Dolomites

I am most familiar with the Val Gardenia and the little town of Ortisei there. Also the Alpe di Siusi, which is the high meadow above the VG.

April/early May is early for summer activities and (probably) late for skiing. It's still pretty, but it depends on what you want to do when there. The lifts that allow you to access the higher elevations will not be open. The little towns still function, but will not be lively. That can be good and bad.

What do you want to do there? The "sites" are Mother Nature provided with cute little villages. Most are not accessible by train, but we go by combination train/bus at least annually. Driving will probably require snow tires/chains due to the passes.

Hi Christine,

Late April should be ok. We did a visit in late April back in 2005. As mentioned, the cable cars will not be running, it will be quiet, but the scenery is always magnificent. At this time of year I'd go with a rental car, as driving the passes is one of the best ways to get up close to the peaks. In a relatively small area by the Val Gardena you'll find the Gardena, Sella, Pordoi and Campolongo Passes. We didn't have, or need, snow tires or chains. We had temps in the 50+ degree area.

Paul

I am going to answer this question in conjunction with your other one, where you said you were looking for nice villages or towns to see before meeting your RS My Way tour in Venice.

You said there that you have not booked your flight yet, so I suggest you compare prices for flying into Milan and into Venice---generally Milan can save you quite a bit.

From either place you can rent a car to tour the area and then turn it in at Piazzale Roma in Venice.

I was going to suggest that late April might be too early for the Dolomites, but I see Paul says it will be OK, somI defer to his opinion. I know he has been to the Dolomites several times and his advice is trustworthy.

Other nice places you could include in a 6-day drive, whether a loop from Venice or a linear path from Milan, would be Lago di Garda ( Sirmione and Malcescine in particular), Trento ( wine country), and the hill town of Asolo.

Thanks Lola, although I'm no expert and we certainly don't live there. Our experiences during stays in early to late October and one in late April are that snow wasn't something we thought about. We did see snow along the passes, the Juafenpass comes to mind, but never had the temps to actually have snow during our stays. The Gardena, Sella and Pordoi passes have a cafe/restaurant/rest stop at the "top" to park, walk among the peaks on paths and get a coffee, pastry, etc. The Giau and Falzarego passes are also nearby.

Paul

Hiking and skiing are a focus for many people who travel to the Dolomites. If you are not hikers and skiers then having a car is probably a good idea so you can tour around. But I would encourage you to leave the car and spend time on the trails. Lovely.

Bolzano is a great town with two museums that are worthwhile: Utzi the Iceman and the Rheinhold Messner Mountain Museum.
Great biking around Bolzano on bike trails.

Bolzano is nice but it's quite a way out of the mountains. Stay in the Val Gardena and you will be in the middle of the most beautiful area of the Dolomites. I highly recommend renting a car to save time and to see as much as you can. Trains don't run up into the mountains and you would have to rely on public buses for your transportation. We have traveled in the area via both ways. You can get around on buses but it will take a lot of your time due to somewhat limited schedules, especially if you're going on the weekend. With a car you can go where you want, when you want. Driving there is really fun if you like to drive fun, mountainous roads that are in excellent condition! The views are magnificent! Hopefully you'll have good weather...April can be a bit dicey!

The Dolomites are gorgeous. You won't be disappointed! I highly recommend driving as long as you are a confident driver in mountain situations. My family has vacationed in the Smokey Mountains in North Carolina for years so we were ok with it.

We managed our trip this way:

Flew into Milan (cheapest entry point we could find!) rested 1 night and then took the train to Verona. Rented a car at the airport in Verona and drove to Castelrotto. You could take the train to Bolzano and drive from there, however they are closed on Sundays which prevented us from doing so.

We were very happy with Rick's recommendation to stay in Castelrotto. Beautiful little town with wonderful people and atmosphere. It is about a 30minutes to 1 or 2hr drive though to get into the "heart" of the dolomites and its attractions (If I could pick a central point in the Dolomites it would be Cortina d'Ampezzo and the road on either side with some of the higher mountain passes.)

Nevertheless, there are several castles near Castelrotto to explore and we enjoyed the drive to/from Castelrotto each day, and the good value it offered (it is much less expensive than Ortesi/Val Gardenia for example and to us it felt less touristy).

At the end of our time in the mountains, we dropped off our car in Bolzano and took the train to Venice.

We stayed in the Dolomites for four nights in late September in S. Cristina - right in Val Gardena and between Ortisei and Selva. We stayed at Garni Ariston for 34 Euros per person per night - April will be higher, 47 - 52 Euros per their website (www.garniariston.com). The innkeeper, Raffaella was fantastic - she was born in Val Gardena, helpful, engaging, personable, funny - just great! Check their reviews on TripAdvisor. She also is a member of Val Gardena Active (google it) which provides free bus tickets and activities.

We had a car but the local bus between the three towns was easy. We drove some of the passes and I wouldn't recommend a bus for that trip. The car allowed us to stop where we wanted and not just where the bus stopped along with hordes of others.