My husband and I, fit 67 and 71 year old, are leaving Venice to travel up to the Dolomites. Looking forward to actually seeing them in real life. Keen to do say 2 half day easy to mid level walks and anything else around there, so any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm guessing there are some tours around the area too. Any suggestions on those too please.
Best place to stay whether is a mid range hotel or Airbnb. Unsure whether to stay Bolzano or Osteni. We are from New Zealand so still deciding whether to hire a car from Venice or bus.
Also is it best to train from Bolzano to Vienna to finish our trip.
Thanks so much.
Posted by
Washington, DC USA
698 posts
I highly recommend the book Walks in Italy's Val Gardena by Laurel Barton and her husband. Laurel is a frequent contributor to this forum. The book focuses on easy hikes and includes information on the various lifts, local buses etc. If you search this forum for "Dolomites" you will find many responses to questions similar to yours. Advantages of staying in Ortisei rather than Bolzano are that in Ortisei you can walk to several lifts, hotels provide a free bus pass for local transport and often provide trekking poles if you don't bring your own. Bolzano is an hour away.
Posted by
532 posts
Looking forward to actually seeing them in real life.
To see the Dolomites go to Ortisei.
Brad
Posted by
CA, USA
1380 posts
As your trip gets closer look up the activities offered including guided hikes on the https://www.valgardena-active.com/en website. We did several from Ortisei last year and they are free if your Dolomite hotel is a Val Gardena partner which most are. They have hikes that start from other places as well.
As for getting there from Venice and then on to Vienna, look into taking trains to at least understand an alternative to driving. We took the train from Salzburg to Bolzano and it was easy.
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2492 posts
I’ll just point out that some of the mountain lifts may not be running that early in June. However, from Ortisei there are enough options that you should have no trouble filling your days. I also highly recommend the walking book mentioned above.
Posted by
Minneapolis
1352 posts
Good advice above. One more vote for train from Venice to Bolzano, then easy bus to Ortisei, stay there. Hiking paths could be great, or could still be some snow / mud up high. When done in Dolomites, bus back to Bolzano and train to Vienna. Have a great trip!
Posted by
west Chester, PA
384 posts
Hello
The area around Ortesi is incredible, we are 70 and stayed there 3 years ago. The hotel was Garner Walter if I remember correctly bit is up the hill from the town, but there is a bus and you can always uber from bus station ( do this with luggage definitely). The hotel has balconies and their breakfast that are amazing ( the beds and linens were pretty fabulous too) and you are able to go so many different places from Ortesi. And they were reasonably priced. The egg funicular is adjacent to the hotel that brings you to the Alpe di Suisi. We bought a book from Lauren or Laurel Burton on Amazon. about hiking in the area. It can be overwhelming but you can just go on a funicular and walk also but realize that early in the season (we went the same time) not all the funiculars are open. You should still have a fabulous time. In castlerotto, there is a medieval horse event in early June that we stumbled upon, it was great.