Hi. Just looking for some good options for a cable car ride and maybe some reasoning behind your recommendations. Looking for that one spot for a jaw dropping vista from up high.

We don't get those jagged, cool looking peaks down here in Australia (they're more like the Appalachians in our area. Nice but not usually dramatic.). So even though it's way too little time, I thought it would be fun to make a day out of showing my daughter some beautiful views from both the road and maybe a mountain top spot.

We've got a hotel lined up in Ortesei since it seemed easiest to reach from our previous stop. There just seems to be an incredible number of choices within a couple hours drive of there. There looked from basic searches to be a lot of nice scenery within a reasonable drive too.

ps, we have a reservation in Venice the next night so don't really have time to do much of a hike.

Thanks for your input.

Tagging along for the responses, with the hope that we can make our twice cancelled trip to the Dolomites this year or next.

Welcome aboard, Mel. I hope you get to go this time.

You don't need to ride a cable car to see jaw-dropping views. Since you only have a day, I would plan driving over as many passes as possible and probably skip the cable car idea. Heading east from Ortisei... Passes Gardena, Sella, Pordoi, Giau. Time permitting, take the cable car at Pordoi. Time permitting #2, after reaching Cortina, continue to Misurina and Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Then south to Venice. This drive, not counting cable car, photo stops or lunch, will take at least 6 hours.

If you pass through Bolzano on your way to Ortisei, I very highly recommend the Ice Man Museum (South Tyrol Archeology Museum). Fascinating displays and story.

We drove from Venice airport to Cortina and stayed for one night. This was in May, years ago, and it seemed very quiet. Next day drove to Castelrotto where we had a few nights at a lovely guesthouse, run by a very helpful woman. From memory, there were very few cable cars running at that time of year. We went to the Alpe di Siusi, caught a cable car and walked for hours. The area was stunning. Saw absolutely no one. There was a shop/cafe that was closed and a lodge type of place, also closed. Photos below may be of some help, the first was taken from Castelrotto and the second on the drive. The drive to Castelrotto took us all day, we couldn't read a road sign which turned out to say that the road ahead was closed due to potential avalanche. We went miles out of the way in our ignorance. Almost nowhere open to stop for food or fuel. The whole area was beautiful.

Jean, thank you so much for the list of scenic passes. The drive really is the biggest part of this side trip, but I do love a good road trip. I've definitely taken note of your suggested route, which very logical as well as scenic. The Gardena Pass is the only one (per Google maps anyway) that doesn't seem to be along the same road. Would you take that road just long enough to do the pass and then backtrack to the others? Or just either/or it?

I'd love to even do a walk around there but most of our time on the trip will be city breaks (Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice) with just these few days of road trip to see a bit in between. My teen daughter will probably get a little tired of the road after the drive up the day before. And she's never seen a cable car, so might still be a fun thing to try (as well as a view point). The museum seems like it would have been very cool, but wouldn't you know - the day we're going through there is a Monday. Closed on Mondays!

Thanks again for the suggestions and advice.

Kay, gosh - I can see that it's gorgeous around there from your photos. Thanks for those, they're beautiful. You've got a knack for that. I remember enjoying your FNQ pics as well.

Interesting that so many things were shut in May. I wonder if that'll be the case in late September too? Could be why I was seeing so few hotels available in the area. I assumed they were full and it must be kind of busy at that time... but they could have just been closed! Guess we'll see. The cable car lines I checked seemed to still be open until at least mid-October. We may have to pop into a servo for sandwiches and petrol when we spot one open that day The Alpe di Suisi was one of the lifts I'd been thinking about. How nice it would be to have some of those views all to yourself? A little peace would be welcome after so much city time (To me. The kid is a Melbourne city girl through and through).

