Dolomites & Lake Garda: where and when to rent car?

I'll start... How long is the trip and how many days in Dolomites? If 3-4 days in Dolomites, easy public transit (train to Bolzano, easy bus to Ortesei, free bus to nearby towns), then when done train to Garda area. If spending 5-7 days in Dolomites, and really want to case the area, would be nice to have a car. Have a great trip!

This is a good basic website to use to start investigating the Dolomites.
https://www.suedtirol.info/en/en/

We have both driven in the Dolomites and taken the buses. We got the car in Verona (after attending an opera in the Coliseum) and returned it there, which worked out well for that itinerary.

Lake Garda can be reached both by train from Verona Puerto Nuova and by local bus from downtown. We did it before mobil apps but I am sure it is much easier now that they seem common.

https://www.gardaitaly.com

Cars give you individualized transport, but someone is always driving not enjoying the views. Your hotel in the Dolomites will give you a regional bus pass (Mobicard) for your stay so you can go up one lift, hike, and go down another one and catch a bus home. This can be more flexible than using a car in many areas, although you can drive, park, hike and take a bus back to the car too.

Also Mobilcard: (from their website)

"The Mobilcard offers unlimited use of all public transport throughout South Tyrol on one, three or seven consecutive days. You can download the südtirolmobil app to check connections and stops.

The Mobilcard is available at südtirolmobil points of sale, in tourism offices and in some guest facilities. But you can also have it digital if you download the südtirolmobil app.

There is a 50% discount on all tickets for children and young people aged 6 to 14. Children under 6 travel free of charge on public transport in South Tyrol."

Bolzano in the western Dolomites can be reached easily from Verona by rail (take a bus or cab to the Maestre Station) , and Cortina d' Ampezzo can be reached from Venice using the Cortina Express bus service (2 hours, leaves from the parking lot across from the main terminal).

You'll have a great trip however you go.

hey hey uncpauper
who are "we" and any kids/children & ages, when in summer & how many days, where are you flying from? (USA/Canada)
as you know summer is high high season with it being busy/crowded and HOT in places you are going.
couple things to be aware, not trying to preach to the choir. if you plan to drive, you will need an IDP )(aaa.com/IDP), mandatory in italy. read rules, laws, signage, ZTL zones and no nos
no need rental in venice, dolomites depending where you are going and lake garda yes. always look at your arrival & departure times,
hotel check-ins 3-4pm and check-outs 10-11am. unless approval from hotel early check-in okay, rent room night before and inform them. if early arrival and no early check-in, what to do with luggage (hotel may hold or look at baggage storage for a cost in locker.
flying out of venice can be a real PITA since many flights leave 6am with finding transportation to airport that early, been there done that. paid for private water taxi $$$.
rent car after your time in venice, drive to dolomites (TBD) down to lake garda where? look at cost/fee to pick up one place and return another place. can you do multi-city flight not two one ways (USA/Canada - venice - milan - USA/Canada), return car lake garda, take train to MXP or return car to MXP?
lots of things to think about, book airfare and hotels early with so many people traveling nowdays, don't wait till last minute with prices going up and supply/demand. have fun enjoy
aloha

Thank you all for the thoughts so far! Did not intend for my post to be so lacking in details, we just don’t have them yet :) I’m trying to wrap my head around logistics of getting to and from the regions, as that will inform where we decide to go and stay.

We’re a family of 4 with kids 16 and 12, so married to the school calendar. We’d travel late August, and I know it will be hot, but we live in NJ and that’s no picnic in the summer either lately ;)

We think we’ll have 11 nights to work with, so the likely outline is:
-2-3 nights in Venice at either the beginning or the end
-3 nights Dolomites, likely around Ortisei or Castelrotto
-4-5 nights Lake Garda, likely the southern end around Pescheria; possibly at a Eurocamp-style place
-*If needed, possible night in Milan

*Originally, I thought we’d fly into Milan, spend a night and head up to Dolomites from there. Then end with 2-3 nights in Venice and fly out from there. However, at the moment flights into and out of Venice are looking better.

So if that is the case, I don’t know if we’d a) land in Venice and make our way straight to Dolomites, still ending with time in Venice after Garda or b) start our stay in Venice, then double back at the end for a night before flying out.
Scenario A really only works with public transport, as we’ll be in no shape to rent a car after flying overnight. But Scenario B feels inefficient.

OR, perhaps a third option is to spend the first night in Verona, and rent a car from there the next morning. That may only leave us with 2 nights in Venice in the end though.

Long rambling thoughts here- you can see why I didn’t add them to my original post!! But I welcome any and all feedback!!

After visiting Venice, rent your car at Piazzale Roma in Venice, then return it at the airport if you plan to stay at the airport the night before your flight.

If you go to the Dolomites upon landing, then rent at the airport and return at Piazzale Roma before visiting Venice.

The first option would be more preferable to me for two reasons:
1 The option of driving upon landing while jet lagged is not the best idea. And getting used to the time zone in Venice is perfect since you don’t risk being run over by cars while distracted and tired. At most you might fall in a canal, which will have the benefit of fully waking you up.
2. Flying out of Venice often requires getting up very early, and sleeping near the airport the night before a flight makes it easier.

Hello - we are finishing a trip to Dolomites and Slovenia right now. We flew in/out of Venice and rented a car there. We wanted the flexibility of a car and needed it to get to Slovenia.

