Lago di Braies
Emerald water under a vertical wall, with the wooden rowboats from the postcard.
Duration
2 hrs – 4 hrs
Best time
Before 9am
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
Lake Braies fills the head of a closed valley at fifteen hundred metres, under the vertical face of the Croda del Becco. Its colour comes from meltwater carrying limestone particles, and it shifts from green to turquoise with the season and the hour.
The loop round the lake is three and a half kilometres, an hour's walk. The wooden boats in the shed on the north shore are the image everybody knows — and that is exactly the problem: visitor numbers have forced a compulsory booked slot for arriving by car or bus in summer.
Getting there
A hundred kilometres east of Bolzano, about an hour and a half. Arriving by car or bus needs a booked slot in summer.
What the price covers
walking around the lake is free; parking and road access are regulated and charged in season
Rules on site
From July to September, vehicle access is controlled by booked slot between nine and four: without a booking the road is closed. Coming before nine avoids both the rule and the crowd.
