The lakes of the Belluno Dolomites: 10 worth the journey

The Dolomites are rock, but without water there would be neither that rock nor that colour. The lakes of the province of Belluno are a remarkably mixed family: a few are small glacial eyes high in the mountains, one was born in a single night after a disaster, and most of the big ones are reservoirs from the 1950s and 60s with drowned villages underneath. Below are ten that genuinely repay the journey – with the numbers, the access, and, where it matters, an honest warning.

1. Lake Misurina – the mirror of the Tre Cime

At 1,754 m, in the municipality of Auronzo di Cadore, Misurina is the largest natural lake in Cadore and probably the most photographed stretch of water in the Dolomites. Its perimeter is just 2.6 km and it is only about 5 metres deep, but its strength is the setting: the Cadini di Misurina to the east, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo to the north and the Sorapiss group to the south. On a windless morning the reflection of the Cadini in the water is exactly what people come here for.

Misurina also has a page in sporting history: during the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo it hosted the speed skating events, on a track cut into the frozen lake. Nearby stands the Istituto Pio XII, Italy’s only centre for the treatment of childhood asthma – not folklore, but a consequence of the local microclimate, dry and free of pollen.

Getting there: the SR48 from Cortina over Passo Tre Croci, or from Auronzo di Cadore. Paid parking along the lake. The toll road up to Rifugio Auronzo below the Tre Cime also starts here – in high season it closes when the car parks fill up.

2. Lake Sorapis – the turquoise you have to earn

It sits at 1,923 m in a basin beneath the walls of the Sorapiss, and its colour is hard to believe: the milky turquoise comes from finely ground limestone suspended in meltwater from snow and ice. The approach follows CAI trail 215 from Passo Tre Croci (1,803 m): about 6 km one way, roughly 250 metres of net ascent (though with plenty of ups and downs) and around 2 hours of walking. The route is graded EE – for experienced hikers: there are narrow ledges above drops, secured with cables and ladders. This is not a stroll for everyone.

At the lake: Rifugio Vandelli. You can return the same way or make a loop via trails 213 and 217, longer and equally demanding.

3. Lake Santa Croce – wind, sails and a beach in Alpago

The second largest lake in the Veneto lies in Alpago at 386 m and holds around 120 million cubic metres of water. It is natural, but was enlarged by a dam in the 1930s; a canal from the Piave feeds it and the Rai stream flows out of it.

Its selling point is the wind. In the afternoon a steady thermal blows from south to north at 5-10 m/s, reinforced by the Venturi effect in the narrows of the Val Lapisina – much the same phenomenon as on Lake Garda. That makes Santa Croce one of Italy’s reference points for windsurfing, kitesurfing and sailing. A cycle and footpath of about 17 km runs around the lake, and the southern shore has the Baia delle Sirene beach.

Getting there: the Belluno exit of the A27 motorway, then a few kilometres. This is the most accessible lake on the list – and the only one where you can spend a whole beach day.

4. Lake Alleghe – the lake born in a single night

On the night of 11 January 1771 a huge rockslide came down from Monte Piz, dammed the Cordevole stream and within days created the lake. The disaster killed 49 people, and on 1 May of the same year a second collapse killed three more; the village of Riete was swept away, Marin and Fusine were partly buried, and Peron, Soracordevole, Sommariva, Costa and Torre ended up underwater. 208 people lost their homes. The lake was then about 4 km long and 55 metres deep.

Today it is the heart of the village of Alleghe, with the reflection of Civetta in the water and a walk right around the shore. In winter, when it freezes, it becomes a skating rink. The history is worth remembering: this is one of the few Dolomite landscapes whose exact birth night we know.

5. Lake Mis and the Cadini del Brenton

The dam at Sospirolo was completed in 1962: a concrete dome 91 metres high holding the water at around 427 m above sea level, forming a lake of 1.29 km² and up to 88 metres deep. The price was high: the valley was flooded, the inhabitants had to leave, and of the submerged village of Gena Bassa only the church was rebuilt – it stands on the shore today.

The whole lake lies inside the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park. A few minutes’ walk from the road are the Cadini del Brenton, a sequence of giant’s kettles carved by the stream into the limestone, filled with water of an almost unreal turquoise. It is one of the shortest and most spectacular paths in the province, and works well for families.

6. Lake Centro Cadore – the longest fjord in Cadore

The reservoir created in the 1950s by the dam at Sottocastello (the so-called diga di Pieve di Cadore) stretches between Calalzo, Domegge and Lozzo di Cadore. It covers 2.39 km², reaches 108.3 m in depth and holds 67.5 million m³ – third in the region. Enel regulates the level, so the little islets are sometimes islands and sometimes peninsulas.

