While you may not have heard of the Cadini Di Misurina hike, If you like to spend some time on Instagram, it's likely you have seen this insta-famous photo location in the Dolomites! The viewpoint is of people standing at the edge of a viewpoint with sharp jagged peaks in the backdrop, and well, it's pretty spectacular.
When we began researching how to find this place, we struggled to find clear instructions on how to actually reach it. In this blogpost, we will describe how exactly how to find this view point so you can get that beautiful mountain range snap too!
Lets start with a few key points about the hike so you know what to expect!
Starting location: Rifugio Auronzo (the same as the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo hike)
Time to viewpoint: 35-45 minutes
How far: Around 2km
Easy or Difficult: Pretty easy, there will only be an issue if you are not good with heights or cliff edges
If you prefer to watch a video about how to find and do this hike, we have also made an entire Youtube Vlog about this experience which you can watch here. It details how we got there, where we parked, and what kind of path and conditions to expect on the hike!
How to get to Rifugio Auronzo
You can start the Cadini Di Misurina hike from Rifugio Auronzo, this is the same starting point as the more popular hike - Tre Cime Di Lavaredo. We recommend doing both hikes on the same day, due to the entry fee into the National Park. We decided to do Cadini di Misurina first in the morning, and then tackle the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo hike in the afternoon.
The reason we decided to do it this way round is because Cadini di Misurina is a lesser known place to hike, and we found that everybody would attempt the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo first thing in the morning, which meant this trail was a lot busier. We decided to let it get a bit quieter and start Tre Cime around 3pm in the afternoon when most people were on their way back, we pretty much had the place to ourselves!
There are three different ways to reach Rifugio Auronzo
Driving and parking in the parking area. If you wish to stay over night, the overnight fee is included within the entry fee which is 30 EUR/car or 45EUR/campervan. Be aware that it gives you exactly 24 hours within the National Park, and if you overstay then you will be charged a 'late checkout' fee of 25 EUR. For example, if you arrive at 8am, you will need to leave by 8am the following day. The parking area at the top is huge and so should not have problems parking if you arrive early.
If you do not have a car or campervan, you can take public transport on Bus 444 from Misurina up to Auronzo, they usually start running around 9am and will stop at 5pm, this is 3EUR/person.
The last option is to walk or cycle from the bottom to the top which is free. Although if we're being honest, this would be a tough walk before then attempting either of the hikes at the top and so probably wouldn't recommend this.
Where to stay nearby
You have a number of options which may depend on your mode of transport.
Campervan campground
Download the Park4Night app on your phone which will give you a huge list of options in and around the area if you are travelling with a campervan. We stayed at a campsite in Cortina D'Ampezzo called Camping Rochetta. We left early to arrive to the entry gate for 8am, it took 40 minutes to drive to Rifugio Aruzono from Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Hotel or Airbnb
The most convenient option is to stay at Rifugio Auronzo which is right at the start of the hike for both Cadini di Misurina and for Tre Cime Di Lavaredo. The guesthouse has 25 rooms sleeping up to 104 people max.
Otherwise, there are a few hotels in the area of Misurina (20 mins drive), with the next largest town being Cortina D'Ampezzo, where you will likely find the most options for hotels or an airbnb.
Starting the Cadini Di Misurina hike
If you decide to drive up, you will start from this car park close to Rifugio Auronzo. Most people will be heading towards trail no. 101, this is the start of the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo hike (the three peaks) however, you will want to start walking in the opposite direction. (Towards trail no 117)
You can see in the below map the purple line starting from the car park, heading right towards Cadini di Misurina. The yellow line, also starts from the same car park, but heads left towards Tre Cime Di Lavaredo (three peaks).
At first, you may not feel like you are on a correct path (the purple line), but if you keep walking a path will appear and it will be clear you are heading the right way. You should be able to see the sharp pinnacle peaks of the famous viewpoint at the beginning of the walk. It is roughly 2km from the beginning to reach the famous view point, and so you will walk for around 35-45 minutes depending on your personal fitness level.
You can see from the photo below, the path will turn into this, the Cadini pinnacles can be seen on the left handside. This was around 20 minutes in to the hike, so roughly 15/20 mins to go before reaching the famous viewpoint.
Where to find the famous view point
Please only climb this final part at your own risk, we recommend judging the conditions and only doing so if it is safe. The pathway can get pretty narrow, if you are not good with heights or cliff edges this may be a little challenging for you! We were very lucky with a clear and sunny day, no fog or rain and therefore it felt fine underfoot.
After spending a little while at this viewpoint soaking it all up, make sure to take a few photos to capture the moment! This is the famous view point with the sharp pinnacle in the backdrop. You can see more of the landscape in our YouTube Video Here where we detail the entire walk and 360 degree surroundings.
