Traveling for about 4 days in the Dolomite mountains in Italy. I'm re-doing a bit of photography so ideally will stop in Bolzano, Cortina and Canazei. Any recommendations on which town to make my home base? Is it easy to get from town to town? thank you!

I prefer Ortisei in the Val Gardena as a centro location. We will be there again in Sep and staying at Hotel Grones this time.

After spending 2 nights in Cortina, we stayed 2 nights in Castelrotto (Kastelruth), which we enjoyed very much. They are on opposite sides of the mountains, with a wonderfully scenic drive between.

Kastelruth is German-speaking (unlike Cortina, which seems to be much more Italian) and is quite near the gorgeous alpine meadows of the Alpe di Siusi, and not far from Bolzano. We stayed at a 700-year-old hotel right in the center of town - the Hotel Cavallino d'Oro.

Hi SPR - Like Bob I prefer Val Gardena as a base for touring and would second his recommendation of Ortisei (- I stay there most years). An alternative would be Selva.

Val Gardena gives you access to several of the best lifts for spectacular views. Assuming you will have a car, driving the high passes from Ortisei or Selva is very scenic.

You can find info on val Gardena on
http://www.valgardena.it/en/

Let me know if I can be of more help ...

Steve

I also think the Val Gardena is a good central location. I stayed in Ortisei, which was very nice - at the Hotel La Perla, just outside of town - but I thought Castelrotto was a more interesting town, and a little prettier. The two towns are a short drive from each other.

The drive between Val Gardena and Cortina is indeed beautiful. I did it round trip in one day and it was a leisurely drive with plenty of stops for photo ops.