📍Location	Landro, on the rock faces of Col di Specie in Val di Landro (Höhlensteintal), between Dobbiaco (Toblach) and Carbonin (Schluderbach), South Tyrol, Italy. GoogleMap On the right of the SS51 just after Lago di Landro (Dürrensee), in the valley that leads to Misurina, Monte Piana and the Tre Cime
🅿️Parking	46.62535, 12.22574 (coordinates from theCrag). Day parking right in front of the crag, on the right shortly after the lake
🧗Climbing Style	Sport only. Easy slabs and vertical walls up to powerful second pitches through big overhangs, plus a few multi-pitch lines
🪨Rock Type	Dolomite. The grey walls are excellent. The yellow sections are less solid but have been well cleaned by heavy traffic. Some easier routes are polished
📊Grade Range	4 to 8b+. About 100 routes across five sectors
🧭Aspect & Sun	S/SE Sun all morning. In October we found it in the shade from around 2pm
☀️Best Season	All year except winter, when it gets too cold. The overhangs above the walls keep most routes dry in the rain
🥾Approach	1–2 minutes. Cross the road and follow the obvious path to Hexentanz 2 and 1
🚐Van Parking	Day parking only at the crag. For overnight stays we used Park4Night spots nearby for a few days without any issues. See the van section below
📱Mobile Coverage	Decent at the crag when we were there. Download your topos offline before you go regardless — the valley is a dead zone in places
📖Topos	Falesie a Cortina d’Ampezzo (Gruppo Scoiattoli, Idea Montagna) · The Topo — Landro · theCrag · Also quite amazing there were printed topos displayed at the base of the crag!

Where Is Landro?

If you drive south from Dobbiaco towards Cortina d’Ampezzo, the road follows Val di Landro (Höhlensteintal in German) past two lakes and on towards Carbonin, Misurina and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Landro is just after the second lake, Lago di Landro, on the rock faces of Col di Specie on your right. You can’t really miss it.

It’s one of the largest and most popular crags in the valley. theTopo calls it “the climbers’ favourite in the valley”, and it’s easy to see why: there are close to 100 routes from grade 4 to 8b+, the approach is a minute or so, and the base is friendly enough for children. It’s also one of the earliest crags developed here — according to theTopo, a group of local climbers got things going in the early 1980s, with mountain guide Kurt Stauder as one of the key figures.

Stauder is worth a paragraph of his own, because he’s the reason grades in this valley run hard. PlanetMountain tells the story: Stauder had climbed with Wolfgang Güllich back when the German had already ticked several 8a’s, decided Güllich was by some distance the better climber, and so graded his own hardest lines no harder than 7c. Some of those routes are now reckoned to be solid 8a+. If a number here feels stiff, that’s why.

Which “Landro”? Four Crags, One Name

Before you drive anywhere: Val di Landro has four crags with “Landro” in the name, and apps, guidebooks and forum posts use them interchangeably. This Landro climbing guide covers the big one on Col di Specie. Here’s how to tell them apart.

The four “Landro” crags, told apart

Crag	What it is	Routes & grades	Aspect
Landro (this guide)	The big wall on Col di Specie, just after Lago di Landro on the SS51	~100 sport, 4–8b+	S/SE, morning sun
Landro Classica	The oldest crag in the valley, and the one Stauder developed. PlanetMountain’s pick	4b–8b+	—
Lago di Landro (Dürrensee)	Above the lake itself, on the opposite side. Two sectors. Home of Milchstrasse and Wunderwerk, two of the valley’s best single pitches	36 sport, 4c–7c+	West, afternoon sun
Landro Höhlen (Grotta di Landro)	The cave crag, a separate venue again	—	—

The practical upshot for a van trip: climb this crag in the morning while it’s in the sun, then drive five minutes back to the lake and finish the day at Lago di Landro, which faces west. Same altitude, opposite aspect. The valley also holds Balkonien, Geierwand, Rienztal, Franchi, Militärklettergarten and Stube, so there’s a fortnight here if you want it.

The Rock & Climbing Style

The rock is dolomite. The grey walls are excellent quality. The yellow sections are less solid by nature, but they’ve been cleaned up well by all the climbing traffic. Some of the easier routes show signs of wear, but they’re still enjoyable to climb.

There’s a real mix of styles here. Easy slabs sit alongside vertical walls, and above them are big overhangs with powerful second pitches that will test your strength. There are also a few multi-pitch lines.

The overhangs are also why Landro is a good bet in poor weather. According to theTopo, they shelter the walls below from rain, so most routes stay climbable whatever the conditions.

Sectors & Grades

theTopo splits Landro into five sectors along a single wall. Route counts below are from theTopo. Check the grades for each sector in the app or on the topo board at the base.

Landro — Sectors at a Glance

Sector	Character	Routes
Hexentanz 2	The biggest sector and the first one you reach from the road	45
Hexentanz 1	Next along the wall from Hexentanz 2	18
Hagar 1	Continuing along the base of the wall past Hexentanz 1	9
Hagar 2	The far end of the same line of wall	11
Blue Cafè	Reached by its own path starting 30 m south of the car park	16

Across the crag, grades run from 4 to 8b+. Some of the sectors at the edge of the woods have shaded bases (theTopo), which is useful on warmer days.

