Dolomites Travel Diary | With Love and Grace

The Dolomites Mountains in Italy are one of a kind. They are raw, rugged and dramatic and will leave you speechless. In this travel diary from Italy, I’m sharing my itinerary for one full day in this beautiful mountainous region.

I visited the Dolomites Mountains on my Eurotrip back in late October. It was a great time to visit for the first time as it was off season so there wasn’t that many tourists around! We had planned only one day in this region so we researched ahead exactly what we wanted to see, the distances between the attractions & driving times. I highly recommend planning ahead so that you can make the most of your day!

Our Day Itinerary in Dolomites, Italy

We drove from our hotel in Mieders, Austria to our first destination which was Val di Funes and Santa Maddalena in the Dolomites. The drive took less than 2 hours.

In Val di Funes, we admired the beautiful medieval St. John church against the Dolomites Mountains as a backdrop. The beautiful Val di Funes (Villnöss) and the San Giovanni Church has become an iconic Instagram spot by travelers who visit South Tyrol Italy. It was extremely cold when we visited so we only spent about 15 minutes here. Again, as we were here offseason, we were able to easily find parking which was a great perk. I can imagine this area gets pretty crowded during peak season.

Our next stop on the trip was St. Maddalena, another picturesque valley village, about 10 to 15 minutes from the San Giovanni Church. We parked our car at one of the public parking lots and walked up to the Santa Maddalena (also known as St. Magdalena) medieval church. The views of church, the Dolomites Mountains in the background and the green valley were absolutely magnificent.

Next we drove to the Lago di Carezza. Lago di Carezza is a small lake surrounded by conifers with the Dolomites in the background. The colors of the lakes are incredible – they are a mix of turquoise, green, and deep blue. This also another must visit spot when traveling the Dolomites.

Our final destination was Lago di Braies, one of the most beautiful lakes surrounded by the Dolomites mountains. It took us about an hour and a half to drive to this lake from Lago di Carezza. But in my opinion, if you only have one day in South Tyrol Italy, you should definitely make the time to visit Lago di Braies. It is stunning. One of the most popular activities to do on the lake is to rent a wooden row-boat. This was such a fun experience! Our dad rowed the boat while we enjoyed the incredible views around us and of course grabbed our Instagram shots 🙂