Dolomites

Haven’t been to either of these (yet), but Rick Steves’ Italy guidebook recommends Castelrotto (also known as Kastelruth) as his first choice, and Bolzano (a/k/a Bozeman) as a close second.

I recommend beautiful Ortisei. From it’s valley you can take a gondola up one mountain or a funicular up another, all from the town. Beautiful hiking in mountain meadows high above this lovely town. Stay at family owned Hotel Grones.

I second the recommendation of Ortisei as you are actually in the mountains and easy to get to the lifts that take you to beautiful scenery and hiking. Try to stay at least 3 nights to give yourselves two full days. What time of year are you traveling?

Bolzano/Bozen is a nice area.

There’s a direct train from Florence’s SMN station to Bolzano’s Sud–Fiera station that’ll take a total of 3h 15m. To continue on to Castelrotto you’ll need to take a bus. The name of the bus station in Bolzano is Bolzano-Via Bruno Buozzi and is just outside the train station door. The bus takes 45-minutes.

What time of year? Bolzano is down in the valley and can be very hot in the summer. Castelrotto is at 3438 feet. Ortisei is at just over 4000 feet.

Bolzano is a good-sized town--it's the transportation hub for the area--and has a very pretty historic center. It's the location of the very good museum housing the Iceman and has other traditional tourist attractions. Castelrotto and Ortisei are pretty villages and well-positioned for high-altitude walks (some of which are easy strolls). There's bus transportation between Bolzano and both Castelrotto and Ortisei. The latter are on two different bus routes.

We’ll be there late September

We stayed in Ortisei a few years ago and stayed at the hotel Grones. We did the half board and had great meals every evening. We did do a day trip down to Bolzano to see Otzi.

To those recommeding Ortesei, is this practical without a car? Once I arrive by train/bus, would I be able to easily access hiking trails?

We visit Ortisei every year and never have a car. Avoids hassles of ZTLs, parking, and traffic jams on the mountain roads.

Once you arrive, your lodging will give you a pass to use the valley bus system for the duration of your stay and includes return to Bolzano. There are also three major lifts right from the village to the higher elevations for hiking, views, and restaurants.

If you arrive in Bolzano by train, it is a 5 minute walk to the bus station. Take the bus #350 all the way to Ortisei. You can also change to a train for the short ride to Waidbruck and then change to the #350. You might explore the local bus company journey planner.

Planning to spend 4 nights in the Dolomites to cycle but also need to be mindful of my wife who doesn't ride.. Cortina d'Ampezzo seemed like the obvious choice to stay but after reading the comments I'm wondering if anyone has done both Cortina and Urtijëi/Kastelruth to compare?

Will your wife have a car at her disposal? If she isn't interested in doing a lot of hiking while you bike, 4 days could be a long time alone in a mountain village.

I've never been to Cortina, but it appears to be nearly 4 hours from Bolzano by bus; Bressanone/Brixen's about a half hour closer. Ortisei, by comparison, is just an hour from Bolzano, a city with a lovely historic district and some museums. Castelrotto's 43 minutes from Bolzano.

Once in Bolzano there are rail connections to other interesting places down in that valley, including Chiusa/Klausen and Bressanone/Brixen.

A car is nice to have if you want to drive some of the scenic mountain roads. The views are quite spectacular. We are glad we did that. We spent a night or two in Bolzano which is lovely and then moved on to Castelrotto. We hiked several days in the Alpe de Suisi. Absolutely beautiful.

Nilda- There is a free bus option if you stay at a hotel that is a member of the tourist association. https://www.valgardena.it/en/bus-schedule/. It does depend on what time of the year you are there in Ortesei. We had a car and also used the local bus service.