Crossing the Alps Munich-Venice

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The “Munich-Venice Dream Trail” ret­hought: as a hiking tri­lo­gy in stages from the Bava­ri­an capi­tal to the Vene­ti­an lagoon.

Wal­king from Munich to Venice — tha­t’s what Lud­wig Graß­ler had in mind over 50 years ago. With simp­le maps and a dar­ing idea, he sets off and makes his first attempt in 1972. Bad wea­ther and an inju­ry force him to aban­don the race, but Graß­ler does not give up. Two years later, he is back on Mari­en­platz in Munich and takes his first steps towards Italy. 
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28 stages lead him into the Isar Val­ley, through the Bava­ri­an Alpi­ne foot­hills into the impo­sing Kar­wen­del moun­ta­ins, over the main Alpi­ne ridge and on through the Dolo­mi­tes. The long ascent is fol­lo­wed by the des­cent in nor­t­hern Ita­ly and a varied hike through Tre­vi­so to the desti­na­ti­on: St. Mar­k’s Squa­re in Venice.

“Munich-Venice Dream Trail”: a clas­sic among Alpi­ne crossings

Graß­ler has 550 kilo­me­ters and almost 3,000 meters of alti­tu­de behind him and talks enthu­si­a­sti­cal­ly about his expe­ri­en­ces. In his book “On foot across the Alps”, published in 1977, he descri­bes his rou­te — and soon hiking enthu­si­asts are fol­lo­wing his paths.

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The “Munich-Venice Dream Trail” is now one of the most beau­tiful Alpi­ne crossings and is com­ple­ted by seve­ral hundred to thou­sands of hikers every year. Howe­ver, anyo­ne who knows the rou­te also knows that the Graß­lers Traum­pfad demands a lot — not only phy­si­cal­ly, but also in terms of com­fort. Over­night stays (not always legal) in tents or shared rooms with com­mu­nal bath­rooms and the search for dry socks in a stuf­fed ruck­sack. Pure adven­ture — if you like that sort of thing. For com­fort-lovers and plea­su­re hikers, howe­ver, the­re is not enough relaxation.

New com­fort opti­on with over­night stay in a hotel

This is exact­ly whe­re Feu­er und Eis Tou­ris­tik comes in and rewri­tes the “Munich-Venice Dream Trail” chap­ter. From the 2026 sea­son, the ico­nic Alpi­ne crossing will be offe­red in a new, com­for­ta­ble ver­si­on: with careful­ly sel­ec­ted hotels, relia­ble lug­ga­ge trans­fer and an all-round care­free packa­ge that per­fect­ly com­bi­nes enjoy­ment and experience. 

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The idea behind it: Pre­ser­ve the magic of crossing the Alps, but make the rou­te more rela­xed. Ins­tead of mat­tress dor­mi­t­ories and shared bath­rooms, 3- and 4‑star hotels and inns with com­for­ta­ble beds and regio­nal break­fasts await you. And ins­tead of hea­vy lug­ga­ge, you only car­ry what you need — your wan­der­lust, your came­ra and the hap­pi­ness of hea­ding towards the horizon. 

Num­e­rous high­lights bet­ween Mari­en­platz and St. Mar­k’s Square

Of cour­se, the high­lights of the ori­gi­nal are retai­ned. The maje­s­tic sce­n­ery around the tur­quoi­se-blue Schle­geis reser­voir, the his­to­ric Pfit­scher­joch, the mys­ti­cal Prags­er Wild­see lake or the breath­ta­king pan­ora­ma of the Dolo­mi­tes near Cor­ti­na d’Am­pez­zo. And the ori­gi­nal desti­na­ti­on — St. Mar­k’s Squa­re in Venice — is still the grand fina­le of the trip. The most emo­tio­nal moment of the enti­re tour awaits the­re: the first dip of tired feet in the warm Adria­tic sea water. With every wave, the pri­de of having crossed the Alps on foot washes through your body.

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If you don’t have three weeks for this Alpi­ne crossing, you can still go on tour with our “Hiking Tri­lo­gy”. At Feu­er und Eis, we have divi­ded the “Dream Trail” into three inde­pen­dent sec­tions that can be boo­ked indi­vi­du­al­ly or as a package:

  1. Munich — Zil­ler­tal: From the urban start­ing point of Munich through the gent­le Isar Val­ley into the alpi­ne heart of Tyrol.
  2. Zil­ler­tal — Cor­ti­na d’Am­pez­zo: Over the main Alpi­ne ridge into the Dolo­mi­tes — spec­ta­cu­lar views guaranteed.
  3. Cor­ti­na — Venice: From the peaks of nor­t­hern Ita­ly to the sea in the Vene­ti­an lagoon.

So ever­yo­ne can deci­de for them­sel­ves how inten­se the expe­ri­ence should be: an adven­ture week in the moun­ta­ins or the com­ple­te crossing of the Alps — stage by stage. Our insi­der tip: Spread over three sum­mers is the best way to enjoy this impres­si­ve experience.

Adven­ture and enjoy­ment combined

The new “hiking tri­lo­gy” by Feu­er und Eis trans­forms the dream trail into a per­fect com­bi­na­ti­on of exci­ting, raw Alpi­ne crossing and rela­xing, com­for­ta­ble time out. Final­ly available for lei­su­re hikers and adven­tu­r­ers “light”.
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The hike is not­hing more — but also not­hing less — than a care­free immersi­on in natu­re and an unfor­gettable jour­ney across the Alps and also to yours­elf. Becau­se it is not about doing wit­hout, but about awa­re­ness — for the path, natu­re and your own steps. 

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Would you also like to fol­low in Lud­wig Grass­ler’s footsteps?