If you happen to have landed here by searching the web for “Alta Via 4”, here are some tips for a smooth trip!
- Carry cash for all rifugios! The ones that take cards may not always be able to process payment. How much cash? To be safe and able to purchase luxuries like coffee and wine, I’d budget $90-100 euros per day. You’ll likely have money leftover at the end of the hike.
- You won’t need more than your thin sleeping bag liner. We carried a thin fleece bag as well and it was just extra weight to hike with. If you prefer a cold sleeping environment you will find most places too warm (at least in July)!
- Start your hikes early and don’t dawdle too much! Dinner is usually served between 5 – 6 pm depending on the rifugio. The smaller ones only have one dinner time so you don’t want to miss it!
- If you like lemon, order a radler (beer and lemonade or lemon soda)! There are some premade in cans but we had handmade ones at a couple of huts and they are really refreshing.
- Busses in rural areas are hit or miss. Carry cash for them as most of the ones we tried outside of Rome didn’t have a working tap and pay. Some bus lines require online ticket purchase with no other way to get tickets. I’m not exactly sure of how we navigated from Pieve Di Cadore back to our parking lot at the trailhead but it involved no less than 5 busses. We missed the 030 bus that went clockwise back to the start and ended up catching one going counterclockwise. First bus drove to a main terminal where we were told to move to another bus. This bus continued and then told us to get off at a random roadside bus stop and wait for another bus. The last of these finally got us to the tourist hell of Lake Misurina. The connection north of Lake Misurina was one that required online purchase of tickets and it dropped us at Dobbiaco where we took our final bus towards San Candido.
- The other bus disaster day was on the Amalfi coast. Don’t plan on being able to catch a local bus from the bottom of the Path of the Gods back up to the start. We had 3 busses pass us completely full. Apparently there are shuttle boats you might want to research.
- CalTopo is an excellent phone app for finding trails and seeing topography. Of course, nothing replaces an actual map!
- Feel free to reach out if you have questions, I’ll be glad to try and help out!
The Rambling Hamblings 