Alpe di Siusi

It is true that your dates are kind of in the "mud" season in between ski and summer.

You're probably seeing many hotels taking their own vacation breaks during this time.
Perhaps some of the hotels have not yet posted their schedules for next year yet. Maybe
email a couple of the hotels individually and see if they intend to open in late May.

As for self-catering, both Ortisei and Santa Cristina are towns with regular residents, and
they have to eat too. I am sure some of the restaurants will be open as well.

There is a gondola that goes from Siusi to Alpe di Siusi, which might make staying in Siusi
doable. Not sure if it will be running in May, though. In fact, you should probably confirm
that any of the lifts will be running in May if one of your goals is to hike on the Alpe di Siusi.

I just stayed 4 nights here in Ortesei in July and it was lovely. I did some random booking samples (from the Welcome page) and it asks for a request to be sent.
https://www.hotel-fortuna.it/en/Default.asp

It’s not quite center but a 10 minute easy walk from the center of town.

I am guessing maybe they just don’t have their schedule up because I get the same response when trying to book for August. I certainly did not book this far ahead when I was reserving for my trip.

@TexasTravelMom - Thanks for recommending Hotel Fortuna. Is that 10-minute "easy" walk all uphill?

I would probably book a half board option in the village of Siusi. The village's cable car to Alpe di Siusi will be operating then. It opened this year on May 18: https://www.seiseralm.it/en/info/getting-around/seiser-alm-aerial-cableway-summer.html. The mountain views in Siusi are much better than in Ortisei in my opinion.

Many of the smaller hotels will not have opened their reservations for next year yet. They are busy taking care of this summer’s guests. There is no need for you to book this early—-wait until September and look again.

From Siusi there is a cablecar up to Alpe di Siusii and that is beautiful (actually my favorite place in the Dolomites) but you will have to take a bus to get to Ortesei or other places.

Janet, I am not a hiker and not in great shape. It was a 5 minute uphill walk from the bus stop (St. Ulrich, Sarteur) Pulling luggage at the end of an 8 week trip, not so fun but very doable (and easy when leaving - lol). The 10 minute walk back from town had one uphill in the town area itself but otherwise the walk from the hotel to town (or back) was gentle. Message me if you want me to look up some specific locations to help with distances - I had trouble visualizing and feel like I got a bit lucky. The places right in town were either more expensive or booked.

As Lola said, I’m sure you’re not finding hotels in Ortisei only because it’s too soon for them to have posted their availability. By the fall you should be able to choose from many options, but you can try calling or emailing a couple of hotels now just to reassure yourself that this is the case. This year most of the main lifts out of Ortisei opened May 11. Especially without a car, I’d say Ortisei is the place you’d want to be in that it is big enough to have restaurants and shops open all year (even if not all of them), it has good transportation links to other towns and most importantly, there are lifts from the town to three different hiking areas including the Alpe di Siusi. On my first trip to the area, I stayed in Castelrotto from May 20. It was quiet at that time, but there were a few restaurants open. However bus service to the Seiser Alm lift at Campatsch was very limited- a car was needed. We got a daily update from our hotel on which trails and Huts were operating, and had enough good options to keep us busy, although we did encounter patches of snow and mud. On a subsequent trip we stayed in Ortisei in late August. While not as “quaint” as Castelrotto, it offered a lot more to do and, as I said above, much better access to the mountains. One thing to check is whether your chosen hotel offers an access pass to the pool complex (I think most do). A dip in one of the pools and/or a sauna was very welcome after a day on the trails. A local transportation pass is also included- we ended one of our hikes in Santa Cristina and hopped on the bus back to Ortisei. So again, my advice is to wait until the fall to book, and base yourself in Ortisei.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will continue to research. Although a lot of hotels are closed in May I have now found another 2 in Ortisei that will be open and have messaged them and received replies. Although I have an apartment in Santa Cristina I think I will look to change to Ortisei to a hotel if I can. It's probably an easier base with no car. I plan to use the bus service to access open lifts, other small towns etc. I have been doing a lot of reading about walking trails to try to pick what is suitable for a solo walker. I am hoping the trails are well sign posted! I will look at bus timetables closer to the time and in the meantime look to change accommodation and keep looking at the different trails at the top of the lifts that will likely be open while I am there. I found the website for lifts and checked when they opened this year as a guide before booking my dates.

Hotel Fortuna seems to be closed in May. Anyway thanks again for responses and I am feeling more confident that all will work out well hopefully. Thanks