familyadventure5

We will be traveling from Rome to Ortisei by train then renting a car. Our options are a 5 hour train ride from Rome to Bolzano, renting a car, then driving 45 mins to Ortisei. Or a 3hr 15min train ride to Verona, renting a car there, then driving 2 hrs 15 mins to Ortisei. We will only be in Bolzano or Verona for a short bit to eat. I'm leaning towards taking the train to Verona as they have an earlier train leaving, but would love any recommendations for which route is best?

Jean

Where do you go after the Dolomites... because you'll want to rent/return the car at the same city to avoid the one-way surcharge.

My choice would be to go to Verona in order to drive along the shore of Lake Garda either heading north or south. I would avoid driving the A22 as much as possible... so many trucks, lots of highway traffic. Take the scenic secondary roads north of Riva del Garda to start your Dolomiti tour.

But I wouldn't miss the Ice Man exhibit at the South Tyrol Archeology Museum in Bolzano. Fascinating.

familyadventure5

Thank you, I hadn't thought about the drive yet. We would definitely prefer the scenic route! Unfortunately, we will be paying the surcharge because we are returning the car in Venice.

neckervd

"I'm leaning towards taking the train to Verona as they have an earlier train leaving"
I cannot understand what you mean with that.
Timetable (for the random date of June 12th):
Roma Termini dp 6.45 - Verona ar 10.08 - Bolzano/Bozen ar 11.56, web fares start at 38 EUR/pax
Roma Termini dp 7.25 - Verona ar 10.38 - Bolzano/Bozen ar 12.23, web fares start at 30 EUR/pax
Roma Termini dp 8.25 - Verona ar 11.38 - Bolzano/Bozen ar 13.30, change at Verona
Roma Termini dp 8.50 - Verona ar 12.08 - Bolzano/Bozen ar 13.53, web fares start at 38 EUR/pax
Roma Termini dp 10.50 - Verona ar 14.08 - Bolzano/Bozen ar 15.53, web fares start at 58 EUR/pax

The buses from Bolzano/Bozen to Ortisei run every hr from 6.28 until 19.28 (55 min journey). Those from Klausen and those from Brixen run every hr too. The buses from Ortisei to Alta Badia and to Bruneck run every hr..So do the trains from Bruneck to Toblach and the connecting buses to Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Jean

I would think about the driving route and what you want to see/do in your time there. You can avoid the one-way surcharge by renting/returning the car in Verona and then taking the train to Venice (which takes just a little over an hour). Or you could train Rome-Venice. Rent/return the car in Venice and drive to Ortisei via Cortina. There are two main routes you could drive from Cortina to Ortisei, and both would take you through some spectacular scenery and over a couple of stunning passes.

You don't say how many nights/days you plan to be in the Dolomites. The option I would choose would depend on that info. If it's a short-ish stay (3-4 nights), I'd take the Venice option to maximize the time in the most dramatic areas. I'd still try to get to Bolzano for the Ice Man.

familyadventure5

@Jean, we will be in Ortisei for 3 nights and cortina d' ampezzo for 3 nights. I want to optimize our time in the mountains. I'm willing to sacrifice some time to do a scenic drive vs highway driving though. I thought about taking the train to Venice from Rome but then it's a longer drive, so overall longer travel day, and thought it might be nice to see a different town even if it's only for a couple hours. Besides where we are staying, nothing has been finalized. I've never done this before so definitely open to suggestions!

Jean

You haven't booked the lodging. Did I miss your mention of the dates of this trip? I would look into availability in both Ortisei and Cortina in your budget range for your dates... with either town being first.

In our first trip to this area, we started in Verona, drove the western shore of Garda and ended in Ortisei. We stayed 5 nights there and spent most of one day in Bolzano. Then we moved to Cortina for another 5 nights. Then back to Verona for a train to Bologna. Because we knew we hadn't seen everything we hoped, we made a second stay in the area for another week or so in order to see the area west of Bolzano. And I could easily make a third trip to the Dolomites to see more. (This is an area covering more than 6,000 sq. miles.)

I'd probably train Rome-Venice and head to Cortina first. After the 5 days in the Dolomites, you can decide which route you'll take Ortisei-Venice: make the longer drive via Lake Garda, speed down the boring A22 or take a more leisurely route to see more of the Dolomites. For me, if I had most or all of a day for this, the difference in drive times wouldn't be the decider. I'd pick what I most want to see/do.

Beware of choosing the "earlier" train departure without comparing the arrival times as well. Sometimes a much earlier train arrives only a few minutes before a later train. I would look only for direct, no-connection trains...

I would investigate the amount of the one-way car rental surcharge before finalizing your plan.

familyadventure5

Yes, all our lodging has been booked. We are going from Rome-Ortisei-Cortina-Venice. We fly into Rome and out of Venice