Dolomites in May? Worth it?

Old Nov 21st, 2014, 05:10 AM
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Dolomites in May? Worth it?

Hi- We bought our plane tickets for May, knowing that May is a beautiful time to visit Italy. Unfortunately, we didn't take into account that farther north, it's still, kind of, winter.

We are trying to find lodging in the Dolomites, and keep getting messages back that everything is closed. My question - is it worth visiting the Dolomites in mid-late May, IF we find someplace that is open? Is it too risky with the weather (meaning we won't see anything because of fog/clouds). Will any shops and restaurants be open in any of the towns? We were looking at going over to the Austrian Alps for a couple days as well, but that's not sounding great either. Maybe even worse.

We're coming to celebrate our 30th anniversary, and this is a big deal for us, never having been to Europe, so we want it to be amazing.

We are planning on the first few nights in Venice (flying into Milan), and have a total of 10 nights. We like small, quaint villages/towns, with amazing scenery (since I'm an amature landscape photographer and we both love vistas, beautiful scenery, etc.) Not as much into history or museums or cities. If we decide not to go to the Dolomites, are there other areas, drivable from Milan (and not too pricey) that you recommend? I was looking at Cinque Terre too, but thought it might be too crazy crowded - especially since I hear that we're going during holiday weekends.

Thanks! I'm getting discouraged and kind of disappointed. Wishing we hadn't jumped on those tickets without checking the weather conditions farther north.
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Old Nov 21st, 2014, 11:52 AM
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We we're in the Dolomites the first week of October last year...end of season. We stayed in Ortisei and loved it! We had 2 bad days of weather, 3 fantastic days (you never can tell...I have no idea about May). The town was definitely shutting down, half the restaurants were closed...surrounding small villages were basically closed. Half the lifts were closed.

In saying that, we had a fabulous time. We due numerous hikes, had some great food, and loved it. Spent a day in Bolzano seeing Otzi.

Nth is may give you an idea of what to expect in off season.

Our pics are here
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Old Nov 21st, 2014, 11:54 AM
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Oops https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...7636058614266/
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Old Nov 21st, 2014, 01:07 PM
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I'm in the process of planning a trip to the Dolomites as well - but for July. So I can't answer your question as to what it's like in May. But I can say that there are PLENTY of great places to visit in Italy. Since you haven't been to Italy at all yet I would think you might be better off visiting some places further south and saving the Dolomites for another time.

Since you are interested in the CT but worried about crowds how about if you visited the area but didn't base IN the CT towns. Instead consider Rapallo, Camogli, Portovenere - all gorgeous in their own right, all close enough to day trips to the CT and to each other. And since they are slightly larger (still no way close to 'city' size) they won't feel as overrun with tourists.

Or if you'll be in Venice anyway, you could visit one of the lakes - Garda, Como - but perhaps the southern end of them will have more open/better weather than the Dolomites.

I have photos of lots of places in Italy you could look at and see if any of these places 'grab' you.
www.pbase.com/annforcier
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Old Nov 21st, 2014, 01:25 PM
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You might also consider somewhere further south on the Apennine mountain chain. The Sibillines (partly in Abruzzo and partly in Le Marche) have beautiful mountain scenery and the weather in the area is usually pleasant in May. Usually there are still snow-covered peaks, but the weather is springlike on the lower slopes. Of course, with weather there is never any guarantee.

The only holiday in May is May 1st. However, the Cinque Terre is a bit overrun with tourists about nine months out of the year. At the moment all the trails in the Cinque Terre are closed because of terrible winter storms and flooding that have battered the Ligurian coast this autumn. Some of the trails will surely be open again in May, but maybe just the higher ones. Some of the lower trails have been closed ever since the terrible floods of 2011, because of the risk of landslides.
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Old Nov 21st, 2014, 03:48 PM
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I spent several days in the Dolomites the first week of June a few years ago. It was beautiful but many of the restaurants were closed and most of the cable cars up the mountains were not operating (though we did get to go on a couple). I think May would not be the best time to visit that area--probably even more closed up.

Isabel gives a good suggestion about the Ligurian coast. I stayed in Santa Margherita and visited the CT, Camogli, Portevenere, etc., from there--gorgeous. Just don't go to the Cinque Terre on the holiday!! I went on the June national holiday and it was madness--spoiled the CT for me, which had been so fun on a previous trip.

You might want to take a look at this trip report I wrote about visiting Italy south to north (yeah, I know, it says north to south but I got that title wrong) in May and June a few years ago. I loved every place we went, and it might give you some ideas for your own trip.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...h-in-italy.cfm
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Old Nov 22nd, 2014, 09:36 AM
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Well rather than telling you where I would prefer to go as many seem to see your question as an opportunity to do, I will try to address the subject you actually asked about.

First, you need to define what you mean by 'worth visiting'. The Dolomites are worth visiting at any time of year IF what you are interested in seeing/doing while there matches the weather conditions you can expect to encounter and you can see/do what you wanted to do.

May is 'between seasons' in the Dolomites. Between skiing season and hiking season. That is why so many places are closed down as well as lifts/gondolas. People there like to go on vacation too you know.

However, everything is not closed down. People do live there just like anywher else. Some people prefer to travel in 'off season' wherever they go. It's certainly what I prefer most of the time. Tripadvisor has a board for the area and some of the regular posters are residents who can give you local info. I would try posting there but with more info on just what you want to do. http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowForum-...lto_Adige.html

I see no responses here on this thread so far by residents of the area. Those are the people who KNOW, not tourists who visited in other months. There is an earlier thread here on Fodors on visiting in May.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...in-mid-may.cfm
For what it is worth.
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Old Nov 23rd, 2014, 06:33 AM
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All depends on the places you plan to visit. Towns are of course not "closed", a lot of local people leave there all the year round. But most cableways in the alpine valleys will not yet run.
In the second half of May, the blooming season of the thousands of apple, pear, abricot and cherry trees will be over whereas the water temperature of Lake Caldaro will not yet exeed 20 degrees centigrade.
http://www.kalterersee.com/en/top-se...-holidays.html
http://eppan.travel/de/top-seasons/i...ehlingsurlaub/
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Old Nov 23rd, 2014, 01:11 PM
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We experienced pretty much what aprillacs described during late May. One day we went on a drive to a small village and got caught in a terrible snowstorm. I would go elsewhere at that time of year.

Many people love Lake Como and all the surrounding villages.
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