Dolomites: home base Santa Cristina or Kastelruth?

I do not recommend Kastelruh. Santa Cristina is a much better option for views and it is easy to catch a shuttle to go up and down Val Gardena from there. Ortisei snd Selva are also good options. Ortesei is larger than Cristina and Selva, so you would have more options for restaurants. I prefer Selva and Cristina.

Melanie,
this is so helpful! Thank you so much! Do you have any hotel recommendations in Santa Cristina or Selva?

https://www.moonhoneytravel.com is by far the best resource for travel to the Dolomites. They have everything you need and have more experience than anyone here does.

I'd go with Val Gardena ( Selva, St Christina, Ortisei) primarily because of the diversity of hiking opporunities. If that's not significant, you will find hiking from Castellroto, but otherwise I'd say the comparison would be with Ortisei. San Christina, Selva would be much more of a village experience although all Ortisei has to offer is quite close.

I asked on the forum a few years ago and the consensus was for Ortisei over Kastelruth. Curious about what we might be missing I took the bus to Kastelruth on the way back from a daytrip down to Bolzano and the town seemed to have far fewer shops and restaurants, mostly streets of lodging. In Ortisei three lifts are right there in town so it's easy to get out for the day, no bus ride needed. We got the unlimited lift ride pass so in the late afternoon we liked to take a different lift up and just have a glass of wine at the top and enjoy the view. Ortisei does have a few higher-end/expensive restaurants that might be what you have in mind.

This is great information John and Greg. Thanks for the website acechrist!
I have been thinking we would stay in Santa Cristina or Selva, especially after Melanie's post, but I do like the idea of being able to easily go up the lift after dinner on a summer night, so now I am reconsidering Ortisei. Do you have any specific hotel recommendations? I made another post about hotels in Santa Cristina in the hotel/accommodations sections. I appreciate people providing links to websites i wasn't aware that give area information including hotels in the region, but I am most interested in personal experiences at hotels.
Thank you!

We enjoyed our stay at Antares Hotel in Selva, but we probably wouldn’t have stayed there if we weren’t traveling with a child. We stayed only three nights in Selva and we wanted a triple room, so our choices were limited. Many hotels, especially smaller ones, want a minimum 5 night stay. I would use booking.com to find a hotel.

If you decide on Ortisei, I recommend Hotel Grones. We have stayed there twice and loved it. I also recommend getting half board which includes dinner because the food is excellent.

Please note St. Cristina and Selva have a couple of lifts each. They are smaller villages than Ortisei which you may consider an advantage or disadvantage. I have never stayed in either, but I would say St. Cristina looked more appealing to me. I have never been to Kastelruth.

I do like the idea of being able to easily go up the lift after dinner on a summer night,

In my recollection the lifts stopped running at 6pm or earlier. I think the lift schedules are available online if you want to double-check