Dolomites: lodging west vs East (Val Gardena vs Cortina D’Ampezzo)

4 nights is basically only 3 full days. Changing hotels just to move an hour or so away is a waste of time. Changing hotels entails time consuming activities (check in, unpack, repack, check out, check in again, unpack), I would choose one location only, and given the fact you plan to go to Innsbruck eventually the Val Gardena is probably more convenient. You can take a day trip to Cortina from there. It’s only 1.5 hours drive.

Coming from Varenna you might even want to take the Stelvio pass through Merano or the Tonale Pass through Cles, if you would like some extra scenic driving (check road conditions depending on when you go).

Via Michelin suggests going from Varenna to Innsbruck via St. Moritz and it would take about 4 1/2 hours, so you are taking a circuitous route for fun. If you want to go farther east, and go up the west side of the Dolomites via the Brenner Pass highway you would go via Trento and Bolzano. It depends what you want to do on your trip (Sightseeing, hiking, etc.) but Cortina is very much out of the way but beautiful. Val Gardena is about an hour east of Bolzano and is a fine jumping off point for further touring going east (across the Grodner Joch Pass to Corvara/Badia and then across the Pass Falzarego to Cortina). I would pick one stop (probably the most central place Corvara/Badia) and tour from there. From there head north to Bruneck and back to the Brenner Highway. If you want to sightsee note that there are lots of gondolas that are open through the summer so that one can get up to various mountain sights easily. Great hiking too. If you want to head all the way east to Cortina the roads are very good and you would then just head north towards Bruneck and back to the Brenner Pass highway. Check out Suedtirol.info for local information.