Our Days at Landro

We climbed at Landro for several days in October with the other crags close by. The routine was simple: park the van in front of the crag, walk for a minute, and climb in the morning sun. From around 2pm the wall went into the shade and it cooled down quickly.

Let’s be honest about the road: it’s right below the crag, so you hear the cars from the base. Once you’re up on a route, though, you forget about it and the noise disappears. theTopo notes that traffic is heaviest in summer.

Guidebooks, Topos & Local Climbers

The Topo Board at the Base

This is one of the best things about Landro. At the bottom of the crag, local climbers have put up printed topos for all the crags in the valley. If your phone dies or you’ve no signal, you can still find your routes. Please leave the board as you found it.

Essential: Falesie a Cortina d’Ampezzo

For the Wider Dolomites: Guido Colombetti’s 105-Crag Guide

PlanetMountain also lists Arrampicata sportiva in Sudtirolo (Vertical-Life, 2015), which is available as a digital guide in the Vertical-Life app.

So Which Should You Use?

Landro topos compared

If you’re here for…	Use this
A few days in Val di Landro and around Cortina	Falesie a Cortina d’Ampezzo, Gruppo Scoiattoli, 2021
Sport climbing across the whole Dolomites	Dolomites Crags (English) / Dolomiti Falesie / Dolomiten Sportklettern, Versante Sud, 2021
Only passing by	The Topo app and the topo board at the base

Digital Topos: The Topo App

The Local Climbing Scene

The local climbing club is Gamatzn, the association of climbers and mountaineers from the Puster Valley (Val Pusteria). Since 2013 they’ve organised the Dolorock Climbing Festival across the Höhlensteintal crags. The 2026 edition took place from 12 to 14 June. See dolorock.com for future dates.

When to Go

You can climb at Landro all year except in winter, when it’s too cold. The crag sits at 1,450 m, so it’s a good escape when the valleys further south are hot.

The wall gets the sun all morning. In October that made mornings the best time to climb, and from around 2pm the crag was in the shade. We haven’t climbed here in summer. On hot days we’d expect the afternoon shade to be the better window, and theTopo notes that some sectors sit in the woods with shaded bases.

Rain doesn’t have to stop you either. The big overhangs above the walls keep most routes sheltered.

Getting There & Approaches for the Landro Climbing Guide

From Dobbiaco, take the SS51 south towards Cortina d’Ampezzo. After about 3 km you pass Lago di Dobbiaco, then keep going for about 8.5 km to Lago di Landro. The crag is on your right just after the lake, with parking in front of it.

From the car park, cross the road and take the obvious path up to Hexentanz 2 and Hexentanz 1. To reach the other sectors, carry on along the base of the wall. For Blue Cafè, you can also use a separate path that starts about 30m south of the car park. Approaches take 1–4 minutes.

What to Bring

Rope: Longest single pitch 30m → 60m rope is best, check route lengths before you leave a 60m behind. Our best climbing ropes guide covers what we use. Also: a warm layer. At 1,450 m, it gets cold quickly once the crag goes into the shade.

Read nextBest Climbing Ropes 2026: the ropes we use and recommend

Van Life, Where to Stay & Rest Days

Day Parking

The car park is right in front of the crag, a one-minute walk from the routes. We parked the van there during the day without any problems.

Where We Slept

Don’t sleep at the crag car park. Camperonline.it lists the Lago di Landro car park as day-use only, with no overnight stays. Every crag in Val di Landro sits inside the Tre Cime – Dolomiti di Braies nature park, where camping and fires are forbidden. PlanetMountain publishes the local guidelines alongside that: take all rubbish away including cigarette butts, and leave no trace if you need to go to the toilet. These crags only stay open because people follow them.

Instead, we used a few spots on Park4Night around the area and stayed several days without any issues. First one was this one GoogleMap for this crag. Rules in South Tyrol can change by season, so check recent reviews before you settle in.

Water refill: the most reliable place we found to fill the van’s tank is this tap, and the pressure is very strong, so your tank fills in no time.

Read nextOur Park4Night review: how we find van spots near crags

Rest Days

Rest days here are easy. We spent one afternoon cycling along the valley and had a blast. The scenery is stunning the whole way, and Lago di Landro and Lago di Dobbiaco are both right on the road. There are bike paths everywhere, including the well-known downhill route from Dobbiaco to Lienz in Austria.

On another day we hiked up Monte Piana using Komoot, and it was one of the highlights of the trip. Komoot is what we use to plan all our hikes, so download the route offline before you set off. The Tre Cime di Lavaredo are just round the corner too, via Misurina at the southern end of the valley.

If you’re travelling with kids, the valley also has plenty of campsites, playgrounds and parks with Alpine wildlife.

Where to Stay — Dobbiaco & Around

Not everyone arrives with a bed in the back. Dobbiaco, at the northern end of the valley, is the nearest town with a full range of hotels, apartments and campsites. The map below shows live prices for your dates:

Landro Climbing FAQ

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