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WALK 1

Lago di Braies

Start/Finish	Hotel Lago di Braies
Distance	3.5km/2.2 miles
Ascent/Descent	50m
Grade	1
Time	1hr 20min
Maps	Tabacco n.031 scale 1:25,000
Access	Lago di Braies can be reached by the summer SAD bus from Dobbiaco in Val Pusteria, via Villabassa. Drivers will find the appropriate turn-off midway between Monguelfo and Villabassa. Hefty fees are charged at the lake car parks.

According to an old Ladin legend, every 100 years on a full moon night the blind Queen of Fanes and her daughter Princess Dolasilla leave their underground dwelling beneath the Sass dla Porta (also known as Croda del Becco) via a secret doorway. Their subjects slumber on in the depths of the mountain, while the two row across the Braies lake in the hope of hearing silver trumpets announcing the dawning of the promised time and the rebirth of their kingdom. Alas, they row in vain.

Romantic Lago di Braies (Pragser Wildsee in German) could easily be called the most beautiful lake in the Dolomites. It boasts deep emerald-green waters bound by bleached shingle beaches and sheer cliffs that plunge into the cool depths. Lying at the foot of towering 2810m Croda del Becco, which is reflected on the still surface, it owes its existence to ancient rockfalls that barred the valley. The name Braies may derive from the Celtic bracu (a marsh or swamp). Another theory is that it may have originated from the Ladin brage (trousers), as the eponymous valley forks evenly into what look like trouser legs.

Located at 1489m above sea level and covering 31 hectares, the lake is fed by both alpine streams and underground springs. Trout live in the lake’s chilly depths, which plunge to a maximum of 36m, while the surface temperature rarely exceeds 14°C. As a rule it ices over in late November, not reverting to liquid form until May. As motor-propelled craft are forbidden – the area is part of the Fanes-Sennes-Braies Nature Park – it is always peaceful.

A marvellous, rambling establishment adorns the northernmost end – the grand grey stone hotel, which has developed from the modest refreshment point it started out as 130 years ago. In the 1960s it hosted meditation sessions with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Beatles’ personal guru at the time. Although it has seen better days, it is still a marvellous place to stay, as its old-style furnishings have been retained – even down to the antique toilet chains! Meals are taken in the magnificent and spacious Art Nouveau dining rooms.

This delightful walk consists of an easy anti-clockwise stroll round the lake (alternating waterside strolling with paths through the wood) and a negligible ascent and descent. For a longer, more demanding route, see Walk 2.

Hotel Lago di Braies

Walk

From the bus stop and car park, go R past Hotel Lago di Braies (1494m) to a clutch of path signposts. The start of the ‘Giro del Lago’ (n.1/4) is here. A wide, level path at first, it strikes out S past a chapel along the western edge of the lake, and is shaded by towering pine trees and brightened by alpenrose shrubs. Where the forestry track veers R (W) up Val di Foresta, leave it and take the path alongside a shingle beach backed with dwarf mountain pines. A little further on, ignore the branch S for the climb to Rifugio Biella and keep to the open lakeside, below remarkable rivers of scree flowing from eroding gullies on the face of Croda del Becco. Directly opposite the hotel now at the halfway point on the walk, this is a marvellous spot for a dip on a sultry summer’s day, although, due to the water temperature, only for the courageous!

Rounding the lake’s corner for the northward leg, you soon find yourself in light deciduous wood beneath the rocky mass of the Piccolo Apostolo. You reach a modest waterfall, then a series of steps and raised timber walkways lead round a picturesque rocky point below the Grande Apostolo, to give a lovely view over the lake.

The path round Lago di Braies

Soon, the path loops round a slender outreached finger of shallow marshy backwater edged by thick yellow marsh marigolds. You then pass the landing stage with rowing boats before returning to Hotel Lago di Braies (1494m). As a suitable follow-up, either embark on an exploratory scull over the water in one of the lovely hire boats, or treat yourself to tea or an aperitif in the hotel garden.