We will be staying in Bolzano for 2 nights in early September with 1 full day to sightsee. We will not have a vehicle and will be relying on public transportation. We enjoy moderate hiking (no major exposed ledges), mountain scenery and the outdoors. Appreciate any suggestions you may have regarding the area, specific hikes and transportation tips. Many thanks.
Posted by
125 posts
Hi Kevin,
We stayed in Bolzano with the RS Alpine My Way tour in 2024 and had 1 full day to visit the Dolomites. There is a public trans bus in Bolzano that will take you to the main lift station. The ride is about 40 minutes. The hotels will probably offer a transportation pass making the ride free or very low cost. Our time in '24 was extremely overcast and we didn't see 1 mountain whilst in the meadows of the Alpe di Suisi. However, it was still wonderful! I posted in the forums about our experience:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/alps-my-way
Enjoy!
~Mitzi
Posted by
Southern California
538 posts
We stayed near the central piazza in Bolzano this June with our RS My Way Alpine tour. It was within reasonable walking distance of both the main bus station where you catch the bus to the Seiser Alm cable car up to Compatsch, and the Ritter Seilbahn cable car up to Oberbozen. The transport pass provided by the hotel covered the bus and the Ritter Seilbahn cable car. The Seiser Alm cable car was not covered, nor the mountain lifts, though you can hike in the Alpe di Siusi without using the lifts. I would advise looking at a map of the area and choosing a hike that includes a mountain “hut” where you can have a snack or lunch. We recreated a hike we took with another RS tour years earlier and all of it was easily walkable—no ledges or steep inclines/declines. Depending on where you hike you might need a local bus to get back to Compatsch. Tickets for that bus are cash only. There was a ticket machine at the bus stop we used.
We arrived in Bolzano early enough the first day to have time to take the cable car up to Oberbozen. It was nice to get out of the heat of Bolzano and we enjoyed a snack and drink before heading back down to Bolzano for dinner. There’s also a train up there that will take you higher into the mountains but we didn’t really have time to do that without feeling rushed. Enjoy your stay.