Bus or car Ortisei

If you want to sleep in, hike with the masses, and be on a time table, public transportation is fine.

If you want to have trails all to yourself, hike more interesting trails, and hike early or late, a car is needed and for me the best way to do the Dolomites. Ortisei then no longer becomes necessary.

This will be a full day train trip -Zermatt to Zurich (3.5 hours) to Innsbruck (4 hours) to Bolzano (2 hours). OR, Zermatt to Milan (4 hours) to Verona to Bolzano (3.5 hours) . Great scenery though. Check out SBB.ch for routing, timing, costs.

Plus one hour on the bus from Bolzano to Ortisei. The bus station is 50 yards north of the station.

https://www.suedtirol.info/en/en

I suggest you start at the official website. It has all sorts of local transit details.

It’s up to you. There is no town in Italy that is not served by public transportation, however infrequent it might be. I’ve only traveled by car the few times I’ve visited the area over my lifetime but I know that the Val Gardena has good and pretty efficient bus service (and Ortisei is the hub) but obviously a car offers more flexibility and freedom, as you are not constrained by bus schedules or the specific routes where buses go.

If you decide to rent a car, the rental car locations closest to Ortisei are in Bolzano. If you are coming from Innsbruck, you can also pick up the car there, however be aware that if you pick up a rental car in one country and return it in another, the one way drop off fees are outrageous and run into the hundreds of €uro.

We have been going to Ortisei since 2012 (almost every year) and have never rented a car. So many hikes begin in Ortisei that your car will just sit. The buses are quite good and you get a free pass to use them during your stay. When we want to take the bus to a farther point like Passo Sella, we catch the first of the day and don’t have a problem.

Tourist cars can be problematic on the narrow roads especially vying with buses over the passes. Parking is not plentiful (or non-existent) at some trailheads.

Thanks for all the replies. We are thinking of taking the Glacier Express to Chur and then getting a train to Innsbruck. Maybe spend the night and either taking the train or renting a car.. I know we will return it there, and can grab a train to Munich and fly out from the next day.. ..

I guess the benefit of having a car as mentioned is you could stay anywhere in the area, but using the bus system does look tempting.

Is mid-June too early? I know every year is different .....

A car however has the disadvantage that you need to return to where you parked it after your hike. That also limits somewhat your hikes as they have to be circular, or out-and-back. I prefer to hike in one direction. Usually I will look at schedules and if one end has a better PT service then the other I will hike to the place with the better services. Or take a bus or train out, and hike back home.

Good point. Time to do a little more research. RS book comes today.

RS book will be useless for Dolomites. https://www.moonhoneytravel.com/europe/italy/dolomites/ gives you the most comprehensive info.

Mid-June should work. One year, the Seceda lift didn't open until June 15. Another year, it was May 31.