivacco del Marmol. Book each hut directly and early: they fill in July and August. Each night below shows the hut's own 2026 season and how to book, read from its page.

Lago di Braies to Belluno

The whole way in eleven days, a hut every night, the last in the Bivacco del Marmol before the via ferrata down to Belluno.

Plan this journey

Lago di Braies to Pian de Fontana

Nine days with a staffed hut every night, ending at the last one before the Schiara; from there the easy variant goes down by Rifugio Bianchet to the bus at La Pissa.

Plan this journey

Lago di Braies to Rifugio Lagazuoi

Three days by Biella and Fanes to the summit hut of Lagazuoi, then the cable car to Passo Falzarego and the bus to Cortina.

Plan this journey

Weather this week

Loading the forecast for low point (1,982 m) and high point (2,543 m)…

Weather by month

Typical weather on this stage: at the lowest point (1,982 m) and the highest point (2,543 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.

Monthly climate averages and daylight
Month
WeatherPoorPoorPoorPoorPoorGoodGoodGoodMixedMixedPoorPoor
High point, day / night-4°/-10°-4°/-10°-2°/-8°1°/-5°7°/0°10°/4°12°/6°12°/6°8°/3°5°/0°0°/-4°-3°/-8°
Low point, day / night-1°/-7°-1°/-7°2°/-5°5°/-2°10°/3°14°/7°16°/9°15°/9°11°/5°8°/2°3°/-1°0°/-5°
Rain, mm4554637913014417517212211913364
Snow at high pointLikelyLikelyLikelyLikelyLikely––––PossiblePossibleLikely
Daylight8 h 5810 h 1811 h 4913 h 3114 h 5815 h 4715 h 2914 h 1512 h 3811 h9 h 288 h 37

Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.

Before you go

Prepare for the Alta Via 1

Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.

Book the huts, and check their dates

Each hut opens in June and closes on its own date, between 20 and 30 September in 2026; the plan shows each night's season. Rifugio Lagazuoi, Rifugio Passo Staulanza and Rifugio Pramperet have not published 2026 dates. Book directly with each hut.

Provincia di Belluno: the official guide

The end is a via ferrata

The official route leaves the Bivacco del Marmol by the Ferrata del Marmol, now the Ferrata Piero Rossi: about 500 m of exposed ladders and chimneys, graded EEA by the national park, which calls it extremely demanding and requires via ferrata equipment. If you do not want it, leave from Rifugio Pian de Fontana by path 518 to Rifugio Bianchet and down to La Pissa: the official guide's easy variant, about 4 hours.

Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park: the Schiara ferratas

Steep and exposed places before the end

The official guide grades most of the route EE, for experienced hikers, and much of it lies above 2,500 m. Forcella del Lago is a steep descent through scree and boulders; the way down from Nuvolau has a ladder and fixed ropes; the grass below Pramperet is slippery when wet.

Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park: Alta Via 1

Snow at either end of the season

Snow can lie on the high passes into July, and the guide warns of early snowfall and icy ground in September. Ask the huts about the next pass before you leave in the morning.

Provincia di Belluno: the official guide

Getting there

Connect your journey

Travel around Rifugio Nuvolau to Rifugio Città di Fiume.

Directions to this start Travel from this finish

Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.

To Lago di Braies by train and bus

Regional trains run from Fortezza to Dobbiaco every 30 minutes, about 1 h 15. Bus 442 runs from Dobbiaco and Villabassa to the lake, and bus 439 from Monguelfo station. From 1 July to 15 September the valley is closed to cars from 09:00 to 16:00 and these buses need a seat booked and paid online; outside that period, pay the driver.

Braies: access and shuttle booking

Passo Falzarego and Cortina

The Lagazuoi cable car links Rifugio Lagazuoi with Passo Falzarego, 6 June to 18 October 2026, 09:00 to 17:00. Dolomiti Bus line 52 runs from the pass to Cortina d'Ampezzo in about 35 minutes: hourly in the summer, five times a day from 10 September to 4 October 2026.

Dolomiti Bus: summer lines

No bus at Passo Staulanza or Passo Duran

No bus reaches either pass. From Passo Duran, below Rifugio Carestiato, the nearest bus is at La Valle Agordina, about 7 km down: line 7 to Agordo, Monday to Saturday.

Dolomiti Bus: lines and timetables

Belluno and La Pissa

Belluno has trains to Venice in about two hours, some direct. Dolomiti Bus line 1, Belluno to Agordo, stops at La Pissa, the end of the easy variant, about 17 times a day from Monday to Saturday; its Sunday service is not published yet.

Dolomiti Bus: line 1

Take your trip with you

Offline maps

Prepare each section while you still have a connection, and test it offline before you set out.

Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.

  1. Open this trail in the app. Install TrailSplits, then open this trail there. On iPhone, downloads in a browser may not be available in the installed app.
  2. Choose your route or stages. Choose Prepare offline above. Wait for the route and maps to finish downloading.
  3. Try it before leaving coverage. Switch offline, close and reopen the app, then use My Hikes to start navigation. Repeat for every part you will need.

Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.

Route & sources

About this map

The official guide of the Provincia di Belluno describes the Alta Via 1 as about 125 km in twelve days, north to south, from Lago di Braies to Belluno, graded EE and EEA with a short stretch of A at the Marmol. The line here follows the route on OpenStreetMap, 118 km, cut into twelve sections at the huts; the difference is mostly the short approaches to the huts and the variants the guide describes. Two huts stand off the line and their approach is counted in the day: Rifugio Lagazuoi, on the summit about 200 m above Forcella Lagazuoi, and Rifugio Pramperet, about 400 m away.

Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 22 September 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.

Provincia di Belluno: Alta Via n. 1

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation

More long-distance trails

Tour du Mont BlancHut to hut round Mont Blanc, through France, Italy and Switzerland.KungsledenHut to hut in Swedish Lapland.Alta Via dei Monti Lattari (CAI 300)The high path above the Amalfi coast, walkable in autumn and spring.