RT2015

Hi all,

In a previous post I contemplated whether or not we should spend six days in the Dolomiti, Lake Garda or Lake Como, or a combination of two of those.

I think we will definitely go to the Dolomiti region, after picking up a car in Padova on July 22. The following six nights are the only nights I haven't booked accommodation for my upcoming six week trip across Spain, France, Italy and London.

So far people have suggested Ortisei and the Alto Adige area as the best places to stay. I thought I would start a new post specifically asking for feedback on this. We would like to have access to food easily - both the restaurant kind and market kind so we can prepare some of our own meals. We will have a car so we can go to different towns/villages for trips, but ideally could walk down the street and go to a cafe/restaurant/market.

I want to hike but probably not every day for the six days.

Also - we are still a little scared about the prospect of driving in Italy (we are from Australia so the other side of the road and I never drive mountains!), so some thoughts on that would be great too.

Thanks!

daba78

in 2013 i stayed in cortina for a day the next day drove to ortisei it was a beautiful drive gardena pass. last week i was in trento and drove to the pass pordoi 1 and a half hours from trento. i found the area val gardena prettier. dont worry about the driving the roads are in great condition, you can take your time and just let the cars and bikes pass you, witch they will no matter what. in 6 days you can do a lot. you can choose 2 three night bases and explore from there

Jean

Last year, we did the following:

Arrived Verona, stayed 3 nights.

Picked up a car and drove the western shore of Lake Garda to Limone sul Garda, stayed 1 night. We took a short detour from the shoreline to drive SP38, once called "the most beautiful road in the world."
http://www.infotremosine.it/lake-garda/677.html

Drove to Ortisei, stayed 6 nights. From Ortisei, we drove in a different direction each day, picking either a pass, a valley, a cable car or a particular town as our primary destination. We went to the Ice Man Museum in Bolzano (fascinating) and specifically sought out WWI sights and museums.

Drove to Cortina d'Ampezzo, stayed 2 nights.

Drove to Rovereto, stayed 1 night, to see a WWI museum and to break up the drive.

Drove the eastern shore of Lake Garda and then to Bologna and turned in the car. We'd been to Malcesine on the lake on a previous trip and ridden the cable car to the top of Monte Baldo. I would have repeated the cable car, but there were low clouds blocking possible views.

We found the GPS unit we'd brought from home to be invaluable. Traffic was never heavy, but we weren't there in July. The only part I disliked was the toll road (A22) between Rovereto and the turn-off to Ortisei. So many large trucks/lorries!

RT2015

Thank you daba78 and Jean.

Coming from Australia it is hard to know what to do. I think perhaps we will pick up the car, drive towards Ortisei along the val gardena way if I have interpreted that correctly and see what accommodation we can find where. As long as it is somewhere we can access food and walks and doesn't cost the earth we should be happy!

HappyTrvlr

We drove to Ortisei from Saló on Lake Garda, parked our car and never used it again until we left the Dolomites. It was so easy to access the various lifts into the mountains from the center of this charming town.

Jean

You might consider heading first to Cortina. You could probably reach the town by lunch time or make the turn toward Ortisei and stop somewhere farther along the route. It's 1.5-2 hours from Cortina to Ortisei, and between the two towns you'd cross over a couple of the great passes and drop into the Val Gardena from the more interesting eastern end. IMO, Cortina isn't nearly as interesting as the smaller alpine towns beyond.

A tip: We decided that touring motorcyclists know the best places to stop for lunch, so when we got hungry we'd look for somewhere with lots of parked bikes.

At the end of your stay, you could return to Padova by way of Lake Garda or Vicenza.

RT2015

Great tip, thanks guys.

Happy trvlr are guy suggesting we may not bother with a car?

Jean I think that sounds like a beautiful plan to at least check out Cortina and then enjoy the marvellous scenery before Ortisei.