r1955

Which area is better to stay in the Dolomites, the Canazei area or val Gardena? We have 5 days (4 nights), given that we have to get back to the hotel every day if we want to stay in one place which is better for traveling in the Dolomites in terms of accessibility assuming we want to see both areas?

bobthenavigator

We prefer Val Gardena as a central base---I trust you will have a car.

r1955

Yes, we will have a car. Why do you prefer val gardena?

sandralist

I prefer the Alta Badia near Corvara or north of there. I would also prefer to change locations at least once than continuously drive back and forth over mountain roads. Which area I picked for a second location would depend on where I was coming from and where I needed to be after the Dolomiti tour.

Another factor is how much you plan to use cable cars (if at all). Have you picked what hikes or walls you want to take or do you plan mainly to drive and cable car to viewpoints without doing any walking in the mountains? If you are planning on activity beyond sitting most of the time you might want to pick your activities first and then figure out nice accommodations convenient to that.

BikerScott

We spent a week in Val Gardena the first week of Oct last year. I havent been to the other area so cant compare but we had a great time. We stayed in Ortisei and found it had enough going on to provide food options and wine bars and lifts open at that time to do day hikes etc. We loved it and would definitely go back.

You can see our photos here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...7636058614266/

sandralist

(By the way it is all very beautiful once you are away from the towns and the tourist shops -- which are a bit fewer in the Alta Badia -- so you don't need to agonize too much over which is the "best" scenery. Rather choose for convenience for your overall itinerary and day-to-day plans with the caution that the lakes seem to be magnets for coach tours.

r1955

Thanks for the answers. I don't think we are going to do any difficult hikes but we do want to do some walks and also go up in the cable cars. My question is not so much the best scenery as having to drive back and forth over maountain roads as you wrote sandralist. As this seems to be the case once you are away from the towns, I suppose the best solution would be to have two locations as you said. Usually we like to stay for a while in one place and take day trips but I think because of the mountain roads two different places would be better here.

sandralist

The Great Dolomite Road is a beautiful beautiful drive on a fantastically engineered road surface and it connects Bolzano in the west to Cortina d'Ampezzo in the east. Depending on where you are coming from and where you are headed afterwards it can be a very nice way to combine 2 locations. The drive takes about 3 hours -- so if you are switching hotels you can take a picnic lunch and do a slow drive across the road with multiple stops for picture taking and miniwalks -- make a day of it.

Any of the towns near Bolzano have good access to the Great Dolomite Road. You might want to pick one that offers good cable car service. Cortina d'Ampezzo has lots of cable cars and although it is fairly small it also a lot of accommodation on the fringes of the town or in nearby villages. Up to you if you would rather enjoy a pub scene at night or would rather be talking to the trees.

A great many of the hotels throughout the Dolomiti offer dinner or even require half-board. It is usually a good deal and the food is mountain food that is simple and hearty. (There are also quite a few Michelin-star places in the Dolomiti because of the luxury ski tourism in the winter.) All the hotels and b&bs will be able to give you good pointers on scenic walks and cable car tips.

jamikins

We stayed in Ortisei as my hubby Bikerscott said above. We took two cable cars and a tram up the mountains from Ortisei so we walked to and from the lifts. On one day we took a cable car from Ortisei and walked back to a lift that went to I think Selva and took the bus (included in our lift passes) back to Ortisei. We only drive once to a lift (the phone booth lift in our photos) and back and it was fine.

Do you know what hikes you want to do? it was very easy to use public transit and the lifts in Val Gardena without driving. They were very proud of their transit and it was frequent and easy to use.

This all depends on the time of year as the transit and lift schedule runs from I think June to early Oct. We were there the first week of Oct and things were shitting own so it depends when your trip is. If you plan to use the lifts be sure they are open...I think they start opening fully in mid-June and shutting down late Sept to mid-Oct.

jamikins

Oops - I obviously meant shutting down!!!