Hello everyone,
Looking for some advice from the experts ...

My husband and I are planning a two day tour of the Dolomites with our two young sons at the end of May.
We are flying to Treviso, heading up to Belluno and then spending two days winding our way round to Bolzano.

Please could anyone suggest some routes we might take, and any sights which are not to be missed!

Does anyone know of any cable cars/lifts which might be open at that time of year? (I have had a look on the tourist info websites and it looks like most don't open until June).

Lastly if there are any recommendations for family-friendly accommodation, that would be appreciated.
Many thanks to anyone out there who may be able to point us in the right direction!

Click on my name to find my trip report for north Italy including the Dolomites. Here is the photo gallery:

http://www.slowphotos.com/photo/show...y.php?cat=4441

I spent 5 days in the Dolomites from June 7 to June 11 last year. You are right--many lifts and cable cars are closed until later in June. Two that we found open on June 9 and fun to take:

(1) the cable car at Passo Pordoi, going up beautiful Sass Pordoi (deep snow on the ground at the top limited us to hot drinks at the refugio and a bit of an explore around the building). Can't confirm the opening date, though you might be able to find it online.

(2) the cute pod-shaped cable car up Mont Seuc out of Ortisei, into the Alpe di Suisi. I believe that this one opens May 28. Your kids would enjoy it--and there's a nice restaurant and good walking at the top.

For accommodation we based in the small town of La Villa at the sweet little Garni Montanara, a 3-story inn with awesome views over the valley below. But there are tons of great places to stay--the only trick is finding open restaurants!

The Dolomites are incredibly beautiful.

Hi Goose - Lift options at the end of May include:

- Falzarego (- Falzarego Pass)
- Sass Pordoi (- from Pordoi Pas)
- Alpe di Siusi (- from Ortisei)
- Florian (Alpe di Siusi),
- Cabinovia Siusi (- from Siusi)

For lift opening dates/times see:

http://www.valgardena.it/en/lifts/page65.html
http://www.altabadia.org/en-US/lifts...dolomites.html

For accomodation ... have you decided which area you'd like to stay? I usually recommend the Val Gardena area ...

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Dear Steve, Bob & Aprillilacs, Many thanks for the advice. We will definitely follow the recommended routes and double check that the lifts are open at the end of May.
Wish you all happy hols yourselves,
Goose2

Hi there,

We were in the Dolomites in May 2009 and I wrote this on Fodors after we returned, it may be of some help:


Hi, we were in the Dolomites in early to mid May this year and although we had a great time, we did find most things were closed. We stayed one night in Cortina which was very quiet. We found a restaurant and had pizza for dinner but we did have trouble finding somewhere that was open to eat.

Then we had 3 nights in Castelrotto at Haus Silbernagl, which gets great reviews on Trip Advisor. Terrific place to stay if you are in that area. There were a few places open to eat at night, though not many, and most shops were open during the day.

It's a stunning area, the mountain scenery driving from Cortina to Castelrotto was truly amazing. There were few cars about and one road that was closed, which led to Castelrotto. We had to detour about 2 hours out of the way. There had been a sign, earlier on the road, saying something in Italian which we couldn't understand but in hindsight it must have said the road was closed due to the possibility of avalanche. There was a lot of snow about at the higher elevations, though the roads were all clear.

The very helpful owner of Haus Silbernagl, Petra, suggested we do a walk in the Alpe di Siusi and we had a wonderful day. It was the only chairlift open in the area, we parked at the bottom, caught the chairlift then just walked. There was almost no one about, it was very peaceful and very, very beautiful. There were a couple of huts and a place at the very top that would have sold food and drink but they were all closed. We had a stash of water and chocolate so sat at the top and enjoyed the serenity and mountain views.

Where we walked on the Alpe di Siusi there was a small amount of melting snow on the ground but the surrounding higher peaks were covered in snow. We just walked in normal clothes with walking shoes.

So yes, it's off season. But if that's the only time you can go, I would still recommend it. Of course, the weather will vary year to year and you may have trouble if more roads are closed due to snow.

The famous bike race, the Giro d'Italia, was on in that area when we were there. If you can get hold of any footage, it will show you what it was like at that time of year.

Kay