July in Europe: The Dolomites

July is when the Dolomites are at their most usable and, for the kind of trip we build, at their most misunderstood. The valley floor at Alta Badia sits around fifteen hundred metres, which takes the edge off the heat that makes the rest of Italy difficult in high summer. Days run to twenty-two or twenty-four degrees, nights are cold enough for a blanket, and the weather is reliable until the middle of the afternoon.

Ten nights based in the Val Badia between Corvara, La Villa and San Cassiano, with two or three on the lakes at the end if you want a soft landing before the flight home. We do not move you every second night. One valley, one bed, and the days go out from there.

The walking is the reason to come and it can be pitched at anything. Lift-assisted days on the Sella and the Puez-Odle plateau for members who want the views without the climb; the Tre Cime circuit or a guided via ferrata for those who want to be properly tired. Lunch is taken at altitude in a rifugio, which in this valley means a Ladin kitchen rather than a canteen. Storms build most afternoons and clear by early evening, so we start early and finish early.

There is no airport in the mountains. Venice and Verona are the practical entries for long-range aircraft, with Innsbruck and Bolzano available to smaller types and both requiring terrain-qualified crew. From Venice it is roughly an hour by helicopter or two and a half by road, and we generally fly you in and drive you out.

San Cassiano is the address in this valley and Aman's arrival there has raised the ceiling on what is possible in the Dolomites. On the lakes at the end, Mandarin Oriental at Lago di Como and Passalacqua at Moltrasio are the two we use.

Ask your advisor about a private mountain guide for the whole stay rather than by the day, booking rifugio tables before you arrive, and whether Venice is worth two nights at the front or is better skipped entirely in July.