Bus from Bolzano to Ortisei - does it get crowded, standing room only?

You are boarding at the point of origin. Get there s bit early and you will be among the first to board and get seats.

If you have luggage that will need to be stored underneath the bus and if you are traveling with anyone, I would suggest that one of you grab seats while the other(s) deal with the luggage. I suggest this because when I traveled last October, while I and other passengers were fumbling with opening the luggage hull, the bus was quickly filling with daytrippers. This was more of an issue getting on in Ortisei than going there. I did get a seat both times but found it a little close for comfort even though I got there early.

Exactly what I'm worried about. Some people can get pushy and disrespectful, which adds a layer of stress I'd rather avoid. I'm mostly worried about the return from Ortisei to Bolzano. If the bus is too full in Ortisei, I don't want to miss my train in Bolzano going to Verona and then Milan.

You can always take a bus up valley to Selva and board there. Then when it gets to Ortiseii, you will be seated on board with your luggage stowed before the crowds.

I did not find other passengers pushy -- in fact they were helpful with the luggage hull. But I don't know if the bus allows people to stand if there aren't enough seats. However, there are options, so don't worry too much. I took regional trains from Bolzano to Verona and then to Padua, so I didn't need to reserve in advance. Even with a faster train from Verona to Milan, you could plan to change your ticket time at the last minute if needed on the Trenitalia app. Also, if you search this forum, information on a private driver or taxi from Ortisei to Bolzano has been provided a number of times.

We just took the train from Milan on Sunday. This time we bought tickets in advance and took the EC train from Milan to Verona. But when we lived in Italy, we always took the regional trains on this route, which do not have to be purchased in advance, and time wise the velocity regional trains only take an extra half hour from Verona to Milan. You can book the regional train in the app before you get on (validates automatically upon departure) or from a kiosk for paper tickets, which would need to be validated.

You could always take an earlier bus to play it safe, store luggage at train station, and explore Bolzano- visit Ortzy the iceman

Admittedly, it's a bit of a splurge compared with the bus, but on our first trip from Bolzano to Ortisei and return, we went with taxi-ivan.com - train station to lodging service.