Alpe di Siusi: the road is closed 9 to 5, and from 2026 the car park must be booked

The closure: 9 to 5, but only while the cable car runs

The rule is precisely worded and it goes like this: while the lift is operating, driving up to the plateau is forbidden to private traffic from 9 to 17. Coming down from Compatsch, on the other hand, is always allowed, at any hour.

It follows that you can only go up before 9 or after 5. This is not a grace period: at the five entry points cameras read the number plates, at San Valentino, on the Jochstraße, at Compatsch, at Bulla and at Jender.

There is a window in the year when the road is open all day, and it is the weeks when the cable car is stopped: roughly mid April to mid May and early November to early December. Exact dates are not published, because the restriction is tied to the lift operating and not to the calendar.

The rule comes from the inter-municipal landscape plan, so it is provincial in origin, but management and enforcement belong to the municipality of Castelrotto.

• No driving up from 9 to 17 while the cable car runs
• Driving down always allowed, at any hour
• Five checkpoints with plate recognition: San Valentino, Jochstraße, Compatsch, Bulla, Jender
• Road open all day only when the lift is stopped, between seasons

New for 2026: the car park is booked, and the booking expires

Since 29 June 2026 the two car parks at the top, P1 Spitzbühl and P2 Compatsch, can only be used with an online booking, made at most six days ahead. Checked on 26 August 2026: daily rates are 15 euros at P1 and 30 euros at P2, with reduced amounts for motorbikes.

The detail that ruins the day if you do not know it is another one. With a booking you have to pass the checkpoint by 9, and entry closes at 9.30: after that the booking lapses, with no refund. Paid and not admitted.

There is also a ban on overnight parking on the plateau, from 23 to 5. Holders of the European Disability Card may drive up at any time, with a free reserved space, after registering on the municipal portal.

All other transit permits, from residents to businesses to suppliers, are applied for online on the same municipal portal since 2026.

• Booking required since 29 June 2026, at most six days ahead
• P1 Spitzbühl 15 euros a day, P2 Compatsch 30 euros a day
• At the checkpoint by 9, entry closes 9.30, then the booking lapses
• Overnight parking banned from 23 to 5

The cable car, which is the simplest answer

From Siusi allo Sciliar the cable car climbs to Compatsch in about fifteen minutes. In summer 2026 it runs from 22 May to 2 November, from 8 to 19 in the heart of the season and from 8 to 18 at the start and the end.

A return ticket costs 30 euros for an adult, 18 for young people born between 2008 and 2017, free for children from 2018 on. A bike costs 12 euros and a dog 6.

Set against the P2 car park at 30 euros a day, for one person the cost is the same and the cable car removes the booking and the timing problem. For two or three the car comes back into it, but only if you accept the early start.

The other way is the bus from Castelrotto, officially named for anyone who wants neither to drive nor to queue at the lift.

The trails, with numbers instead of adjectives

From Compatsch start walks that are very different from one another, and the difference is not visible in the name. These are the figures from the official route sheets, not our impressions.

The Compatsch-Panorama-Compatsch panoramic loop is seven kilometres with 138 metres of ascent, under two hours: it is the easiest, and the official sheet marks it as passable with a buggy as far as the Panorama. The Hans and Paula Steger trail from Compatsch to Saltria is 8.7 kilometres, climbs 301 metres and drops 475, two hours ten: it is not a loop, you arrive at Saltria and come back by transport.

Compatsch to the Molignon hut and back is 11.8 kilometres with 403 metres of ascent, three and a half hours, and this one too the sheet marks as passable with a buggy. The short Bullaccia loop is 3.9 kilometres with 162 metres, an hour and ten, and it starts at the top station of the Telemix, not at Compatsch.

Then there is the other category. Compatsch to the Sciliar and the Bolzano hut is 16.6 kilometres with 939 metres of ascent and six hours, inside the Sciliar-Catinaccio Nature Park. The Denti di Terrarossa saddle at 2,499 metres is declared difficult and demands good fitness. These are not pasture strolls, they are mountain climbs.

• Compatsch-Panorama-Compatsch: 7 km, +138 m, 1 hour 50
• Hans and Paula Steger trail to Saltria: 8.7 km, +301/−475 m, 2 hours 10
• Bullaccia, short loop: 3.9 km, +162 m, 1 hour 10, from the top station
• Compatsch to the Molignon hut and back: 11.8 km, +403 m, 3 hours 25
• Compatsch to the Sciliar and the Bolzano hut: 16.6 km, +939 m, 6 hours

Sleeping up top or down in the valley: it changes the rule, not just the price

This is the real logic of the system, and almost nobody explains it. Anyone staying overnight on the plateau receives a transit permit: on arrival day they may drive up at any hour to their accommodation, and on departure day they may leave at any hour.

Anyone sleeping in the valley, that is in Siusi, Castelrotto, Fiè or Tires, goes up by cable car, by bus, or by car only outside the 9 to 17 band and, since this year, only with a booked parking space.

On the plateau the properties cluster around Compatsch and Saltria, plus the huts and mountain inns along the trails, which the official site treats as a category of accommodation in its own right. The counter of open establishments reads 55 out of 68 in summer.

The general reasoning about altitude, types of accommodation and half board is in our guide on where to stay in the Dolomites: the extra variable here is that sleeping high also buys the right to drive.

Two things we do not write, and why

The altitude of the plateau. Two ranges circulate, 1,800 to 2,300 metres and 1,680 to 2,350, and we found neither on an institutional source: they appear on commercial portals. So we use the spot heights that are verifiable on official sheets: Compatsch around 1,800 metres, Saltria about 1,680, the Bullaccia top station 2,119.

The hour for guests staying up on the plateau. One page of the official site says that during your stay you may drive up before 10, every other page says before 9. That is a contradiction inside the same source and we do not feel entitled to choose: if you are staying up there, get it confirmed by the property or the municipality before you set off.

Two boxes we could fill with the most common figure, and nobody would notice. But the method by which we keep verified data, explained on the data page, does not allow picking the most popular number when the sources disagree.