How Best to Visit Dolomites from Venice
 

Hi,
My husband and I are returning to Italy this summer and would like to visit the Dolomites. We are flying into Marco Polo Airport the second week in July. We originally planned to stay in Venice 3 nights and then Varenna 3 nights before going to Cinque Terre. Varenna and Venice are flexible, but Cinque Terre is set in our itinerary as we will visit friends there.

So here's what we are considering::
1. Rent car at airport, go to Dolomites - stay 3 nights and drop car in Como on way to Varenna - stay 3 nights
2. Venice 2 nights, rent car, Dolomites 2 nights, drop off car in Como, Varenna 2 nights
3. Join tour company/guide for Dolomite part of trip and not rent a car

Some background info:
We usually use train and bus to travel in Italy, but we did rent a car one year for visiting Piedmont region. We typically stay 3-4 nights at each stop, but think we would be fine with the 2-2-2 scenario for this trip to include Dolomites. We have been to Venice many times (we enjoy just being there and walking around) and this will be our second time to Lake Como region.

Some questions:
How difficult getting from Dolomites to Varenna by car?
Where should we drop car on way to Varenna
Where should we stay in Dolomites?

I would appreciate any advice/recommendations.

Thanks,
Tank

You don't have to have a car for the Dolomites. I took the train to Bolzano and the bus up to Castlerotto (I stayed at the Cavallino d'Oro). There is transport up to Alpe de Suisse from Castlerotto.

A car is a great asset in the Dolomiti if you want to see various parts of the range. If you plan to go hiking every day from one location, there are public transport options.

I can't give you fair opinion of how to divide your time because I'm not such a fan of Venice at any time of year, and wouldn't go near it in July, whereas I'd go to the Dolomiti over and over if I had a chance.

But if you'd be arriving in Venice airport jet-lagged, I will suggest going to Treviso or maybe Belluno to catch a night's sleep before tackiling the Dolomiti roads. So I would do 1-3-2.

Given the likely strong heat of July, I think I'd probably keep the air-conditioned car all the way to le Cinque Terre, and drop it off in La Spezia. But if you drove to Varenna, you very much need a hotel with guaranteed parking in Varenna. If you want to get rid of the car before Varenna, Como may be your best option. Another option might be to drop off the car in Bolzano or Verona and take the train from there. You'll know better once you figure out where you are staying in the Dolomiti and get into the nitty gritty of car rental office opening hours and ferry schedules, train routes, etc.

I've never driven to Varenna but would expect it to be easier than driving in the Dolomiti passes -- although the great road of the Dolomiti between Cortina d'Ampezzo and Bolzano is a fabulously engineered road that is a joy to drive. I would expect that the lakeside road to Varenna gets a lot of traffic through July, and that would go triple on weekends.

I fully agree with Sandra. In addition:
You may drive from Bolzano to Lake Como through the Alps, on itineraries like
Bolzano/Bozen - Meran - Senales (road an cableway to highest hotel of the Alps at Grawand)- Mustair monastery - Stelvio - Bormio - Sondrio - Varenna;
Canazei - Cavalese - Mezzocorona - Ossana/Peio - Onte di Legno - Sondrio - Varenna;
Bozen - Kaltern - Madonna di Campiglio - Riva del Garda - Gardesana Occidentale - Salo - Brescia - Bergamo - Lecco - Varenna;
etc. etc.
BTW: Lake Garda is as beatiful as lake Como, there is no need to make a detour via Varenna.

"How difficult getting from Dolomites to Varenna by car?"
You can take the boring motorway via Affi Lago di Garda Sud / Grand Affi shopping center - Confine/Gardaland - Mandella/Peschiera - Seriate - Prezzate
or more scenic but longer roads along lakes resp through the mountains.

Thanks for the replies. Sandra, I like your recommendation of 1-3-2. The more I read, the more questions I have. So many options!

We have made two decisions so far: we will rent a car and we will stay in the Dolomiti 3 nights. Which do you folks recommend as a base, Alta Badia or Ortisei? Alta Badia seems favored for its scenery, but I don't want to miss taking the cable car up the Alpe di Siusi.

Any advice for base and accommodations would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tank

Not sure I can expertly answer your main question about whether Alta Badia or Ortisei is better, but will chime in to say that I did a hut-to-hut hiking trip in the Dolomites last summer, starting and ending in Badia. I LOVED the Alta Badia area - it's jaw-droppingly beautiful. Will you be hiking at all or just driving around?

Although most of our accommodations were in the refugi, we stayed a couple of nights at the charming Gran Ander in Badia, and I would definitely recommend it. The food is really good and I still dream about the sauna, which has a glass wall looking right onto the mountain. So beautiful and relaxing. http://www.granander.it/home.php?lan=en&m=

Also, if you don't want to rent a car for the mountains, there's an easy bus from Venice (either the airport or Mestre) to Corvara and other main towns in the Dolomites (it's called the Cortina Express, the schedules for summer come out in May I think, but the timetable will be reliably convenient), and then a network of local buses that run frequently and are very easy to navigate. I was personally glad to have someone else at the wheel as we drove through the mountains since my face was pressed against the window glass in absolute awe.

Alta Badia has a much lower tourist impact, with a lot less ski infrastructure, and some of the towns retain their traditonal character as dairy producers (just barley). Alta Badia would be my pick for July.

Not having taken the cable car up to the Alpe di Suisi, I don't know what I have missed. But it is pretty hard to be anywhere in the Dolomiti and not be stunned by the scenery and views, so don't be driven by FOMO ("fear of missing out"). Take time to enjoy wherever you are in your few days, because it is an expansive area with multiple marvels and it would take several trips to see them all.

Thank you for the replies. We had decided to stay in Ortisei, but I will check out hikes and accommodations in Alta Badia since it is getting more nods for a July stay.

txtree- We plan to do day hikes, no plans to drive around. We won't be doing any hut-to-hut hiking. Weather permitting we plan to hike each day. We were thinking it would be best to have a car in case we hear of something we really want to go check out or if the weather is bad and we can't hike.

Sandra, thanks for the FOMO reminder - I know you are right!

We stayed in Ortisei in Oct 2013 and loved it. It was large enough to have options for dinners and access to many different lifts up into the mountains.

We haven't been to Alta Badia so can't compare. I am sure that is an excellent choice as well!

Our trip report is here: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-dolomites.cfm

And you can see our pics here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...57636058614266

jamikins- great pictures, thanks for sharing!

We have decided to stay in Ortisei. The location is going to work better with our travel plans. Thanks everyone for the replies.

BM

ttt

We think you made a good choice with Ortisei. We used it as our base two years ago, and really liked it. We did write a TR, but jamikins pictures a capture a lot of it. Enjoy your travels!