Photo spot in Dolomites
Tre Cime di Lavaredo
Three vertical towers standing alone above a stony basin — the most recognisable silhouette in the Alps, and a toll road that takes you to its foot.
About Tre Cime di Lavaredo
Get directionsThe three peaks read as one shape from the south, which is where the toll road ends at Rifugio Auronzo — car park, refuge, and the classic profile straight ahead. For the north face, the one on every poster, the level path towards Rifugio Locatelli takes about an hour each way; it is a walk rather than a climb, but it is an hour, at altitude, and worth agreeing with your photographer in advance.
The rock goes copper in the last half hour of light and again at first light on the north side. The middle of the day is the worst: flat, hard and full of walkers. The stone basin below the towers gives clean, empty foregrounds in every direction, which is why elopements come here rather than to a viewpoint with a railing.
The access road is seasonal — it closes with the first serious snow and reopens in late spring — and the toll is per car. Check both before you plan a date, and remember there is no shelter up there when a storm arrives.
Best time to shoot
The last hour of light from the south side; sunrise on the north face
Tips
The toll road to Rifugio Auronzo is seasonal and paid per car — check it is open. The north-face path is an hour each way on level ground; say so before anyone chooses shoes.
Other spots in Dolomites
Alpe di Siusi at sunrise
The largest high meadow in Europe, with the Sassolungo and the Sella group across it — and a first hour of light that belongs to whoever came up early.
Lago di Braies
Turquoise water, a wooden boathouse and a wall of rock at the far end — the most photographed lake in the Alps, and empty for about an hour a day.
Seceda and the Val Gardena ridge
A grass ridge that ends in a row of vertical rock blades — the sharpest, most graphic skyline in the Dolomites, reached by lift from Ortisei.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know Tre Cime di Lavaredo — free of charge.