EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

CANAZEI is a relatively modern town at the head of the Val di Fassa and, for the area, a buzzing summer and winter resort. It's from there that you head for the high passes - the Gruppo di Sella for hard trails, or the easier Viel del Pan , opposite Marmolada. The Sella Ronda Card gives use of a selection of lifts and public transport (buses run by the SAD company) around the Gruppo di Sella. It's available at ski lifts for L30,000/¬15.49 per day. Canazei itself makes a good base to stay : La Zondra (tel 0462.601.233; L120,000-150,000/¬61.98-77.47) and the Ciamorc (tel 0462.602.426; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98), are both on Via Pareda, while the Giardino delle Rose (tel 0462.602.221; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98) and Albergo Centrale (tel 0462.602.340; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98) are pleasantly located on via Dolomiti, in the middle of the village; Villa Ester (tel 0462.601.254; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98) is also centrally located, next to the swimming pool. From Canazei a switchback road (of 27 bends) climbs relentlessly for 12km and is often busy with busloads of tourists heading for the scenic Great Dolomites Road , and determined cyclists making the thousand-metre ascent.

Halfway up the switchback road out of Canazei, the cable car at Pradel leads to Passo Sella (2240m), one of the most impressive of the Dolomite passes. Paths climb from here onto the jagged peaks of the Sasso Lungo (Langkofel) and follow the ridges down onto the Alpe di Siusi. Even up on the summits, saxifrage grows between cracks in the rock, and the silence is broken only by the occasional buzzing of a beetle. It takes two days to walk from the Sella pass, via Rifugio Vicenza (tel 0471.797.315; June-Sept) into the Val Gardena (Grödnertal), where there are buses to Bolzano.

Just past Pradel the road forks. The right-hand turning takes you up to Passo Pordoi (2242m), an astonishing vantage point between the Gruppo di Sella and Marmolada - at 3246m the highest Dolomite, its rounded peak permanently shrouded by a glacier. From here, peaks radiate in every direction, giving you a chance to identify the distinctive shapes of each of the main Dolomite ranges. In the foreground, the Sasso Lungo mountains look like a jagged, gloved hand, flanked by two prominent peaks; the Gruppo di Sella is squat and chunky; and Sciliar (Schlern), just visible in the distance, comprises a flat rocky tabletop, culminating in two peaks. A small road winds downwards to Passo Folzarego, and ultimately Cortina d'Ampezzo, but Passo Pordoi itself is where many of the trails start. It's also another occasion for joining Alta Via 2, which dips down to the main road here. Most of the tourist buses stop at this point, and a collection of cafés and stalls have taken advantage of their location around the trailheads to charge rather inflated prices; the cheapest of the three hotels here is the Pordoi (tel 0462.601.115; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98).