This two-person cable car is a nightmare for the claustrophobic

(Patria) - The Alpine landscape of Val Gardena in the Dolomites is equally impressive at any time of year.

It's not for nothing that it's on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and the villages in the valley will also offer you an exciting experience of local life and an interesting cultural mix high up in the clouds.

Outdoor adventure enthusiasts, skiers, and mountaineers will also be satisfied here, writes Punkufer.

The magical surrounding peaks are quite easily accessible because more than twenty cable cars run from the valley to them.

Among them is Sassolungo or Langkofel, known for its jagged profile, certainly one of the most recognizable peaks in South Tyrol, Italy, and a frequent subject in mountaineering literature and imagination.

You can reach Forcella Sassolungo, a panoramic point just below the forked teeth of Sassolungo, by cable car. But not just any cable car, but probably the most special in all of Europe.

And for many, the scariest in the world - a standing cable car for two. Due to its compact and enclosed design, it is called a "coffin", although it is actually safe and reliable.



But that box shape will remind you, if not of a coffin, then at least of a closet, a narrow one, for the hallway. They don't hang you on a hanger inside, but they literally stuff you in like in a closet. And they close the door behind you.

The Telecabina Sassolungo, as it is officially called, has only one cable drive system, which means the cabins do not slow down at the stations. If you want to get on, you have to catch a moving cabin and jump into it.

The cabin has only a rear door that opens and closes manually, and for passengers to successfully get on the cable car, there are two friendly gentlemen who will literally push each person or couple into it, close the door, and lock it.

Getting off the Telecabina is just as challenging, but at the arrival station, staff will be waiting to catch you as you jump off so you don't lose your balance and fall.

The Telecabina Sassolungo has been operating for over fifty years, since 1972, and covers an altitude difference of almost 500 meters and a distance of more than a kilometer and a half.

You will easily forget the bizarre boarding with the view this cable car will offer you, although the claustrophobic will certainly not forgive it for its shape and dimensions.

It operates only during the summer season, and the one-way ticket price is around 20 euros.