Other than the road closure, what did you think about making time on the roads? I mean, I know we'll be gawking and pulling off a lot so as to not be a danger on the roads and we'll have to factor that time in. But otherwise, did you seem to take longer than you expected (maybe compared to similar roads around home?) We'll get an early start. I'm wanting to get to Venice airport around 6:30p in order to meet up with a contact for an apartment we've booked and don't want to leave her waiting.... but also don't want to miss out on the drive! (greedy tourist syndrome)

CC, driving to/from the summit of Passo Gardena would probably take less than an hour, but your pace (and perhaps your daughter's patience) will determine how you want to tweak the route. For example, you could drop Gardena and add a drive-by of the Marmolada glacier and/or add Passo Falzarego. You should search images.google.com and do some "street view" looks on google.maps to see if you can rank the scenery on the roads and at the summits. (Good luck!) IMO, there are no bad decisions (you're going to miss a lot anyway), but you do need to decide if you want some time to reach Misurina and Tre Cime, whether you want to wander around Cortina, etc., before leaving for Venice.

Personally, I'd make the lunch stop one of the experiences and not just a snack on the run. There are restaurants at the summits of the passes (some more atmospheric than others - I love Passo Giau), and you'll pass small restaurants here and there along the road, some with outdoor seating and stunning views. We found that the number of touring motorcycles parked outside a restaurant was like a star rating system. Or maybe your timing will put you in Cortina or at Misurina around lunch time.

The driving itself is easy but not fast. The roads are well maintained, and September won't present the potential snow issues that KayF encountered in May. (Overall, I think September is a more popular month than May, partly for that reason.) You will leave the dramatic mountains fairly quickly going south from Cortina, the road gets less curvy, and driving speeds pick up.

Cable car rides aren't just about the view; they're such unique, hands-on, immersive experiences, which are what our children and grandchildren have always loved, so I hope you can take your daughter up in at least one cable car. We spent 2 nights in Ortisei in June and took 2 of the 3 cable cars for very different views. Loved them both! We easily walked to each from our hotel and when we got to the top, simply sat on benches or in the outdoor cafe to soak in the scenery and people-watch. We're in our 70s and both of us had had unexpected ankle surgery just a few months prior, so we couldn't hike or even walk far, but even so we got experiences that we can't get at home! My first time including photos so apologies if I've added too many or too large file size!

It is possible to make some very easy walks from the Ortisei lifts that don't have to take a lot of time. Maryado's photos above this post show some of that glory.

Have you looked at the Val Gardena website? Any open lift from Ortisei would work, but the Ortisei - Alpe di Siusi - Gondola was what I did on my arrival day (coming from Venice) when I was setting out after lunch and didn't have a full day to explore:
https://www.valgardena.it/en/summer-...lomites/lifts/

I had a look at photos from that trip and there was quite a bit of snow around, but not on the roads. To us, as Australians, that was something different so we stopped a few times just to pose with the snow . The roads were fairly narrow and winding so you couldn't drive as fast as on a motorway but there was little traffic which was good. I do remember thinking it was taking us a lot longer than expected, partly I guess from being in an unfamiliar area, driving on the 'other side'.

Kay, you reminded me of the first time it snowed after my wife moved to the US (where I was living). She was right out into it, looking up at the flakes coming down. There are ski slopes in the highlands and we've been known to "go to the snow" for the day, but you never just happen to see snow coming down. Never snows in Melbourne itself except a bit in the Dandenongs. I'm sure snow being right there must have been quite the novelty on that trip!

Funny you mentioned the Marmolada glacier. Last night I'd been thinking that in all this time, I've never actually seen a glacier (and heaven knows how long before my daughter won't have any left to see). So I'd done a street view from the upper point of one of the cable cars at Marmolada... and though I'm not sure I saw the glacier from that particular spot, holy cow what a vista. You could see just hundreds of peaks stretching I don't know how far off into the distance. Just amazing. I may have to include that lift! Ranking these is going to be darn near impossible. lol

Thanks so much for all the insight into the roads. It's so hard to gauge something like that without first-hand input. Google maps estimates seem to get it wrong so often. Always a fine line between pushing it to the last minute vs being so cautious you miss some things unnecessarily. (then again, we're headed for Venice so I don't guess that counts as time wasted)

Maryado, you did perfect for your first time posting pics. Beautiful views and educational too. I think I had the idea there'd just be a platform perched on a ridge rather than paths and paddocks. I'm still working on where would be best to go up, but I agree that a cable car ride would be something special to do together and she'd enjoy it. (when you're driving, it's not always easy to enjoy the views together). Just a little time to relax, maybe get a coffee and a snack and look around.

