Getting to Sappada: roads, passes, times, trains and airports

On the Friuli side you leave the A23 motorway at Carnia and climb the Val Degano on regional road 355, through Villa Santina, Comeglians and Forni Avoltri, up to Cima Sappada, at 1,297 m: the village begins there and descends westwards.

On the Veneto side the A27 motorway ends at Pian di Vedoia. You continue through Longarone and Cadore, then on state road 52 through Comelico and Santo Stefano di Cadore, from where 12 km remain: you enter the village at Lerpa.

Which is better depends on where you start, and on which of the two is open that day. From Trieste, Udine, eastern Austria and Slovenia you come up from Friuli; from Venice, Treviso, Padua and the rest of Italy, from Veneto.

One thing the brochures leave out should be said: among the mountain resorts of north-east Italy, Sappada is almost never the nearest. From Trieste, for example, it takes about 2 h 45 min, against about 2 h 10 min for Tarvisio; on the other hand Cortina, from Trieste, is about 3 h 25 min away. From Venice the difference is reversed: Sappada is about 2 h 30 min away, Tarvisio about 2 h 35 min.¹

Those who buy here do so knowing that the last hour of road is the price of the valley, and partly the reason it has stayed as it is.

Regional road 355 is a single road, in places squeezed between the torrent and the rock. In 2022 it was cut twice: by a rockfall at Forni Avoltri in November, and by a landslide near a tunnel on the last day of the year, when Sappada could be reached only from Cadore.³

When the lower part of the valley is closed you go over the Sella Valcalda, at 958 m, with a few minutes more. When the upper part is closed, the detour from Tolmezzo via Forni di Sopra, the Mauria Pass and Comelico lengthens the journey by more than half an hour. According to the local press, in 2026 the Region allocated new funds to make the road safe; the timing of the works has not yet been published.

The weak point on the Veneto side is the Comelico tunnel, on state road 52. Modernisation works are under way: the tunnel is closed to everyone every night, from 22 to 6, under an order valid until 31 December 2026 and due for renewal. The end of the works is given as May 2028. In the peak periods of 2026, at Easter and from 7 to 24 August, the tunnel stayed open at night as well: it is not a written rule, and for Christmas 2026 nothing has been published yet. At night the diversion goes over the Sant'Antonio Pass, a much slower mountain road.²

The second weak point is the Acquatona gorge, on the last kilometres between Santo Stefano and Sappada: in August 2024 a landslide closed it for a day and a half, and it returned to two-way traffic only in December.⁴

From Villach, Klagenfurt, Graz and Vienna the quickest way is the motorway to Carnia, then the Val Degano. From Lienz, Innsbruck and Munich you come down the Puster Valley and enter over the Monte Croce di Comelico Pass (Kreuzbergpass), above Sesto, to reach Santo Stefano.

The Monte Croce Carnico Pass, the Plöckenpass, at 1,360 m, is of little use for Sappada: it matters for those coming from the Gail valley or down from Salzburg. A landslide closed it on 2 December 2023; it reopened on 22 May 2026 with alternating one-way traffic and, from 21 July, to heavy vehicles as well; the height and length limits that were already there before the landslide remain, and a permanent solution has not yet been funded.⁵

From 15 November to 15 April, on the A23 and A27 motorways and on the state roads of Cadore and Comelico, it is compulsory to have winter tyres fitted or snow chains on board. On Friuli's regional roads, the Val Degano included, the obligation comes with an order renewed every year. In Austria the obligation starts on 1 November.⁶

Sappada lies at the head of two valleys: after a snowfall the first hour can be slow, and on the stretch between Forni Avoltri and Cima Sappada the road was closed for snow and avalanche danger in December 2020 and in January 2021. There are no scheduled winter closures. Those arriving for the holidays should leave with a margin, and with a look at the orders, which come out in November.

The train does not reach Sappada. There are three useful stations.

Calalzo, the terminus of the line from Ponte nelle Alpi, is the nearest: about 45 min by car, and a scheduled bus that climbs to Sappada on working days. For some years, however, the railway line has been closing for works for months at a time: in 2026 it was suspended in spring, and according to the available notices it has no trains from 13 September to 12 December. In those periods only replacement buses reach Calalzo.⁷

Carnia, on the Udine–Tarvisio line, is the Friuli station: about 80 min by car. The bus line for Sappada leaves from Tolmezzo, with several runs on working days and two on public holidays.⁸

San Candido, in the Puster Valley, serves those arriving from Austria: about 65 min by car.

So you do get there, but with patience and a change. For anyone thinking of using the house without a car, the holiday timetables are the first thing to check.⁹

No airport has a direct public connection to Sappada: from the airport you continue by hire car. For those arriving from the rest of Italy or from the United Kingdom the reference points are Venice and Trieste; for those arriving from Austria or Germany the airport matters little, because they come by car.

We come to Sappada from Trieste, in about 2 h 45 min: we know the road. When we arrange a viewing we tell you which of the two approaches is better that day and we group appointments, so that one journey lets you see more than one house. On the Distances page you will find the times from every city of departure, by the same method.