Tre Cime di Lavaredo is one of the most recognizable mountain groups in the Dolomites. The three distinctive peaks are a popular sight to see and accessible via a relatively easy and short hike, making it a hot ticket in the Dolomites. But it’s far from the only hike in the Tre Cime area, and not all of them are ideal for canine companions. If you’re planning a trip to Tre Cime with your dog, here is what to expect from your visit.
Accessing Tre Cime
The most important thing you need to know about Tre Cime is that it is heavily restricted due to overcrowding. The closest parking lot is at the Rifugio Auronzo, which is at an altitude of over 2,300 meters. Access to the steep winding road that leads you there is only accessible if you book a parking spot online in advance, which costs €40. This ticket grants you access to the area for a period of 12 hours. This means you can’t enter before the start time of your ticketed period and you must leave before it expires. Note that you also can’t re-enter if you’ve left.
Unlike other areas in the Dolomites like Lago di Braies, which allow you to circumvent access restrictions by arriving before or after peak hours, Tre Cime is restricted 24 hours a day since May 2025. This means two important things:
1. You have to book your entry far in advance and 2. If you fail to do so, you will only be able to access Tre Cime by public bus or by hiking up 7 km from Misurina to Rifugio Auronzo. If you do decide to take a bus, bus shuttles should also be booked online in advance and are available last minute only subject to availability. Note that dogs need a muzzle to ride the bus.
Since riding a crowded bus with a dog is not ideal, we opted to drive and park at Auronzo. We found that by the end of June, all timeslots for parking were booked up (yes, even the ones starting at midnight) until the 4th of July. But that probably varies throughout peak season. If you want to hike Tre Cime, I recommend you start looking at the available timeslots at least two weeks in advance and book it for the best weather day during your visit. Some hikes in the area are not recommended in wet weather…
Also with reference to weather, I strongly advise you to book a timeslot in the early morning and afternoon. Thunderstorms are far more likely in the area in the evening during the hot summer months. There is a meteorological reason for this and that’s that after the ground has been heating all day, that warm air rises and condenses to form storm clouds. So this is not an observation, but a scientific fact. Unless you fancy hiking in the rain, go early! The sun is also a consideration for hiking Tre Cime with your dog. Even though it’s fairly cool up there, direct sunlight can lead to heat stroke, especially if your dog is exerting a lot of energy.
The Tre Cime di Lavaredo hike
The full Tre Cime hike begins and ends at Rifugio Auronzo and is 8-10 km long. It’s moderately challenging so it’s comparable to the Adolf Munkel trail. It takes 3-5 hours to complete not including extended stops at rifugios. The best view of the three peaks is along the trail to Rifugio Locatelli, where they are fully visible from a head-on perspective.
However, we only went as far as the second best option, Forcella Lavaredo. At Forcella Lavaredo, you’re much closer to Tre Cime but with an oblique view. The out-and-back hike to Forcella Lavaredo from Rifugio Auronzo, via Rifugio Lavaredo, is about 5.5 km and takes about an hour and a half.
This hike is fairly dog-friendly, and we saw a ton of dogs along the trail. The majority of the hike is on a flat gravel path that curves at a gentle slope around the side of the mountain. It only becomes steep after Rifugio Lavaredo, when the trail gets rockier and trickier to maneuver. There are two ways up from there, one that is longer but an easier slope and another that is shorter but steeper. We went up the less intense way and came down the steep way.
If you choose to continue the Tre Cime loop, I can recommend this turn-by-turn guide that includes some optional extensions. Despite its length, after you get up to the to the Forcella Lavaredo viewpoint, the majority of the remaining hike is through a valley with less severe ascents and descents. If we returned with our dog, I would probably finish the loop. Instead, we did the Cadini di Misurina viewpoint…
Cadini di Misurina viewpoint hike
While the Tre Cime peaks are quite iconic and the hike is easy, the Cadini di Misurina hike is far more challenging but with a bigger payoff. To avoid walking a total of 14-15 km at once, which may have been too much for our dog, we only did half of the Tre Cime loop so we could also do the out-and-back hike to the Cadini di Misurina viewpoint, which is just 3-4 km. In total, we hiked about 8.5 km on our visit to Tre Cime, all before 11 am, to avoid the hot afternoon sun.