I hadn't seen that site yet, Leely. Thank you for that. I"ll spend some time on there for sure. As I was posting to Maryado, I didn't realise there'd be paths to walk, much less fairly easy ones. I'm not great with steep hiking lately (lung issues) but the path in her shot wouldn't be any problem.

CC, thanks for the encouragement! And you’ve reminded me that there’s so much of the Dolomites that we didn’t have time to see, that now we’re talking about heading back there this fall. And (fingers crossed) we could actually walk some of those lovely paths this time! Hope you do a trip report to let us know what you ultimately choose to see/do.

Best of luck with your return trip, Maryado. I'll try to make a short summary when we get back.

Seceda (a two-part lift out of Ortisei, via Furnes) is one that took our breath away. You don't just see the jagged Odle peaks; you can walk right up to them. Great views around the valley and down into the Val di Funes. If time permits, it is a relatively easy walk down to the Col Raiser lift, with bus ride back to Ortisei. From a quick glance at the Val Gardena site, it looks like it should be open through September. More photos here.

I second Seceda.

Fabulous arrival, and some easy walks down to Col Raiser lift, with great refreshment stops at each end, our boys were teens and loved it. I think this is via Pieralonga



The kids




The kids a bit further away




Waiting for me 🙄





More yumminess in paradise



Funny you should mention Marmolada, we are planning to walk the Viel del Pan from Arabba to Pordoi Pass, great views of Marmolada from there. We will be there in late June.

Seceda gets my vote too!
Been three years and a bit since our last visit but we are hoping to return later this year.
Easy walk down and I am not young!

Ade pictures! Thank you so much for those.

And very interesting, all three of you, suggesting Seceda. It was the one cable car run I'd actually done some reading on before I started the thread but in the process, I started noticing how many cable cars there actually were. Didn't want to turn the thread into a "worth it?" thread about just one when I didn't know anything about any of the others. Some of the photos I've seen since of various other lift destinations often look like the upper end of the lift is a paddock (meadow) with nice views off in the distance. But from Ade's photo, this one seems a bit more like you're actually on a mountain, with those peaks right there. But also not a challenge to walk around a bit..

The base for the Seceda lift is a relatively short walk from our hotel, so we could conceivably even go up and back before we checked out of the hotel. A bit of fun, some nice views, maybe a bit of breakfast at the top and with no logistics stuff. Sounds ideal.

Thanks again for all the advice

Ms_Go, hope you and Mr. Go have a great return visit in JUne.

I did a long Seceda hike but you can choose where/how long far to go. In fact, I read ms_go and Adelaidean's trip reports for my Dolomites trip and sort of developed loose plans based on their day hikes. Got to the Dolomites and of course the day-to-day changed, but their TRs were very helpful.

I think it was on a trail from Seceda that I stopped and had this

Streudel and some local juice.

On the other hand, this was a snack (second lunch?) at a rifugio somewhere on Alpe di Siusi.

The Val Gardena site has a page with webcams. Of course, it's winter right now, but this might be fun for looking at the views from various stations.

Mr_go calls Secada his "no brainer." There's also a fun "telephone booth" lift at Passo Sella, but I'm not sure how late in the year it runs.

We are anxious to get back to the Dolomites, but it isn't going to be this year. We have other things in the works, including a return to New Zealand in October, so we hope to get our hiking fix in there.