Plan your flight in order to arrive at Venice airport (VCE) not later than noon. Ideally, planning to arrive a day earlier would most likely be the best choice. There is plenty of hotels available in and around the airport. My suggestion is to book a room for the night of October 9th at the Titian Inn Bestwestern Hotel, which is about 600 mts from the airport.

Afternoon: Meet up at 2 pm with the group in front of the Best Western Titian Inn hotel in Tessera, Venice, Via Orlanda 240-244, 30173

Transfer by car to Passo Rolle, where we will arrive in about 2h30'. This pass is a wonderful viewpoint on the group of the Pale di San Martino, one of the most famous massif of the Western Dolomites.

Sunset: If we will have enough time, we will shoot sunset from the wonderful location of Baita Segantini, a mountain hut placed on a high altitude plateau facing the whole mountain range of the Pale di San Martino.

Dinner: either at some restaurant in the small town of San Martino di Castrozza or at the restaurant of the hotel at Passo Rolle

Night: After dinner, if conditions are favourable, we will start our photo workshop with a night session directly at Passo Rolle, for photographing star trails and the milky way in the backdrop of the Cimon de la Pala, one of the amazing peaks of the Pale di San Martino group.

Sunrise: Wake up about 1 hour before sunrise and with a walk on an easy trail with a moderate elevation gain we will reach the refuge known Baita Segantini, a mountain hut placed on the shore of a small lake. This is the best location for photographing the Pale di San Martino group either at sunrise or sunset. Rest of the day: We will shoot in the area surrounding Passo Rolle for the rest of the day, waiting for the sunset in Val Venegia, a wonderful, enchanted valley just below the pass. Evening: After sunset, we will get back to the cars and drive to Carezza, where we will have dinner and spend the night at one of the hotels nearby the namesake lake.

Sunrise shoot at Carezza lake. The Lake of Carezza is a small alpine lake completely surrounded by a wonderful forest of pines and larches, and it's one of the best locations for photographing the Latemar and Catenaccio groups at sunrise or sunset. We will then get back to the hotel for breakfast. Morning: After breakfast, we will take the car and drive in the Fassa valley up to Canazei and from there up to the Sella pass, one of the most important passes of the Dolomites, linking the Fassa Valley to the Gardena Valley. Along the road that climbs up to the pass with sharp hairpin turns, there are many wonderful view points on some of the most famous groups of the Dolomites, such as the Marmolada, the Sella Towers, Sasso Lungoand Sasso Piatto group, Odle range, among many others.

We will spend the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon shooting at this location. At around 2 pm we will head back to the cars and from the Sella pass we will drive to the Funes valley where we will keep shooting for the rest of the day. Sunset: Be prepared for this night to have a early dinner, as in Funes Valley there are just a handful of restaurants and they usually stop to serve dinner at around 8:30 pm.

We will wait for sunset at the famous Sankt Johann in Ranui's church in the small hamlet of Santa Magdalena, with the jagged peaks of the Odle range in the background. After the sunset shoot we will head by car to our next destination, Cortina d’Ampezzo, where we will arrive at around midnight, and where we will stay for the rest of the workshop.

Morning and afternoon: After breakfast at our hotel in Cortina, we will take the car at around 9am and drive up to Falzarego Pass, a high altitude road pass linking Cortina d'Ampezzo to the Badia Valley. We will spend a couple of hours photographing in this beautiful area and then, after a quick lunch at the bar at the pass, we will take the cable car up to the 2800+ mts of altitude of Mount Lagazuoi. This is an amazing location from where it is possible to view and photograph the whole range of mountains from Lagazuoi to Tofane, and also visit the Austro-Hungarian fortified trenches of World War I. Sunset shoot: we will get back to the car at around 4:30, heading to Lake Misurina and then Lake Antorno, two small alpine lakes surrounded by a beautiful evergreen forest, where we will photograph wonderful peaks reflected in the water. Among these mountains there are the Tre Cime di Lavaredo(Drei Zinnen), probably the most famous massif of the whole Dolomites, that we will depict while shining in the pink light of the setting sun, and reflected in the calm waters of lake Antorno.

Sunrise: We will wake at around 5:30am, and will drive to Landro Lake. Lake Landro is a small lake in the Alta Pusteria valley, and it's the best location for photographing the Cristallo group at sunrise. Morning: After the sunrise shoot, we will get back to the hotel for breakfast. Rest of the day: After breakfast, we will drive up to the Rifugio Auronzo, a mountain hut at 2300 mts of altitude, lying in the prairies at the foot of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo Group. From the prairies surrounding the rifugio it is possible to enjoy a 180° unobstructed view on some of the most beautiful massifs of the Ampezzo Dolomites, such as Cadini di Misurina, Cristallo, Mount Piana, Croda Rossa d'Ampezzo. We will shoot from this location for the rest of the morning and then, after a picnic with our packed lunch, we will head to the Rifugio Locatelli, reachable with an easy trek of about 4 kms and 150 mts of elevation gain (2,5 miles and 500 ft.). We will spend the rest of the day photographing the Tre Cime di Lavaredo from this very iconic location.

Sunrise: We will wake up 1 hour before sunrise, and head by car to Giau Pass, a high altitude pass linking Cortina d'Ampezzo to Selva di Cadore, where we will have our sunrise shoot. From this pass the sight is completely unobstructed and we will able to frame some of the most famous mountains of the Dolomites, such as Ra Gusela, Tofana di Rozes, Lastoi da Formin, Conturines, Marmolada, and many others. Morning: After the sunrise shoot, we will get back to the hotel for breakfast. Rest of the day: After breakfast, we will drive up to Giau Pass again, and from there we will head down to the small, pictoresque town of Selva di Cadore, the perfect location for photographing the Mount Pelmo, another amazing peak of the Dolomites, and also for framing some beautiful tyrolean style’s buildings. After a quick lunch at some bar/restaurant at Selva di Cadore, we will drive to Alleghe, another small town that lies by the shore of a beautiful lake just at the foot of one of the most impressive massif of the Dolomites, the Mount Civetta. Sunset shoot: we will leave Alleghe at around 4:30, and we’ll drive up to the Rifugio Scoiattoli, a mountain hut placed at the feet of the Cinque Torri group. We will spend approximately two hours for visiting and photographing the trenches and the other vestiges of the World War I, dug in the rock in 1915 by the Italian troops all over this area, and then we will shoot the sun setting behind the Antelao and Lastoi de Formin groups.

Sunrise (Optional): to end in style, we will wake at around 5:30am and will drive to Lake Antorno for our last sunrise shoot, with the Tre Cime di Lavaredo as our main subject. Morning: After the sunrise shoot, we will get back to the hotel for breakfast Rest of the day: After breakfast, we will leave the Dolomites heading to the airport of Venice, where we will arrive in about 2h:30'.

Flights out of Venice (VCE) anytime after 3:00 PM