Still queues under the sun to get on the shuttle
A queue that seems to never end, hundreds of hikers waiting under the sun to get on the bus that from the Misurina car park takes you to the Auronzo refuge, starting point for the famous tour of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, not surprisingly defined as “the gateway to the Dolomites”. A scene that repeats itself punctually every summer and which in recent weeks has become controversial again thanks to two videos that have gone viral on social media.
The first, published last July 10th by photographer Silvia Sala, invited us to ask ourselves whether it really makes sense to face hours of waiting just to get the perfect shot at the Tre Cime or Cadini di Misurina. On Wednesday 22 July it was the journalist Katia Tafner who shared a new video, which once again shows hundreds of people crowded in the queue.
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Booking isn’t enough to stop the rush to the iconic site
From summer 2025, access to the Tre Cime car park at the Auronzo refuge is regulated through a mandatory online booking system, designed specifically to contain the phenomenon of overtourism. The dedicated platform shows available days and time slots in real time, with the declared aim of better organizing visitor flows.
The problem, however, has simply moved: if previously people queued to enter, today they queue to get on the bus. The images that continue to circulate on social media demonstrate that the booking mechanism alone is not enough to ease the pressure on one of the most photographed places in the Dolomites. A site which, it should be remembered, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and which risks paying a significant environmental price for an influx that remains difficult to manage.
The risk of the meta-postcard chased on social media
Behind the long queues there is largely a well-known phenomenon: the obsessive search for the shot already seen thousands of times, the one made iconic by photographers and influencers and endlessly replicated on social media. A dynamic that pushes more and more people towards the same few points, multiplying queues, environmental impact and frustration, while the rest of the surrounding area remains on the fringes of attention.
The Dolomites are not just the Three Peaks
It is worth remembering: the Tre Cime di Lavaredo are undoubtedly one of the most evocative places in the Dolomites, but not the only one. The Dolomite territory holds paths, refuges and equally spectacular and much less crowded views, where it is still possible to walk without queues or long waits. Choosing an alternative destination, perhaps less “instagrammable” but equally authentic, is not only a more pleasant choice for those who walk: it is also a concrete way to lighten the pressure on a fragile ecosystem, distributing tourist flows instead of always concentrating them on the same, few, views which have now also become a symbol of the limits of overtourism.
