The milky-turquoise lake above Cortina: the trail 215 hike from Passo Tre Croci, the ledges, why you can't swim, and the hut right at the water.
Updated: 2026-07-22
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Effort
Moderate, some ledges with cables
Time needed
4-5 h round trip
Getting there
On foot from Passo Tre Croci
Best light
Midday for the colour, evening for solitude
Lago di Sorapis is glacier milk: a small lake of improbable powder-turquoise under the Sorapiss walls, and unlike most famous Dolomites water it must be earned on foot. There is no lift and no road, which keeps it wilder than Braies even in August.
The colour is finest at midday sun angles, which conveniently matches the hiking schedule. The evening, after the day hikers drain away, belongs to the guests of Rifugio Vandelli a few minutes from the shore.
The standard route is trail 215 from Passo Tre Croci on the Cortina-Misurina road: about 12 km round trip with 400 m of climbing, 4 to 5 hours at a relaxed pace. Most of it is forest and balcony path; a few short ledge sections have fixed cables and feel airy but are protected and fine for a careful hiker in dry weather.
It is enormously popular in high summer. Start before 8:30 from the pass, or aim for late afternoon and combine the walk with a hut dinner.
The lake is a protected site and shrinking: stay on the shore paths and out of the water (swimming is banned). Rifugio Vandelli, five minutes from the shore, is the way to see the lake without the day-trip pulse: arrive late, watch the walls go orange, and have the turquoise to yourself at breakfast. From there, ambitious routes continue into the Sorapiss circuit ferratas; for hikers, back the same way or on toward Faloria.
Tap a marker to see how to get there, then open it in the planner with your start already set.
Staffed huts closest to this spot. Sleeping up here is how you get the sunrise and the empty trail.
Moderate: about 12 km round trip from Passo Tre Croci with 400 m of climbing, 4 to 5 hours. A few short ledge passages have fixed cables; they are protected and manageable in dry conditions, but skip the hike in rain or early-season snow.
No. The lake is protected and fragile (it visibly shrinks through summer), and swimming is banned. Stay on the shore paths; the colour is best admired dry anyway.
Yes: Rifugio Vandelli sits a few minutes from the lake. Sleeping there means the lake at dusk and dawn without another soul, and it slots naturally into a Cortina-area hut-to-hut route in our planner.
Heading for Lago di Sorapis? These guides cover the practical side of walking and sleeping in the Dolomites.
