Serrai di Sottoguda

The Pettorina cut this slot in the rock below Sottoguda, and the path runs along the bottom of it: walls on both sides, water alongside the whole way, air that stays cold and damp when the valley outside is warm. The surface is made up and even enough that children walk it unaided, and the sound of the torrent comes off the stone from both sides at once. After heavy rain, water spills in over the rim. At the upper end the gorge opens towards Malga Ciapela, with the Marmolada — the highest summit in the Dolomites — standing above it.

• Check the website first: closures inside the gorge are announced there, and one visitor found out about a blocked section no other way.
• Water and information: a drinking water point and the tourist office are both about 700 m away, in Sottoguda.
• Children and dogs: the path suits children, and dogs are allowed on it.

Cars stop in Sottoguda and the gorge is entered on foot from the village end — the paid car park is the closer one, the free one buys itself with a longer walk in. From the Sottoguda Bivio stop the approach runs the same way, through the village to the entrance, where the ticket and the helmet are handed over. Everything after that is on foot, out and back along the torrent.

Better: September. One visitor walking the gorge on the 19th found hardly anyone else in it.

Avoid: setting off late in the day — the walk out and back takes about an hour, and the gate closes at 18:00.

Between the walls the light stays flat and cool whatever the hour, so the season decides less about photographs than about how many people share the walkway.