Hello!
I was tearing my hair out last night, trying to figure out what logistically (and smartly) will work. Unfortunately, I decided we probably should have added on a few more days, but too late for that.
We are flying into Venice and heading straight by rental car to the Dolomites. We arrive in Venice at 11am, so we're hoping to get there in time to see some of the amazing views.
Our plan (and dilemma): We are thinking 4 nights in the Dolomites - maybe the first three in the Val Gardena area (not sure which town, but the one that will have enough to keep two 20-somethings happy in the evening, and then we have one night reserved at a hut in Cinque Torri.
We plan to hike the day we get to Cinque Torri, take in sunrise, and then take the lift down in the morning.
From there, we do want to drive the Grossglockner Road. We hope to spend night 8 in Hallstatt, and our final night in Venice, leaving Hallstatt early on the last morning. Our flight out is at 10 am after staying the night in/near Venice.
Questions:
1. We love to hike, and we also love to see the views. My daughter an I are landscape photographers, so we're really excited. Arriving in the Dolomites the first afternoon and spending 3 days after (one will be hiking at Cinque Torri), what do you recommend for the other two days? One day of hiking and one of driving the passes, etc.? Is there enough time to do both in a day? We're wondering if we could do it in a day, plus the Cinque Torri day, and leave longer to get through Austria to Hallstatt. (a must for my daughter). Or, is the scenery in the Dolomites better than what we'll get, going through Austria?
Where to go from Cinque Torri? How far is it from there to the Gross Glockner? Will we be going through amazing scenery to get there? How much time should we allow? Is going from Cinque Torri and then over the Gross Glockner road too much for one day? (knowing that we'll be wanting to take photos probably the whole time?) :)
Where to stay? I really don't want to jump from place to place with only one night each place in Austria. We love quaint villages and mountain scenery. Is Innsbruck or the Tyrol or Zillertal too far out of the way?
I can't decide where to headquarter our 3 nights before Hallstatt. All in one place? One night on either one side or the other of the Grossglockner and the other two closer to Hallstatt? Is there a place like I described on the way to Hallstatt? How about Salzburg? I know it's not a village, but would two nights work there? Not knowing the time it will take to drive different places, road and traffic-wise, I wasn't sure what's doable or logical. Any recommendations? And, should we cut the Dolomites one night short and take an extra through the Dolomites? I'm so confused!How is the drive from Hallstatt to Venice? I know it's about 5 hours, but is that realistic with traffic and road conditions? We just want to get to Venice by afternoon sometime so the kids can see it before it's dark.
Travel and driving. I know that in the past, people recommended GPS's. Has anyone used the GPS on their american phone without being charged huge data rates?
Thanks so much - and I'm hoping for sun! We had to cancel our Dolomites visit two years ago because the whole area was socked in with fog and rain. That was in May though, so we're hoping late June/early July will be better.
Any route, lodging, town suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Theresa