About Cascata Tervela
The Cascata Tervela (or Cascata di Tervela as well as Cascate a Santa Cristina) was kind of an obscure waterfall by the town of Santa Cristina di Val Gardena.
With hardly any signage informing visitors of its name nor where to park for a closer look, it almost seemed like this was a waterfall that was taken for granted.
That said, lots of people would have at least seen or noticed this waterfall because you’d see it if you were driving east towards Val Gardena past the turnoff for Santa Cristina just before entering the tunnel!
Experiencing the Cascata Tervela up close
As for experiencing the Cascata Tervela Waterfall, I managed to do so by finding parking near the Monte Pana Cable Car Station (see directions below).
Because I had an early start, I didn’t have trouble finding parking here.
However, given how few spaces there were, I could easily envision that parking would be hard to come by later in the day.
In any case, once I scored a parking spot, I then walked downhill on the street past the Monte Pana cable car station on the left.
Then, I crossed over a bridge above the Grodner Stream as I reached an intersection.
I then followed the road uphill to my right as it climbed up towards a switchback.
At that switchback, I left the road and followed what looked like someone’s driveway leading up to an accommodation.
After passing beneath the accommodation, the trail continued as it hugged a ledge providing views back towards Santa Cristina and the surrounding Dolomite mountains.
Shortly after rounding a bend, I was face-to-face with the main drop of the Cascata Tervela, which probably dropped some 30m or so.
The hiking trail continued to climb eventually towards Monte Pana, but I was content to get my views from the base of this waterfall, especially by the bridge fronting it.
Looking downstream from the bridge and the trail, I couldn’t help but notice that there was a lower drop that couldn’t be seen from up here.
However, it would have been quite visible by people driving east on the SS242 Road down below.
After having my fill of this spot, I walked back to the car.
The total time it took for me to do this short walk was on the order of 15-30 minutes.
Experiencing the entirety of the Cascata Tervela
While it was tempting to call the Cascata Tervela Waterfall excursion done at this point, I did want to see what drivers would see.
So in order to do that, I walked past my rental car and towards the roundabout at Via Dursan.
Then, I followed this street west towards the uphill street called Via Paul.
It was along this narrow street that I manged to get a nice satisfying view of Cascata Tervela together with Monte Pana.
In addition, the view of Cascata Tervela from here also revealed its lower drop, which tumbled next to the road tunnel.
This lower drop might actually mean the waterfall’s total height might be on the order of about 50m or so.
Indeed, this was the spot where I took the picture you see above as well as in the hero image at the very top of this page.
Adding this extra bit of walking probably added another 15-30 minutes to the overall excursion.
Authorities
Cascata Tervela resides near the town of Santa Cristina di Val Gardena in the Bolzano-Alto-Adige Province within the Trentino-Alto Adige Region of Italy. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit the Val Gardena Tourism Board website.
The Cascata Tervela was pretty much right in the town of Santa Cristina di Val Gardena.
Since we stayed at the neighboring Selva di Val Gardena, I’ll describe the driving directions from there.
For driving directions from places further away, I’d use Google Maps or any routing app and use Santa Cristina Valgardena as one of the destinations.
So from the center of Selva di Val Gardena (Wolkenstein), I headed west on the SS242 for nearly 4km before turning right onto Strada Gardena.
This turnoff was shortly after the second tunnel on the SS242.
Once on the Strada Gardena, which became Strada Dursan, I then took the first exit at the roundabout to go onto the Strada Pana.
This was the street where I managed to find a parking space early in the morning.
Overall, this drive took me a mere 10 minutes.
That said, it might have been possible to take the roundabout between the tunnels to get to the Strada Pana from the east side of the roundabout.
That way would have passed through the town center of Santa Cristina, and it might have more opportunities for parking.
If you’re coming from the west, you could take the Strada Gardena / Strada Dursan before entering the tunnel on the SS242.
Even if you miss this turnoff and go through the tunnel, I think you can still take the roundabout after the tunnel and backtrack as I mentioned earlier.
For context, Selva di Val Gardena (Wolkenstein) was about 20km (about an hour drive) west of Corvara in Badia, about 22km (over an hour drive) north of Canazei, 43km (over an hour drive) east of Bolzano (Bozen), and 72km (over 90 minutes drive) southwest from Brunico (Bruneck), Italy.
Find A Place To Stay
Sweep covering the front of Cascata di Tervela while also checking out the downstream scenery towards St Cristina
Video covering the Cascata di Tervela experience from its base
Related Trip Reports
Related Top 10 Lists
No Posts Found
Related Itineraries
Trip Planning Resources
Nearby Accommodations
Featured Images and Nearby Attractions
Visitor Comments:
Got something you'd like to share or say to keep the conversation going? Feel free to leave a comment below...No users have replied to the content on this page
Visitor Reviews of this Waterfall:
If you have a waterfall story or write-up that you'd like to share, feel free to click the button below and fill out the form...No users have submitted a write-up/review of this waterfall
Nearest Waterfalls
