Dates:
13th to 19th September 2027
Join our epic photography photo tour in the stunning Dolomites of Italy, an adventure designed to elevate your landscape photography skills against a backdrop of dramatic peaks, crystal-clear lakes, and picturesque alpine villages. Suitable for all levels, this immersive tour combines expert-led guidance with hands-on instruction to help you capture the breathtaking beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage site. From golden sunrise light illuminating jagged mountain spires to vibrant sunset panoramas, you'll learn techniques to create striking images and deepen your appreciation for nature’s grandeur. Experience the magic of the Dolomites and leave with stunning photographs and unforgettable memories. Expect all this and more on this incredible 7-Day / 6-Night Photography tour.
The Dolomites are a mountain range in North-Eastern Italy, spread across a huge area and bordering both Austria and Slovenia. They cover more than 300,000 acres, and include 18 famous peaks, some of the best big walls for climbing in Europe, and countless charming mountain villages. The Dolomites were originally known as the Pale Mountains due to the light-colored Dolomite rock.
This photo tour will take you to some of the best locations in the Dolomites, ensuring you are in the right place at the right time to capture amazing images. On this tour, we will not have a fixed base; we will be spending each night in a different location to shoot some incredible scenes at sunrise, at sunset, and if the weather permits, even throughout the day. We do not expect to see any autumn colours on this tour, but September is the ideal time to visit as it is considered the quiet part of the high season (Summer), with fewer people around, but with full access to the mountain via Rifugios and ski infrastructure.
We will be spending most nights in different alpine mountain huts, known in Italian as a ‘Rifugio’ (Refuge in English). The rifugios are easily accessed by ski lifts, gondolas, and/or a short walk. The rifugios vary in luxury, but all provide a cosy bunk, plenty of warm blankets, a hot meal and drinks. This means that we will always be close to the locations that we plan to photograph, enabling us to be in the right place at the right time for us to capture some epic images! During the day, we will travel to our next location and have time to discuss the images we have captured throughout the trip and we will also discuss composition/light and different techniques to capture the best of the scene before us.
Highlights of this tour:
Photograph some of the best locations in the Dolomites
Capture the best of the light by being in the right place at the right time
Exclusive private mountain taxi to Seceda for Sunrise!
Spend 4 nights in the mountains in Alpine Huts (Rifugios)
Capture lesser-known spots for unique shots
Multiple hours of shooting every day to help you hone your skills
Learn new skills from two professional photographers
Improve your composition with in-the-field support and feedback
Small group (Just 10 participants) for a more personalised experience
Hike to some of the most incredible vantage points in the Dolomites
Connect with like-minded photographers and make new friends
Itinerary: We will spend each night in a new location, ensuring we cover as many locations as possible. We will travel from one location to the next in a comfortable and modern vehicle. A detailed itinerary will be shared with all participants once the relevant bookings are made. The following itinerary and list of locations is an overview:
Day 1: We will meet at Venice Marco Polo Airport between 09:00 - 10:00am (Exact time to be confirmed) and begin our trip by heading North, as the foothills give way to the mountains, we will soon find ourselves in the Dolomites, Val Gardena. We will be spending our first night in this area, and will shoot sunset at the iconic Chiesetta di San Giovanni in Ranui (No Hiking required).
Day 2: We will start the day with an exclusive private mountain taxi trip upto Seceda, we will shoot sunrise here before returning to our hotel for breakfast (Using a mountain taxi like this enables us to reach the Seceda ridge for sunrise without having to hike for 5+ hours). After breakfast, we will check out and make our way to our next location, Rifugio Lagazuoi. We will be spending the night here, in a rifugio perched on top of a mountain, at an altitude of 2752 meters (9029 feet), with 360 panoramic views. We will be in an ideal location to capture the best of the light around us throughout the day. (No Hiking required).
Day 3: After shooting sunrise and having breakfast, we will check out and travel to our next location, Cortina D’Ampezzo, the true heart of the Dolomites and the town that hosted both the 1956 and 2026 Winter Olympics. Our night in Cortina will be spent in a hotel, enabling us to properly recharge our own batteries, but also those of our equipment. We will shoot sunset at Passo Giau before returning for dinner.
Day 4: After shooting sunrise at Passo Falzarego, we will check out and drive upto Rifugio Auronzo, the first of two nights that will be spent at the foot of the iconic Tre Cime di Lavaredo. We will have plenty of time to explore and find compositions before heading out for sunset at Forcella Lavaredo (30-45 minute hike required).
Day 5: We will shoot sunrise at the incredible Cadini di Misurina (30 - 45 minute hike required), and we will then return to the rifugio for breakfast. After breakfast, we will hike to the next rifugio, Rifugio Locatelli, the most iconic location in the Dolomites. This hike will take 60-120 minutes, depending on pace, but will give us one of the most incredible mountain views in the world. After lunch, we will check in and explore the area before finally shooting Sunset.
Day 6: We will shoot Sunrise before having breakfast and then hike back to the vans (60-120 minutes depending on pace). We will then head to our final location for the trip, Baita Segantini. After lunch, we will explore the area and then head up to shoot this iconic location at sunset.
Day 7: After shooting our final sunrise for the trip, we will have breakfast and start making our way back to Venice Marco Polo airport with our memory cards full and some awesome new memories. We aim to be back to Venice Airport by 15:00 at the latest (We usually arrive at about 13:00, but build in a buffer in case of any unexpected road closure or traffic).