A few thoughts:
- we got the AAA international drivers permit (IDP), but rental car company had no interest in it. Still glad we got it just in case.
- If you only want to go to Val Gardena in the Dolomites, you could get there from Venice on public transport (as mentioned above) and get around Val Gardena with public transport, no problem.
- Val Gardena includes the towns of Ortisei, San Cristina, and Selva. I would definitely stay there over Castelrotto. It’s closer to the mtns you want to see.
- I don’t know about public transport to Garda, but probably a train is available from Bolzano.
- The main reason I could think to have a car in the Dolomites is if you want to go to other areas such as Cortina, but then you’d have to cut out the Lake Garda part of your trip. So the decision would be whether to 1) see more of the Dolomites (Val Gardena and Cortina) and skip Garda or 2) to get a taste of the Dolomites just in Val Gardena along with the Lake Garda experience. This gives you more variety in Italy, but less time in the Dolomites. I love the mtns so for me the time in the Dolomites was a priority.
- Without going to Cortina, you can get by without a car in ValGardena. Your hotel will likely give you a free bus pass for the Val Gardena towns. It is super easy to use the bus system between the three towns.
- In Val Gardena, Ortesei is larger and more touristy in a lovely green valley with less views of the mtns. Selva at the far end of the valley gets closer to the more rugged mtns. We stayed at Hotel Grones in Ortesei and loved it. I can highly recommend it along with the half board. The food is fantastic.

- There are many lifts/gondolas out of Val Gardena leading to fabulous hikes. You can check out Earth Trekkers for some ideas. I also recommend the hike at the top of the Resciesa funicular.
- I would try to lump your time in Venice to either the beginning or the end. It doesn’t seem like a good use of time to split it up. You shouldn’t need a rental car there.

I hope this is helpful at least for the Dolomites part of your trip.

If you want Venice-Dolomites-Garda-Venice I would book the Cortina Express Bus from Marco Polo Airport direct to Covina on arrival (it goes from the terminal Parking lot and leave the travel to them) and then stay in Cortina for 1-2 nights. There are 4 gondolas from the town of Cortina up into the mountains for local trips. Then a local bus to Val Gardena is easy enough using the Mobilapp. Have your stay in Val Gardena and then bus down to Bolzano (I hour) and catch the train south to Verona where you can catch a train or bus to Lake Garda. Return to Venice via Verona by train and have your stay in Venice when you are awake enough to appreciate it. I would get an airport adjacent hotel for the night before departure, just like I do everywhere else just before departure.

In reference to the last comment by Kathryn, I would like to make sure you understand that an International Driving Permit, although rarely requested by the rental car agency, is still a law requirement in Italy (and Slovenia as well).

If you get pulled over by Police/Carabinieri you will be asked to produce your home driver's license AND the International Driving Permit. Failure to have one carries a fine of €408 as per art. 135 of the Italian Motor Vehicle code.

Note that the Italian police (Polizia di Stato, Carabinieri, or Local police) can and does pull over motorists all the time for random checks of your person and your car record against a national database called CED-Interforze. They don't need a pretext to pull over motorists on the road, like it is required in the US per the US Supreme Court Decision "Whren vs. United States". They stop motorists even if they have not committed any traffic violation. They just waive their red disk and you must pull over

Also, if you are citizen of an Extra-European country (like the US) you will also be asked to produce your passport, along with DL and IDP, and they will check your Schengen entry data on the same database. I drive in Italy every year and somehow I get pulled over almost every year at least once (no fines received since it's just a random check of my background). My wife, who does not look Italian (although she is also Italian), also was asked to produce papers during these random checks, although she was just a passenger and not the driver. Therefore make sure that both driver and passengers have documents to show. Being stopped on the road in Italy for routine checks, is a very common occurrence.

My wife and I did a trip that was Milan/ Lake Como/Verona/Dolomites/Venice

We did most of it by train, but rented for the Dolomites part. The car let us get to some lifts and walks that we would not have done otherwise. In our case we rented and returned in Verona.

I will say, that for us, driving on some of the local roads was a two person effort.

Enjoy your trip

Thank you all for this incredible advice. So much to think about, and I appreciate all of the perspectives.

I think Roberto da Firenze’s Option 1 could make a lot of sense for us. As a general rule, I prefer to stay in the city we’re flying out of so as not to double back and waste time. But in this situation, to avoid driving on jet lag, it may make the most sense. The kids are very excited for Venice as well so it might be nice to hop right into it. We’ll just have to find a meaningful way to spend that final day before staying at the airport.

In that case, we’d be looking at:
3 nights Venice
3 nights Dolomites
4 nights Lake Garda
1 night Venice Airport

Does this feel like a reasonable amount of time in each? The Garda portion will definitely be a split of sightseeing and also watersports/theme parks for the kids.

Looks good.

Assuming you stay on the north side of the lake (Malcesine, Limone, Riva, etc.), which in my opinion is nicer with the majestic mountains around, you are looking at almost 3 hours to get back to Venice airport. So on the last day, you can take your time, have a nice lunch in the lake after checking out, then after you return to the hotel to pick up your luggage you drive to Venice (leave luggage at the hotel desk, don’t leave it in the trunk while you have lunch and hang out). By the time you are at the airport you can check in, relax and maybe have dinner nearby (or at the hotel).

Thank you! I think we’re more likely to stay near Peschiera or Lazise- more to appease the kids in that area, and we’ll have just been in the mountains. Riva looks gorgeous though!

I am still going to keep an eye out for return flights from Milan. At least then we’re spending our last night in a new place.