Picture this, you hike for hours in the most stunning location you’ve ever been. You climb up steel ladders with your hands and feet passing pillars of stone resembling structures of giants. You pop over a ledge to find a cabin nestled among a valley of stone behemoths welcoming you with a three-course meal and cold beer. Here’s everything you need to know to get to Rifugio Re Alberto / Garlhutte!
Feel free to also check out my other trips in ITALY or my HIKING GUIDES. To get the travel juices flowing, check out my PHOTO INSPIRATION
Key Details
- Distance – 9 Kilometres
- Days required – 2 days. It wouldn’t be a hut stay in 1!
- Total Incline – 1,100 Metres
- Total Decline – 1,100 Metres
- Highest Point – 2,621 Metres
- Difficulty – 7/10
- Uncomfortable Factor – This isn’t overly uncomfortable. There’s plenty of beer stops on the way.
How Dolomites huts work!
Look, this can be confusing at first. The key thing to know is they all work the same. Half board means you get a 3-course dinner and a bed, full board involves a lunch for the next day. All accommodation is in shared rooms unless specified.
All huts have restaurants and bars attached to them. Yes, even on top of mountains! However, don’t always expect a shower.
You book directly with the hut and just arrive. there will be little communication and it will feel a bit odd, but, that’s normal!
Check-in is after 3, dinner is served at 6 and breakfast is at 7:30. CASH ONLY!!!
Being so close to the Austrian border many things are in Italian and German. Example: Rifugio Re Alberto is the Italian name, and Garlhutte is the German name. They are both in the same place.
Where is Rifugio Re Alberto?
Rifugio Re Alberto is located in Northern Italy in the Rosengarten mountains of the Italian Dolomites at an altitude of 2621M (8600 Feet).
The two closest major cities are Venice in Italy and Innsbruck in Austria. The closest town is Pozza di Fassa
How to get to Rifugio Re Alberto
Rifugio Re Alberto can only be accessed by hiking. There are multiple options to get there.
How to get to Rifugio Re Alberto From the West
This path is approximately 9 km’s long. you can hike from Nigerpass (our starting point) or Albergo Frommeralm. This route will take you east, up a moderate incline that is used as ski fields in winter to Kolne hut.
From Kolne hut (Rifugio Fronza) take the 550 path over Cornelle Pass to meet a magnificent view, then follow the 541 pass on a moderate decline to Rifugio Vajolet & Pruess (they’re together). From here take the steep scramble on the 542S path for 600 metres to Rifugio Re Alberto / Gartlhutte.
How to get to Rifugio Re Alberto From the East
Starting from either Vigo di Fassa, Pera di Fassa or Pozza di fassa. Take the Vajolet and Pian Peccei chairlifts (from Pera). Or the Catinaccio gondola (from Vigo) to Rifugio ciampedie. Follow path 540 to Rifugio Gardeccia (45 mins). Parking is available in both locations.
From Gardeccia follow path 546 along a moderate gravel incline to Rifugio Vajolet (about 1 hour).
How to book into Rifugio Re Alberto
This can be confusing at first, but pretty much all mountain huts are booked directly by either email, WhatsApp message or phone.
The best email for Rifugio Re Alberto is [email protected]. The best Whatsapp is +39 334 7246698.
Gear Required for Rifugio Re Alberto
They provide blankets for free however you will need a sleeping bag liner. It’s also unknown how often the blankets get washed so I prefer to take my sleeping bag.
Sleeping Bag Liner – The huts still provide blankets, but they don’t get washed so bring a liner.
Sleeping Bag – Not neccesary int he huts but if you don’t have a liner bring one.
Hiking Shoes – Most will do fine. I use Merrell’s.
Softshell pants – I use Arcteryx.
Base layers – Top and bottom. Only ever use Merino wool. It keeps you warm without overheating.
Sweat wicking top or fleece – It can get quite cold at the top.
Puffer jacket – Lightweight with a stuff sack. Most will be fine. No need to spend loads. This is a safety precaution.
Hard Shell Jacket – I use Arcteryx Beta.
Costs
Accommodation – 60 Euros per person. This includes dinner and breakfast.
Food and Drink – Up to you how many delicious Forst’s you want (local beer).
Parking – Anywhere from 2 to 10 Euros.
Rifugio re Alberto elevation
Rifugio Re Alberto is located at 2,621M (8,600 Feet), nestled in between the Rosengarten Peak and the Vajolet Towers.
Is it dangerous to hike to Rifugio Re Alberto?
All hiking at elevation is dangerous, especially one involving steel ladders. However, this is pretty easy to manage. If the weather is fine this is very safe… Safe enough for the staff to go down to Pordoi Pass to get new bread every day!
My experience staying in Rifugio Re Alberto
This was our very first Dolomites experience. To be honest we didn’t know what to expect. Setting out without much of a map or any idea where we were going was a stark reminder to PREPARE before a walk like this.
Erin and I arrived at Nigerpass a bit later than we would’ve liked (also not knowing where to start). We figured that the hiking trails in Italy were all well-signed and marked out. Well, they are, but…signed in Italian and the sheer volume of paths and huts made it confusing at first to figure out where to go.
The approach from the car park started with a gentle ascent through a pine forest before opening up into the green high mountain planes full of cows and views to the horizon. The cows are a particular favourite of mine!
Green Fields and a steady ascent
The Path winds its way through the grassy high fields for around 2 kilometres, through unused snow machines, past XXXX hut towards the Lonig Laurin 2 gondola. You can choose to take this to skip about half an hour if you wish. we did.
The Gondola (or path next to it) take you to Kolne hut (Rifugio Fronza) and the start of the 550 path over Cornelle pass. The pass has a moderate incline to scrambling at times. It’s not crazy and only 1 kilometre long but it can get quite steep in a switchback track near the top.
Over the top of the Pass is a beautiful rest spot overlooking an extremely large valley with Rifugio Vajolet & Prues visible in the upper reaches of the valley. Luckily after all that climbing we now had a very strong downhill walk on path 541 of 3 kilometres to Vajolet.
Just before reaching Vajolet the 541 path dipped down a bit too low which resulted in a steep 500-metre section to the Hut. Vajolet is a welcome break as we’d been going for around 4 hours by this time (with photo breaks).
One Last Push
We set off up the 542S path towards Rifugio Alberto. This path is very steep and most of it scrambling. we were OK over all but it had been a pretty long trip so far. the scrambling section is only short at 600 metres but takes its toll.
Luckily at the top of the scramble lies Rifugio Alberto!!! a cold beer was very welcome as Erin recounted it being the ‘hardest hike in all her days’.
We were shown our bunks in a 6-person room, which luckily we had all to ourselves! A couple of beers, a three-course meal and it was time for bed.
The next morning we awoke, had a shower (a rarity in the Dolomites), a two-course breakfast and were on the path back down. Going down was a lot easier and the hike back to the car seemed much easier as we knew what was coming.
All up it took us XXX hours to get there and XXXX hours to get back on this wicked adventure!