List of main shooting locations:
Chiesetta di San Giovanni in Ranui
Seceda Ridge
Lagazuoi
Forcella Lavaredo
Cadini di Misurina
Tre Cime North Side
Rifugio Locatelli
Monte Paterno
Baita Segantini
Maximum Number of Participants: 10 - We prefer smaller groups to ensure that everyone gets a more personalised experience, but also so that we can access more off-the-beaten-track locations that simply wouldn’t work with a larger group. A smaller group also means that we leave less impact on the environment, and it enables us to have more flexibility with our schedule.
Difficulty: Moderate to Challenging
Physical Fitness Required: Moderate – A reasonable level of fitness is required for this trip, but you are not required to be an athlete! You will be walking around on well-maintained trails, at elevations between 1500 and 2700 meters above sea level. The hikes are not difficult or technical, there is no climbing involved, and the elevation gain will be moderate. Depending on the weather and conditions, there will be additional short hikes to locations surrounding the Rifugios.
Price: 4150 Euro per person
Please Note: (A non-refundable Deposit of €1000 is required to secure your spot on this tour). Terms and Conditions apply. Single rooms will be provided for the nights in Hotels. In the mountain huts, we will be sleeping in dormitories of different sizes. Where possible, we will have a private dormitory for our group.
Included in the price:
All transportation throughout the tour in modern and comfortable vehicles
Lodging on a Bed and Breakfast basis in hotels and mountain huts
Private Mountain Taxi to the iconic Seceda ridge
Parking fees, tolls, and fuel
All permits and park fees
Cable Cars and Ski Lift fees
Instruction and 1-on-1 support from 2 professional photographers
Adventure, fun, and great memories!
Not included in the price:
Flights
Alcohol
Lunch / Dinner
Travel Insurance
Gratuities for guides
Pickup and Drop Off
Both pickup and dropoff will take place at Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE), Venice, Italy, before 10:00 AM on Monday, 13th September 2027. Flights out can be booked for after 5:00 PM on Sunday, 19th September 2026. Air travel delays are not uncommon; for this reason, we suggest arriving at least one day prior to the start of the tour so that you don’t miss any of the tour.
Accommodation
The Rifugios are all located in stunning locations, each one having its own unique and breathtaking views, delicious food, and overnight rooms. All rifugios provide pillows, some rifugios provide fresh sheets and quilts, and some require the use of a sleeping bag liner. Most rooms have power outlets; however, we also recommend bringing a power bank to enable you to charge your devices (Phone and camera). Most rooms have bunks. Shared common showers and restrooms are usually located down the hall. Each Rifugio has a restaurant, and the food is excellent. All Rifugios are very clean! We will also be spending 2 nights in hotels (Nights 1 and 3), which will enable us to visit and shoot location which are inaccessible from Rifugios. You will have your own single room and private bathroom for the nights in hotels.
Logistics
The accommodations will be a split of hotels and alpine mountain huts. The sleeping arrangements will vary from one Rifugio to another, but they will be mostly shared dormitory-style rooms of different sizes, as is standard in mountain huts. For the nights spent in a hotel, we will be staying in single rooms. We will be leaving our suitcases in the van and carrying only the essentials with us as we hike to and from locations.
Fitness and Mobility
The few hikes that we will be doing on this trip are rated easy or moderate. Some locations do not require any hiking, others require 30 - 40 minutes of hiking without any significant elevation gain, and some locations require a longer and slightly more demanding hike. Some of the locations that we visit will require walking up uneven and potentially slippery trails; for this reason, good balance and mobility are extremely important.
The longest hike we will do is half the Tre Cime hike, when returning from Rifugio Locatelli to the Tre Cime parking area. This hike is officially rated as moderate difficulty; however, we will only be doing half of this hike. The distance covered is around 4km with 250 meters of elevation gain, and takes between 60 and 120 minutes depending on pace.
Guides:
Sam Scicluna
Sam was born and raised on the island of Malta, where his love for beautiful seascapes began. He have always enjoyed being outdoors and surrounded by nature. Growing up on an island has meant that he has a special bond with the sea, which led to seascapes being a natural comfort zone and starting point in photography. In 2014, Sam went on an expedition to climb Mount Etna and later that year also climbed Monte Rosa. Spending time in the mountains is what sparked Sam’s passion for landscape Photography. In 2016 Sam travelled to Iceland for the first time, realising a dream and further affirming his passion for landscape photography. Sam has always been fascinated by the night sky, and going camping often has led him to experiment with astrophotography and shooting the night sky. Sam loves outdoor activities like camping, hiking, rock climbing, alpine climbing, scrambling, and just exploring new places in general! Sam is now a professional landscape photographer, running tours in Iceland, Lofoten, the Faroe Islands, Senja, the Dolomites, Tuscany, Slovenia, Scotland, Madeira, and Northern France.
Lee Frost
Lee picked up a camera for the first time as a teenager in the early 1980s and has been obsessed by photography ever since. After a short career writing for and editing photography magazines, including a stint as assistant editor of Practical Photography, he embarked on a freelance career in 1992. Since then he has written 20 books and thousands of magazine articles on the art and craft of photography.
These days, Lee travels for much of the year, leading sell-out photography workshops and tours all over the world to countries including Namibia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Morocco, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, the USA, Slovenia, South Africa, Patagonia, Japan, Cuba, Greece, Italy and Zanzibar.
Important Information:
Please do not book travel to Italy before we confirm the tour. In the event of trip cancellation, we will not be responsible for any refund for non-refundable airline tickets or for any airline tickets purchased by the passenger directly from an airline or travel agent. Please ensure you have suitable travel insurance.