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After a highly successful trip to southern Italy last summer (Rome, Amalfi Coast), we are looking at maybe hitting up Venice, Dolomites, and Switzerland this year. Any tips there? We were imagining starting in Venice, and then it seems like we'd benefit from having a rental car in the dolomites, but wouldn't want to bring it back to Venice. I understand we wouldn't really need a car in Switzerland.

Our family likes outdoor activities, but not to the point where we want to hike every day. We'd like to mix in some sight seeing, adventuring in unique towns/cities and some plain just having fun for the kids (ziplines, alpine coasters, etc).

We were contemplating whether to venture into Switzerland or Austria from the dolomites, but both seems like way too much. Venice because we didn't get to last time, and want to see it while it's still around.

Looking at mid-July, so need to book soon. Roughly a 10 day trip, but we could bend that a little.

All kinds of recommendations welcome. Towns, places to stay, activities, transportation, food.

With 10 days and a commitment to Venice and the Dolomites, I don't think you have much time for Switzerland. BUT you have several options: For example, you could consider going to Lake Maggiore -- most of it is in Italy, but the northern part is in Switzerland. You'd have access to some magnificent mountains, along with the other treasures of the Ticino, and you could do that with "just" a day trip or two if that's your preference. Or take the route used by the Bernina Express (no need to used the named train once in Switzerland) to explore parts of the Engadine. If you choose this option, note that Switzerland is VERY expensive.

We could stretch it by a day or two. We were only thinking of a very short Venice stay so we could say we had seen it, maybe 36 hours, and then heading out. So maybe 4 days in Dolomites, 3 in Switzerland type of deal. I know there's significant travel time in there.

Make sure you have time for what you want to see / experience in Venice, especially if you will have jet lag when you arrive. IMO, 36 hours is very little for that magnificent city.

For most posters in this forum, "the Dolomites" is just the autonom region of Alto Adige (Province of Bolzano/Bozen).
In that region, public transport is excellent (like in Swwitzerland). Ther is no need for a car.

In the short time you will have, you may go b<y train from Vwenice to Bolzano/bozen, by bus (every hr) to Ortisei, do some hikes in the area and continue by bus and train to Bozen - Meran - Mustair (Switzerland) - Stelvio - Tirano - Bernina - St. Moritz/Pontresina - Albula - Chur - Zurich airport. Alternative: ...... - Mustaair - Zernez - St. Moritz/Pontresina - Bernina - Tirano - Lugano - Milan Malpensa airport.

Group travel, especially with children, can take longer to do everything... Getting started, dining, moving from place to place, etc. I would plan to travel slower than you would if it was just two adults. There is a lot to see in Venice and the Alto Adige, and I would leave "Switzerland" for another trip.

I would strongly encourage having a car to explore the Alto Adige. Yes, there is public transportation, but for a visit of only a few days you would be able to see much more, and have more spontaneity, if you aren't constrained by timetables. Finding lodging for a group for less than a week could be a challenge, so I'd try to find something asap...

You could rent the car as you're leaving Venice. There would likely be a one-way surcharge if you returned the car elsewhere. But you could also train from Venice to Bolzano and rent/return the car there.

If you do travel to/through Bolzano, you and your kids would likely enjoy the Ice Man Exhibit at the South Tyrol Archeology Museum.

Timetables:
There is almost no difference between Alto Adige and Switzerland.
Most things run every 30 minutes, but at least every hr,
If you need a car for Alto Adige, you need a car for Switzerland too

Took our boys to all three of these places when they were the same age and they LOVED it. So much to see and do.

I don't think seeing all 3 is too much in your 10 days (or 11/12) since seemed a bit flexible. This does involve several transportation days, but often those were our boy's favorite days when they involved trains. Here is an option:
1 fly toward Venice
2 land Venice, tour Venice sleepily
3 tour Venice
4 tour Venice
5 Rent car, drive to Cortina d'Ampezzo (or another Dolomite central town...many beautiful options)
6 tour Dolomites
7 tour Dolomites
8 return car Bolzano, train to Lauterbrunnen (best valley to see a highlight of Switzerland - go up to Wengen or Murren if you want a bit more travel time to see even better views)
9 Lauterbrunnen area
10 Lauterbrunnen area
11 Lauterbrunnen morning, afternoon train to Geneva/Zurich
12 fly home

You could drop a day at Venice, Dolomites or Lauterbrunnen if you need to shorten the trip.

We like to move around and see more things, but I do understand we don't dive as deep at each location. Just wanted to throw out a bit of a more hectic trip that my family would love.

If you click on my user name you will see a trip report for hiking the Dolomites--I would really recommend Madonna di Campiglio as a base camp. I have another trip report on Rovereto, Trent and Bolzano and yet another trip report on Venice, Rome etc. We ended up going to Venice at the beginning and end of that trip and really loved it!

Wonderful! Anything in particular you can recommend for the kids?

Fantastic, I will check it out. One thing is I need to make sure we can work in a good amount of non hike activities as well or we will start to get complaints.

I second the recommendation to see the Archaeological Museum in Bolzano/Bozen, where there is a wonderful exhibit about Ötzi, the Copper Age man who was buried under the ice for about 7000 years, until he was found, in very good condition, along with his clothing and possessions. The exhibit is very well presented, and your boys would probably be very enthusiastic about it.

Let's see....
Venice - they loved the touristy gondola ride, doing a glass blowing show at Murano, wandering the streets at night and always finding our way back to San Marco, even a bit of the museums..

Dolomites - not a real expert here but we loved driving over the mountain passes and getting out to walk. I understand there are some gondolas that can take you to mountain peaks as well.

Lauterbrunnen - Trummelbach Falls are incredible, either the gondola to top of the Schilthorn (Murren side) or the train to Jungfraujoch (Wengen side), a boat ride on Lake Thun (included with Swiss Pass), many incredible hikes (good one with awesome views is Schynige Platte along Lake Brien)

Lots of beauty in all locations.

Seems like a long trek from Bozen to lauterbrunnen. I’m wondering if we should try and stay somewhere in the Dolomites closer, but not sure if there’s other good options if we want to ditch the rental car before Switzerland.

Perhaps you should reconsider whether you actually need a car for the Dolomites. Maybe you would need ine, but there's a LOT you can do there without a car.

I would agree it's a full travel day. The train ride is about 9 hours. Then you need to factor getting to the Bolzano train station. For us a few travel days are really nice, and the boys loved the transportation days...sometimes more than the sightseeing days. But there is the fact that you're going from one mountainous region to another, and is it worth trying to see both. But in my mind they are really different. The Dolomites, while impressive, are different than the Alps in the Lauterbrunnen valley. Watch some youtube vidoes of both areas (check out Rick Steves) so you understand what both are like.

I've been to Dolomites twice, and can't imagine not having a car. It's not at all like Switzerland with their trains. But, once again, I don't know the Dolomites very well so maybe you can see lots of beautiful stuff using public transportation.

Agreed! AND each is very different from the Alps of the Engadine and they are all different than the Alps of the Ticino.... Much as I loved the Bernese Oberland (the area around Lauterbrunnen), I personally would not make the time to go there on such a short trip. YMMV.

It’s funny to me you think 12 days is short trip. 😆 (Not in a rude way.) It’s quite a stay for us!

Ah ... you've extended? Your original post said 10 days. If you told us that you added to your time, I'm sorry I missed it.

I said we could probably flex to 12. No worries!