Cortina in summer

Cortina does not close when the pistes do. The town is a Dolomite base with cable cars, a lake within a day, and a high street that works in hiking boots. Summer here is busy in its own way, especially August, and it is a different sport from the ski week described in the rest of this guide. If you have arrived in July with a ski article open, use this page and then go outside.

The dates below for 2026 are what the operators posted, and they are in the past relative to a reader in November 2026. They show the shape of a summer. They are not the 2027 calendar. Book huts and lifts against next year’s notice.

Cable cars, without the skis

Dolomiti Superski’s Cortina board lists a second life for many lifts, with pedestrian prices published as points rather than as a ski pass. In the summer of 2026 the Falzarego–Lagazuoi cable car was posted from 6 June to 18 October. The Cinque Torri chair was posted from 6 June to 11 October. The Skyline gondola, which joins Son dei Prade under the Tofane to Bai de Dones under the towers, was posted from 27 June to 6 September. The operator describes that ride as about 4.6 kilometres and about fifteen minutes, with a mid station at Cianzopè, and notes that the closing day can move with the weather.

On the Tofane, the 2026 pedestrian windows included Lacedel–Socrepes and the Tofana Express from 20 June to 13 September, the Col Drusciè gondola and the Ra Valles cable car from 13 June to 27 September, and the further cabin from Ra Valles toward Cima Tofana from 18 June to 27 September. Faloria’s cable car was posted from 11 July to 20 September. Son Forca on Cristallo was posted from 20 June to 20 September. These are walking lifts. They are not a promise that a particular trail is dry, and they stop for storms. The winter rule still has a summer cousin: stay on the marked path, and do not wander a piste or a construction line because the view is better from the edge.

A good first ride, if 2027 copies 2026’s pattern, is Faloria or the Tofane cabin on a clear morning, with the last descent early enough that a stopped lift is an inconvenience and not a night out. A good second ride is the Skyline to Cinque Torri, which gives you the short walks around the towers and a way back that is not the pass road. Lagazuoi is the longer mountain day, with the open-air tunnels of the First World War in the rock if the gallery is open when you go. Check that local notice. Mountain museums close for weather and for the ends of their seasons.

The activity search on this page is a way to find a guided walk or a via ferrata day if you want a leader. The famous ferrata on this rock, including the lines around the towers and the Cristallo side, are equipment and experience, not a stroll from the cable car in trainers. Hire the kit in town, or go with someone who carries it and knows the wire. This guide will not talk you up a ferrata from a paragraph.

Lakes and the Tre Cime

Lago di Misurina is the easy beautiful day: a lake, a chairlift toward Col de Varda that also appears on the winter board, and a road that Cortina drivers already know. It is the right trip when you want to be outside without a big objective. Combine it with a short walk, not with three other lakes.

The Tre Cime di Lavaredo are the objective. They are the skyline people mean when they say they came to the eastern Dolomites, and Cortina is a practical base for them, better than trying to see them from a Venice hotel before dinner. The road and any shuttle arrangement have been tightened in recent seasons to protect the place. Read the current rule from the park or from the Cortina visitor office before you drive. A rule that applied in 2024 may not be the rule on the morning you go, and a blog that says “just arrive early” may be describing a queue that is no longer allowed. Misurina is the nearby lake if the high road is shut and you still want the day to be about water and rock.

Lago di Braies is further north, a separate trip via Dobbiaco, not a Cortina suburb. Fondazione Cortina puts Dobbiaco about 31 kilometres away. It is doable. It is also a lake with its own crowding problem. Do it on a day you have dedicated to the Pustertal, not as a quick addition to the Tre Cime. One famous place a day is the same ethic as the ski weekend.

The town, and the Games in the background

Summer evenings are Corso Italia without ski boots. The advice on the après-ski page still holds: book the interesting dinner in August, walk before you sit, and do not expect a resort animation team. The ice stadium and the sliding centre are in town all year. They are not summer attractions with a guaranteed tour. The Olympic story is told on the venues page. In July it is context, not the itinerary.

The same roads and coaches you would use in winter still work. Cortina Express and ATVO keep a summer pattern, with the airport ride still the simple way in if you are not driving. Passes that were a ski-area problem in January are a driving pleasure in July only while the weather agrees. A thunderstorm in the Dolomites is a reason to be in the valley, not on a ferrata. Start early, finish early, and let the room be in the centre if you want dinner without a car.

If you are choosing between a ski week and a summer week, choose the sport you actually want. The best ski weeks are January and March. The best walking weeks are often late June and September, when the lifts are more likely to be open than in early June and the August crowds have not, or have just, peaked. Confirm the lift you care about. Then leave the ski article closed until the snow comes back.