The Misurina hike was frankly a little terrifying especially because I’m not a fan of heights. It’s dog-friendly in theory, but the end of the trail closest to the peak is very narrow and on the edge of a precipice which is probably not an ideal situation to be in with a dog, despite the fact that dogs have much better balance on uneven surfaces than we do, even with walking sticks.
It begins as a steep ascent and several worn paths you can take forward. The path then forks, with the left hand side being the terrifying ascent and the right hand side being a gentler sloping hike. However, because no one was taking the gentle route and the path on the hills wasn’t very clear, we followed everyone else. Before long, the broad uphill routes condense into a single unified path carved on the edge of the mountains.
The good thing about the trail is that the path is slightly sloped toward the rock face and not the drop-off, so you don’t feel at risk of falling. The bad thing about the trail is that this narrow path is only wide enough for one person at a time closest to the viewpoint, so it becomes tricky to get around people coming in the opposite direction. At the end of the hike, you’ll be up close with the Cadini jagged mountain peaks. The pointed end of the hike, where the trail juts out just in front of the mountains was crowded with people taking photos. This is also not an ideal situation for the dog, so we didn’t make it.
Instead, we turned back towards Rifugio Auronzo through a small corridor between rocks, thinking we would avoid incoming traffic by returning via the exact same route we came. This was a mistake. That side was much less clearly walkable and did not have the helpful lip along the trail. Our dog handled it fine. I was having a minor panic attack until we got back to the wide part of the trail.
If I had to do it again, I probably wouldn’t do this hike with the dog. I might not even do the hike again by myself. Experienced hikers don’t consider this hike nearly as challenging. It’s even been described as easy in some blogs, but I didn’t have clear enough trails and I found it kind of dangerous. You know how people say some things are not for the faint of heart? Well, as someone faint of heart, I can attest to its treachery. Nonetheless, we survived. And I think everyone including the dog enjoyed it… me slightly less so.
The Tre Cime loop vs the Cadini di Misurina viewpoint
If I’m being honest, I thought Tre Cime was just okay. The actual hike was nice because the views were beautiful the entire time, and it was fairly easy and safe with a nice wide hiking path. Tre Cime is itself kind of overrated and doesn’t compare to other iconic ranges in the Dolomites like the Odle Mountain Group.
Even though I thought I was going to die, I thought the Misurina viewpoint was more worthwhile, but far too challenging to be worrying about myself and a dog. I would not recommend this hike with a dog, even though he handled it just fine. If anything, he was impatient with my anxiety.
If I was re-doing the entire trip to Tre Cime with a dog, I would probably do the whole Tre Cime loop and skip Cadini di Misurina, because it’s more accessible and it would make the cost/effort to get to Auronzo worthwhile.
Some tips for hiking Tre Cime with a dog
This was by far the rockiest hike we did in the Dolomites. Though puppy pads are pretty tough and none of the rocks are sharp enough to cut, I recommend reinforcing your dog’s paws with paw wax.
I do not recommend dog booties unless your dog is experienced walking in them. Although it might add protection against hot or sharp surfaces, it can also limit their ability to grip their surroundings.
Bring change for bathrooms. Despite paying through the nose to get up to this spot, none of the restrooms at the WCs are free and none of them take credit cards. You’ll need a euro per bathroom visit.
Tre Cime gets pretty crowded by 10-11 am. It’s tougher to find parking and the trails become more congested. I recommend getting there by 6 or 7 am so you beat the crowds. Having a doggie meet cute on a steep trail is kind of stressful especially when there is a line of people waiting to climb behind you.
Because of the high altitude, Tre Cime is at least 5 to 10 degrees Celsius colder than the temperature in the valley. Dress accordingly, especially if you’re arriving before the sun is fully out.
Because the weather is unpredictable and the hikes can be long, I suggest bringing a rain jacket with you.
Of course, bring enough water for you and your dog.
Don’t forget to have a donut. Although Rifugio Friedrich August in Passo Sella has the monopoly on hype for its donuts, the donuts at Rifugio Auronzo are pretty damn spectacular. Since both hikes we did started and ended there, we stopped for a scrumptious cream-filled donut and a drink after each hike, and it was one of the highlights of our visit.
Leave a Reply