For a vacation in mid September- which town do you recommend for access to canoeing, recreational hikes, relaxing?
And any favorite accomodations to suggest?
Thanks for your input.

Canoeing will be tough---not a lot of lakes or good rivers for that in the Dolomites.

For town recommendations, it would be helpful to know which direction you will be coming from, and how you will be traveling---rental car or public transport. That makes a difference in the recommendations.

Colleenbee - A delightful lake for canoeing is Lake Braies in Val Pusteria. This place is idyllic - one of the loveliest lakes in Italy.

Another attractive one is Lake Alleghe.

The main river is the Isarco which is used in parts for canoeing but can be dangerous.

I usually stay in Val Gardena (Ortisei) or Castelrotto - both of which are good bases for hiking/relaxing.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

That's a nice hotel in Ortisei:
http://www.hotel-adler.com/index-en.htm

Hi Enzion
We will be coming in from Venice, how I don't know yet. I guess it depends on where we are going. Does that help?

Thankyou Steve and Traveller 1959 (a very good year, I might add)

Hi Colleenbee,

I apologize, I was wrong about the lakes---I just haven't seen any in the areas where I have been (Val Badia and Seiser Alm). Steve_James is the Dolomites expert here, so his canoeing recommendations are good ones.

Coming from Venice will put you on the eastern side of the Dolomites, with easy access to the Cortina and Tre Cime areas. I'm not sure how you would get there from Venice by public transport. Travel around the Dolomites is by bus with the Sudtirol Autodienst:
http://www.sii.bz.it/
but I'm not sure if it goes as far as Venice (didn't have time to check the routes on the website). I've used this on two trips to the region, but wished we had a car for greater flexibility.

Castelrotto, (or Kastelruth in German) is excellent. There are many hiking possibilities, with (limited) bus schedule to enable one way hikes, with bus return.
Hotel Zum Turm is excellentand vey comfortable after a day on Alpe de Suisse.
I am not aware of any canoe/kayak possibilities in the area; perhaps other Fodorites can comment on that.

Another lake is Misurina near Cortina.

I'd recommend a car for ease of access to any of these lakes - especially in September when public transport is reduced.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Hi Steve_James
Can you help me yet again? We have taken your suggestion and have decided to stay in Val Gardena/ Castelrotta area. Is it possible to get there from Venice by train (preferrable)? Or if by bus, how do we find the schedule and station? I can't seem to find a train schedule for this.
Thankyou so much for your help both on my questions and through other peoples as well. Colleenbee

Train to Bolzano and the bus from there----I posted the link to the routes and schedules above.

Thankyou Enzian
I had tried that site but the message I keep getting is that my departure city - Venice - is not recognized. I have tried various spelling, with no luck. Now I have emailed the website in the hopes they can help. Sigh. Colleen

Colleen---Try "Bolzano" as your departure city. The bus website is not as sophisticated as the train ones---it only recognizes places within its own jurisdiction. (From Venice to Bolzano you can use the Trenitalia website, or Deutschebahn, which gives schedules for all of Europe).

I have used this bus service in the Dolomites on two trips, and it is great---reliable, comfortable, etc. The schedules are a little hard to figure out at first, but the locals are very helpful. There are frequent busses between Bolzano and Castelrotto. We changed in Castelrotto to get to our ultimate destination--either Alpe di Suisi or Val Badia. But we went right through Val Gardena on the way (what a lovely place!)

Colleen - Enzian's given you the best plan - train to Bolzano (3-3.5 hrs), then bus. I do it every year ...

Are you staying in Val Gardena or Castelrotto? These are 2 different bus services from Bolzano. Both pick up outside Bolzano station, so it's very easy ...

Steve