Nature’s Playground

The Alpe di Siusi is Europe’s largest high-altitude alpine meadow and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s also home to COMO Alpina Dolomites, one of the continent’s best destinations for autumn hiking and biking. Here, Alex Schenk, Head Guide at COMO Alpina Dolomites, shares the mountains through his eyes.

Our guests might choose to try a short biking route, or set out on foot via the Bullacia Circle Trail to the Witches’ Benches, a 10-kilometre route that takes around three hours. We stop for the best views — the grassy slopes of the Val Gardena for instance, or the soaring cliffs of the Puez-Odle group — but there’s just as much to see on the trail’s edge as in the distance.

There are some 790 species of flowers and herbs growing on the Alpe di Siusi, from the star-shaped Edelweiss to blue gentians and yellow arnica. As we thread our way along the paths, I think about what the mountains can teach us; it’s an ecosystem in balance. Here in nature’s wildest corners, we see plants that can heal such as arnica, and plants that can harm like the beautiful but toxic monkshood. They coexist, stems brushing against one another in the long grass. Nature may be beautiful but it’s not tame — we learn respect. We pause often to admire herds of cattle, jaws working as they graze their way through the meadow, just as they’ve done for centuries in this rural farming community. As we reach our top elevation for the hike, we might catch sight of an eagle overhead. 

Another day offers another chance to peel away a layer of the landscape with an intermediate hike to the Zallinger Mountain Hut. It’s a five-hour walk covering 16 kilometres, with a tasty lunch of traditional Tyrolean food — with ingredients sourced from local farmers — waiting at the Zallinger Mountain Hut. Or for a full-day advanced hike, the loop around Mount Sciliar is jaw-dropping. There’s something about the rhythm of walking that opens you up to the natural world. There are so many routes you can take here, with something for hikers of any ability — I’ve walked them all and could never pick a favourite. It’s something I love about the whole region actually; how there’s always an activity to suit everyone. If hiking isn't your thing, you can take a quiet traditional Tyrolean horse and carriage ride. If you want to try e-biking, we can take on anything from a flat trail to the challenging precipices along the Sella massif. For families with young children, there are easy walking paths and lots of viewpoints you can drive to; and for foodies there are lots of fantastic mountain restaurants. I particularly recommend the hay soup at the Gostner Hut, or the smoked salmon trout at the Edelweiß Hut. 

My perfect day with guests starts with an e-bike ride along one of the many mountain trails, which allows us to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. In one ride we can see all the different terrain the Dolomites has to offer, cycling through thick forest, verdant meadows and between sharp-edged peaks. With the right technique for descending, riding the local biking trails gets your adrenaline flowing in all the right ways. It’s hard to articulate the exhilaration. Next, I love taking guests on a hike ending at a mountain lake — either Antermoia, Piscadù, or Crespaina, depending which trail we’ve cycled — where they can take a refreshing dip in the icy water, if they dare. Afterwards, it’s a short helicopter journey back to Siusi, where we board the cable car back to COMO Alpina Dolomites. It’s an intense day, but that’s the fun of it; nature, adventure and exhilaration packed into a breath-stealing whirl of unforgettable memories.

The activity programme at COMO Alpina Dolomites changes weekly — for more information or to book a guided hike or e-biking adventure, contact our concierge.