Paths and panoramic walkways run all around, and from Calalzo the Lunga Via delle Dolomiti sets off – the cycle route on the old bed of the Dolomites Railway, running through Cortina all the way to Dobbiaco. The pairing of bike and lake is more natural here than anywhere else in the Belluno Dolomites.

7. Lake Corlo – the Feltre country on the water

In the municipality of Arsiè, on the Cismon stream, the dam was completed in 1953 (works had begun in 1951). The lake measures 2.45 km² and reaches 68 metres in depth, and its history is among the harshest in the province: four hamlets were submerged – Giuliat, Carrer, Caballau and Chiesa – and of some three thousand inhabitants two and a half thousand had to emigrate. Of the old church at Rocca, the bell tower remains.

Today it is a quiet place with a beach, pedalos and viewpoints, little known even to Italians from outside the region. A good base if you are staying near Feltre.

8. Lake della Stua in Val Canzoi

The dam on the Caorame stream was built in 1952-53, in the municipality of Cesiomaggiore. The lake lies entirely within the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park, ringed by the Cimonega dolomite group and the Vette Feltrine. That turquoise sheet between wooded slopes is the park’s busiest gateway from the Feltre side.

Trails set off from here towards the Piani Eterni, one of the wildest plateaus in the Belluno Dolomites, with around 1,100 metres of ascent. The lake shore itself, though, is perfect for a quiet walk with no altitude ambitions.

9. Lake Coldai – the emerald under the Civetta wall

At 2,143 m, just above Rifugio Coldai (2,132 m), a small glacial eye sits directly beneath the vertical wall of Civetta – the one climbers call “the wall of walls”. You start from Palafavera (1,507 m) on trails 564 and 556: about 625 metres of ascent and roughly four hours there and back.

The lake sits on the route of Alta Via no. 1, so everyone walking the classic Dolomite traverse passes it. The water stays freezing even in August; the view of Pelmo from the saddle above repays the climb.

10. Lake Fedaia – ice above the water

At 2,057 m, below the north face of the Marmolada and what is left of its glacier, Lake Fedaia is a reservoir sitting exactly on the border between the province of Belluno and Trentino. You reach it on the road from Caprile, one of the hardest cycling climbs in Italy, or from the Canazei side.

It is the starkest landscape of the ten: little green, a great deal of rock and ice, wind almost always. An easy path runs around the lake, and from the dam you can see how far the glacier has retreated in recent decades – one of the few places where climate change is visible to the naked eye.

When to go

The high lakes – Sorapis, Coldai, Fedaia – are accessible roughly from late June to late September; before that there is snow on the trails and firn patches on the steep traverses can be dangerous. The valley lakes – Santa Croce, Corlo, Mis, Centro Cadore, Stua, Alleghe – are accessible from May to October, and some of them in winter too.

The best light for photography is early morning: the water is still, and the reflections that appear over Misurina and Alleghe vanish after nine with the first breath of wind.

Frequently asked questions

Which is the most beautiful lake in the Dolomites?

The most photogenic is Sorapis, but it takes two hours of walking on terrain graded for experienced hikers. If you want the view without the effort, Misurina. If you want to spend a whole day on the water, Santa Croce.

Can you swim in the Dolomite lakes?

In some of them, yes: Santa Croce has a proper beach, and swimming is common at Corlo and Mis. At Sorapis it is banned. In the high lakes the water rarely goes above 10°C even in August.

Is Lake Braies in the Belluno Dolomites?

No. Lago di Braies is in the province of Bolzano, in South Tyrol, about an hour from Misurina. It is often confused with the Belluno lakes because it belongs to the same mountain range.

How do you reach these lakes without a car?

Santa Croce, Centro Cadore and Alleghe are served by Dolomitibus coaches; Misurina has summer buses from Cortina and Auronzo. Sorapis, Coldai and Stua have to be reached on foot from the nearest stop or car park.

Sources

• Wikipedia (entries: Lago di Misurina, Lago di Alleghe, Lago di Santa Croce, Lago del Mis, Lago di Centro Cadore, Lago del Corlo, Lago della Stua)
• Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park – Val Canzoi and Cadini del Brenton
• Il Dolomiti, August 2026 – water level at Lake Misurina
• Corriere delle Alpi, July 2026 – overtourism at Lake Sorapis
• Dolomiti Review – data for CAI trails 215 and 564/556
• Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 and CC BY 3.0 licences, authors credited in the captions.