For my second hike in the Dolomites, I chose Cinque Torri.

To get to it I took another mountain lift, this time a proper ski lift, but I wasn’t going to walk down the mountain on this hike.

The plan was to walk around the Cinque Torri (five towers). One hiking guidebook I got showed a 6 km loop around the mountains, so I was banking on doing at least 6 km walking for at least 2 plus hours.

I need to look at this guidebook again because although they look massive, the walk around the five towers is fairly short and at one point it looked like I was getting awfully close to where I started, so I quickly made up my mind to take a detour. In fact, I took two detours, just for good measure.

The site of the Cinque Torri is currently an open-air museum (free of charge). I love this concept so much! You not only get a hike, but you also get a history lesson.

There are trenches, buildings, and plaques commemorating the fighting during World War I. The towers are situated in a strategic spot during the fighting between Italy and Austria-Hungary.

You can look inside these buildings showing what life was like on the mountain during the war.

It was a war, so it was pretty awful.

This area is very popular with mountain climbers. There were quite a few groups scaling the towers as I walked around.

When it began to look like I’d be soon back where I started (not even an hour had gone by at that point), I took the trail heading for Passo Giau.

In the beginning, it’s a very pleasant trail. It meanders through mountain meadows and offers more great views of the Cinque Torri.

 

I followed the trail until it came to a steep drop. Going down the hill is usually not a problem. But going down would mean that I’d have to go back the same way and I just wasn’t feeling an up-the-mountain climb that day.

Instead, I headed back for the towers and this time took another side trail hoping for some new scenery.

 

This trail was fun and I discovered more World War I info, but unfortunately, it lead me to a road and what looked like a small parking area. So, I basically ended up at another trailhead and had to now make my way back.

There was more to discover on the way back and more amazing sites to see.

With the detours that I took, I managed to get in almost 7 km.

View from Cinque Torri towards the ski lift and the restaurant where you can relax after enjoying your hike. Such a beautiful area!

This hike: 6.8 km; 290 m of elevation gain; 2 hrs 11 min moving time

YTD Hiking Km: 21,61