Italian Alps - Dolomites
 

Planning for the July 2016 - 3 week Tour.

We are going to MADRID, ROME, VENICE AND PARIS

From Venice i am thinking of spending about 3-4days in the Italian alps(Dolomities region) as we want to see natural & scenic beauty like the Swiss alps. Is that possible

We are not into Skiing, so what other activities can we do which are related towards sight seeing and natural beauty like cable car ride, some river ride etc

I am thinking of ORTISEI in the Val gerdana region or should i stay somehere else to enjoy more.

How would the weather be like in July

Any other feedback and suggestions are more than welcome.

I can't imagine doing that could be a bad idea. We've been in the area but not specifically Ortisei.

I might suggest though since you'll be in Venice to consider Ljubljana, Slovenia and the Alps between there and Lake Bled. It's only about a 2 hour drive from Venice. We just returned from there and had one of the most enjoyable alpine drives we could have imagined and Ljubljana is simple charming.

Good luck with wherever you decide to go.

How many days do you actually have on the ground. When you listed 4 major cities in 3 weeks I was thinking that the trip made sense. But by adding the Italian and swiss Alps you re now up to destination in 3 weeks - and when you remove the 4 or 5 days traveling between the various places you will end up with only a coupe of days in major cities - versus the 5 days each that made sense.

Yes, all of these places make sense - but not sure you can do all - based on if you have 22 nights on the ground or only 18 or so.

Well it does depend on exactly how much time you have, how much you plan to spend in each of the other destinations. But if you have about 3 full days to spare then the Dolomites would make sense. I was just there this summer (we had 5 days but you could see a good deal in three) and wrote a trip report, it might have some useful info for you. Will you have a car? One possibility would be to take a train to Bolzano and rent a car there for just a couple of days to explore. Or you could rent one as you are leaving Venice. It is possible to see the area without a car, but it would take longer to cover the same amount of territory so with only three days a car would be better. There's no skiing in July. But plenty of places to take cable car rides and do hikes.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nd-castles.cfm

His_dude : I need to check about Ljubijana, Solvenia and Lake Bled, as i have no knowledge about them. I am open to any close by locations to VEnice

Nytraveler - I am not going to Swiss alps. We are covering 5 cities in 18 days

Venice to Ortisei is an easy , beautiful 3.5 drive. I would rent a car in Venice (Piazzale Roma) and drive via Cortina to Val Gardena, the valley where Ortisei is located. We usually rent an apartment in Selva , a smaller town close to Ortisei, but any of the three towns in Val Gardena will give you access to lifts that will take you to the beautiful trails that run throughout the area. The Dolomites will be the prefect break from the hot, humid weather you will have in Venice in July. I agree that Ljubljana and the Julian Alps are also wonderful, but if I had to pick just one alpine trip from Venice it would be the Dolomites.
http://www.valgardena.it/en/hiking-b...king-trekking/

Skiing in the Dolomites is impossible in July.
But you can easily do a 3-4 days car trip from Venice through the Dolomites (with or without Ortisei/Urtijei/St. Ulrich) up to Verona where you can board the Paris bound overnight train.

We spent four incredible days hiking in the Dolomites. We stayed in Ortisei and loved the town and it's setting. It would be a nice contrast to the rest of your itinerary.

Which is the nearest airport to Ortise as I would be flying back to Paris

Any info on the overnight train to Paris

Verona is the closest airport to Ortisei for a flight to Paris. There is also an overnight train from Verona to Paris.

You've got some long-ish travel days. Madrid-Rome, Rome-Venice, Ortisei-Verona-Paris. If it was my trip, I'd probably drop Madrid to give more time everywhere else, especially the Dolomites.

You need to research river rafting. If that's a priority, Val Gardena may not be the best place to stay.

IMO you need to choose Madrid or the Dolomites. You don't have time for both. Keep in mind that you lose up to 1/2 day each time you change locations and your first day will mostly be a lost day due to jetlag. So that leaves you with 3.75 days in each of Madrid, Rome, Venice and Paris. What city is going to get short-changed so you can see the Dolomites? If you spend 3-4 days in the Dolomites, thst leaves you with 2.75 days MAX in each city. Not nearly enough IMO.

And I have read nothing but poor reviews for the overnight trains.

The itinerary is as follows
ARRIVE : MADRID - straight to Rome
ROME : 04 DAYS
VENICE : 03 DAYS
DOLOMITES : 03 DAYS
PARIS : 05 DAYS
MADRID : 04 DAYS

Do u suggest to reduce ONE day from Madrid or Paris to have
4 days in Dolomities

Note : All above days include the arrival and departures

Note : Its a must to fly into madrid as the difference b/w airfare is more than USD250/ ticket if i fly into Italy or France

Could you please give me some information on river rafting
thanks

I think only you can decide how much time you need/want in each city. But, FWIW, considering the logistics and time involved in getting to/from the Dolomites and the number of sights and things to do there, I'd want more than 3 days.

You mention how much cheaper the air ticket to/from Madrid is, but most of your trip is elsewhere. Does that 'savings' take into account the cost of getting to Rome, to Paris and back to Madrid?

River rafting ibn the Dolomites:
http://www.suedtirolerland.it/en/spo...s/rafting.html

For cheap Madrid - Rome flights check vueling and ryanair.

So with your current itinerary, your actual time in each location is:

Rome 3.5 days
Venice 2.5 days
Dolomites 2.5 days
Paris 4.5 days
Madrid 3.5 days

I would want more time in certain cities, and would not enjoy that many train/flights for such a short period of time. But if it suits you then go for it.