flights to Dolomites
 

I have no clue what city one would fly into from Boston (or NYC) to rent a car and drive to villages in the Dolomites.
Any help is welcome.

hi giannetta,

the nearest airport I believe is Venice [lots of transatlantic flights] or otherwise Milan, which is a bit further away.

regards, ann

Hello giannetta, annhig gave you the correct information. If you are going to change planes in Europe however you could take one of the inexpensive flights and fly into the small Treviso airport which is north of the Venice airport but you would be limited in what luggage you could have I believe so I would fly into the Venice Marco Polo Airport. Have a wonderful trip, the Dolomites area is so beautiful!

We flew into venice and drove to Cortina, along the great dolomite road to bolzano, down the wine road to Riva Del Garda and then to Milan. As suggested above, you can fly into either Venice or Milan - depends on what part of the dolomites you want to see or in what 'order'.

The others are correct, Venice or Verona are closest, but here is another idea--if you have the time to enjoy the drive between, and spend time in Salzburg or Bavaria.

CAR RENTAL STRATEGY FOR NORTHERN ITALY
BY BOB THE NAVIGATOR

How would you like to save perhaps $500 on your next car rental in Italy? Well, you probably can if you decide to start and end your trip in Germany or Switzerland. Here is an actual scenario that proves the point.

A recent client nearly had a heart attack after getting a quote for a mid-sized car with automatic transmission for Malpensa [MXP] airport in Milan. He was quoted over $1300 for a ten day rental, with the drop off also at MXP. Wow, over $130/day was about twice what he had budgeted. So, we changed his itinerary and saved him over $500. How? We decided to fly into Zurich and get the car in Lugano---not a bad diversion for any itinerary that includes the fabulous lakes region of northern Italy. After landing in Zurich he trained to Luzerne for two nights before continuing on to Lugano[LUG] by train to get the car. It proved to be an enjoyable addition to his trip that included two lakes destinations in Italy and several days in the wine regions of Piemonte.

Car rental prices in Italy are just much higher than adjacent countries, primarily due to the mandatory insurance rates. Lower rental rates are also valid in Germany with Munich[MUN] being a good choice as a launching pad for trips into most venues in northern Italy. Here are some examples:


TEN DAY CAR RENTAL PRICE COMPARISONS [in $$$]
COMPARABLE INSURANCE COVERAGES—THREE LOCATIONS

BROKER COMPACT/MANUAL MIDSIZE/AUTOMATIC

MXP MUN LUG MXP MUN LUG

AUTOEUROPE 729 584 496 1303 993 853

GEMUT 663 388* 378 1235 621 583

AVERAGES 696 486 437 1269 807 718

SAVINGS N/A 210 259 N/A 462 551

• *Price is for sub-compact with automatic upgrade to compact model.
• DISCLAIMER: Rental prices can vary by season and locations. These prices are a snapshot in October, 2007 for these two vendors only. Prices may vary when you actually get a quote, but the point is still valid. The prices will always be higher in Italy, especially for automatic models.


There are additional benefits to considering this itinerary strategy. You get to add more options in your quest to find the best airfares, or free seats using award miles. Besides the obvious destinations of Munich and Zurich, you can also consider Stuttgart as a viable choice to save on airfares. That gives you three other options rather than just considering Milan & Venice.

But the primary benefits to me are the wonderful destinations that you can add to your northern Italy itinerary. I have always loved an itinerary that includes the Salzburg area, the castle country of Bavaria, the Dolomites, or even Lake Garda with other destinations in Italy. That is especially true for any family trip or for those who are seeking the ultimate in natural beauty. And, the drive from Munich airport to Val Gardena in the Dolomites is only four hours and includes some great scenery past Innsbruck and through the Brenner Pass. The drive to Salzburg or Garmisch is only about two hours.

Any Zurich itinerary should include at least two nights in lovely Luzerne either going or coming, and one night in Zurich to enjoy this unique city. The additional rail costs will be offset by the fewer car rental days. Of course, you could get the car in Zurich, but I have always preferred using the very efficient rail system in Switzerland. And, Lugano itself is a terrific destination to enjoy for a few hours before driving an hour to Lake Como or wherever.

To me it is a win/win scenario. The only catch may be adding enough days to your trip to make it all feasible. You will probably need at least twelve days to include two or three Italy destinations with the transitional venues. I have included Tuscany in my own itinerary that began and ended in Munich, but it may be a bit of a stretch if your time is limited. But, saving between $200 to $500 on just the car expense for your next trip to Italy can sure buy you your fill of gelato and cappuccinos---always a good idea.

Another option--we've flown into Munich for that area before and are doing so again this summer. It's about the same distance as from Milan and a fairly easy drive to Bolzano (three hours or so, almost all on the autobahn). There are plenty of non-stop options to Munich from the US, and rental cars can be cheaper in Germany than Italy.

Looks like Bob beat me to it ;)

I'd say the drive from Munich to Bolzano or Cortina is a great deal nicer than the one from Milan (the A4 autostrada east from Milan, IMHO, is one of Europe's five most horrible motorways). There are actually very, very few intercontinental flights to Venice.

If you're going to change planes en route, the nearest two airports are Verona and Treviso. Neither is well served by airlines that allow through-booking of bags from intercontinental airlines, so check whether you might have to (horrors!) collect your bags at Frankfurt or CDG, go through Customs and check in again.

we have flown PHL - Frankfurt - VCE and driven north to Bolzano and then to Selva Val Gardena which was fine except changing planes in Frankfurt was a nightmare. Our luggage was checked through, but navigating the airport sucked. The drive north was fine, about 3 hrs from Treviso to Bolzano mostly on an autostrada.

Next week we're slated to fly EWR - MUC and drive south to Selva Val Gardena(spending the first night near Innsbruck). I can let you know how that goes in a few weeks.

I think the main incentive to drive south as opposed to north is the savings in rental car fees by not renting the car in Italy. You can do the cost comparisons with the different flights and rentals to see which is cheaper.

Hi Gianetta - The nearest airport (- besides Bolzano) is Innsbruck - so that would be an option too IF you're flying via another airport in Europe.

Steve

Thank you thank you all of you. We now have enumerable choices - and they all have benefits!
There is a car rental company we have been using for our Italy trips the past 3 years called Car-rentalItaly. I think it is www.car-rentalItaly.com. A) I will check to see if that is the correct name and B)I will compare their rates to rental rates for cars in Germany as the cost of renting the car always adds a large sum of $$$ to the trip. We've also found that AirLingus has VERY reasonable flights to Milan (Linate - NOT Malpensa) through Dublin. We have collected many thousands of miles on our Capitol One care so suggesting a place in Germany with more choices is also an inviting suggestion.
Again, I appreciate your help..all of you. I will begin the process soon.
Of course any excuse for me to HAVE to go to Venice....