--- title: "Dolomites Trail Markings, Numbers and Grades: How to Read a Trail" type: "blog-post" lang: "en" category: "Planning" published_date: "2026-10-19" url: "https://dolomites-guide.com/blog/dolomites-trail-markings-and-grades/" description: "Red and white trail markings, trail numbers, T, E, EE and EEA grades and the times on signs: here is how to read a hiking trail in the Dolomites." --- # Dolomites Trail Markings, Numbers and Grades: How to Read a Trail **Published:** 2026-10-19 · **Category:** Planning > Italian Alpine Club markings always pair red and white, and the trail number appears both on the painted flag and on the sign. The T, E, EE or EEA grade tells you the terrain to expect, and the times on signs do not include your breaks. ## How Do You Read Trail Markings and Signs in the Dolomites? **The Italian Alpine Club (CAI) paints its trail markings in red and white, always together.** A simple white-red mark tells you that you are on the right trail; you will see it near junctions. The **red-white-red flag** also carries the trail number, in black on the white band. The flag is painted at the start of a trail, at junctions and wherever the direction needs confirming: at a fork, look for it before you choose. ![A red-white-red mark painted on a rock, with a black trail number on the white band](/images/trail-666-painted-marking-gardena.webp "A flag painted on the dolomite, here trail 666 near the Gardena pass") The CAI sign is an **arrow with a red tip**, with a red-white-red tail where the trail number is written. Destinations are written in black, each with its walking time aligned on the right. Signs stand at the start and end of the route, and where it crosses other marked trails and roads. In South Tyrol (Alto Adige), the Alpenverein Südtirol (AVS), the province's alpine club, looks after the marking: a sign at every trailhead and every junction, with the destinations and the trail number, and usually the walking time. ## What Do Trail Numbers Mean in the Dolomites? The number comes from the **official trail register**: it is the same on the sign and on the painted flag, and when you plan your outing, note the number rather than the destination names. **In Trentino, the number tells you where you are.** The Società degli Alpinisti Tridentini (SAT), the Trentino alpine club, numbers its trails according to a plan approved by the CAI in 1933: three digits, the first for the area, the other two for the trail. For the Dolomites, that gives: - **500 to 599**: Cornacci, Latemar, Catinaccio (Rosengarten) and Sassolungo; - **600 to 699**: Sella, Marmolada, Colac, Buffaure and Monzoni Bocche; - **700 to 799**: Pale di San Martino, Cimonega and Vette Feltrine. This logic applies to Trentino: do not carry it over to trails in South Tyrol or Veneto. To prepare a Trentino route, the [SAT trail map](https://sentieri.sat.tn.it/webapps/schede-sentieri) has a page for each trail number, with its difficulty, walking times and elevation profile. In South Tyrol, the main routes carry numbers only; a variant or a connecting path may add a letter, A or B. When several routes share the same stretch for more than about a quarter of an hour, a single number is used there: do not be surprised to follow a number other than yours on the shared section. **Alta Via no. 2**, one of the great Dolomites traverses, is marked with the number 2 in a triangle, on top of the red-white-red markings. ## What Do the T, E, EE and EEA Grades Mean? **The letter describes the terrain: T for an easy path, E for most mountain trails, EE for steep and sometimes exposed terrain, EEA for the via ferrata.** The real step up is from E to EE: if you have never walked for long on loose scree or above a drop, stay on E trails until you have found your feet. The scale is the [CAI difficulty classification](https://www.cai.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/allegato-circolare-22_2021-Classificazione-difficolta.pdf), adopted on 20 November 2021: - **T (tourist)**: tracks, mule paths or obvious trails, with no route-finding difficulty, modest slopes and limited height gain. Basic hiking knowledge, enough fitness to walk and suitable footwear are all you need. - **E (hiker)**: most routes, usually marked, sometimes steep, with easy rocky sections where you use your hands and sometimes leftover snow on gentle ground. You need experience, a sense of direction and good boots. - **EE (expert hikers)**: steep, slippery or unstable terrain (grass, rock, scree), exposed sections and easy or equipped rocky passages, possible snowfields, no glacier and no via ferrata. You need a sure foot, a head for heights and sound judgement. - **EEA (expert hikers with equipment)**: the via ferrata, with cables, ladders and stirrups, where you need a certified harness, via ferrata kit and helmet. It comes in five sub-levels, from F (easy) to ED (extremely difficult), by way of PD, D and MD. For the right footwear at each level, see our [guide to hiking boots for the Dolomites](/blog/best-hiking-boots-for-the-dolomites/); if an EE outing goes wrong, our [mountain safety guide](/blog/dolomites-mountain-safety/) gives the number to call and how to handle a thunderstorm. In South Tyrol, the AVS guidelines follow a principle adopted in 1997 by the Club Arc Alpin, which brings together the alpine clubs of the Alps: no grading of trails by difficulty. If a South Tyrol route has no grade, judge it on its description, its height gain and its time. ## How Are the Times on Trail Signs Calculated? **On a CAI sign, the time shown does not include breaks.** It is pure walking time: on flat or rolling ground it is based on 3.5 to 4 km/h (2.2 to 2.5 mph), and beyond the first half hour it is rounded up to the next 10 minutes. In South Tyrol, the AVS bases its times on 4.2 km/h (2.6 mph) on flat, easy ground, adjusted for height gain, and shows them in 10-minute steps. On the flat, that basis is slightly faster than the CAI's: over the same distance, a South Tyrol sign shows a little less time. Add your stops to the time shown, especially on a multi-day traverse such as the Alta Via 1. If you are clearly slower than the sign over the first hour, keep that gap in mind for the whole day. [Alta Via 1](/hiking-dolomites/alta-via-1/) ## Why Do Place Names Change Language on Dolomites Trails? **Because in South Tyrol, bilingual place names are a legal requirement.** The Autonomy Statute of Trentino-Alto Adige (Presidential Decree no. 670 of 1972) imposes them in the Province of Bolzano and guarantees Ladin communities that their place names are respected: the same place can therefore carry several names. The AVS guidelines provide for signs in several languages; when there is not enough room on the arrow, the destination is written in the main local language and the other names go on an additional plate. Where no official dictionary of place names exists, the CAI recommends using the names on the official maps or those most used locally: the map and the sign do not necessarily give the same name. Note the names of your destinations in each language before you leave.