Dolomites, Venice & Florence in Dec. / Jan.

The Dolomites villages are all basically ski resorts, and hotels will be pricy over the Christmas and New Years’ holidays. And some will have minimum stay requirements of 3 to 7 nights.

For example, Hotel Seelaus on Alpe di Siusi ( which is or at least was Rick’s recommended hotel) has a one-week minimum stay around that time, costing €3200 for a double room. Nearby Hotel Rosa may offer shorter stays, but the price goes from €180 per person per day (with half board) to €295 pp/pd starting December 24.

Maybe hotels in the villages, such as Ortesei, are less.

Are you planning to ski, or mainly sightsee?

Thank you for the information. We are only sightseeing. Would it be more reasonable to visit the town of Tourin in lieu of the dolomites since its a busy ski season and we’re not planning on skiing.

We have approximately 10 days for travel.

How many nights will you be in Italy? If the '10 days' includes your travel to/from, trying to hit 3 places may not be ideal.

With 4 adults and either 10 or 11 nights, I would only consider 2 towns or cities. You really have to count all the time it takes to move from one place to another, waiting for taxi, trains, bus, etc and checking in and out, etc.

Decide between the four of you what you want to see and where you can fly in and out of.

Florence is magnificent and a great place to hope on a train to Pisa, Luca, Cortona, etc or even a bus to Siena. There is a remarkable American cemetery close to Florence (think Arlington in a Tuscan Valley). But you could stay (we have) in Florence for 10 days and not get bored with the fabulous museums, shops and eateries.
Venice is also beautiful and you could stay there for several days with museum, boat rides to the smaller islands, etc or visit Padua, Vicenza or even Milan via train. We have only stayed one night in Venice although we have been there several times. My husband and i get extremely motion sick and even watching the boats in the canals has made him ill.
We just came home from the magnificent Dolomites (we stayed in Ortisei) and that alone is worth 10 days, but if you don’t ski, don’t go until summer.

Thank you for the reply featuring cost of hotels and minimum stay in the Dolomites - forewarned. I visited one year just two nights in Bolzano to take in the Christmas market. One of my wishes is to visit Innichen/San Candido's Christmas market - see the skyline webcams to view the town. The market stays open past Christmas day itself. I have no useful logistics to share, but this is still on my list.

I have no info to share re Florence at this time of year, although I can imagine wild boar stews on menus.

My focus is typically on the corridor of Venice/Verona through northern Italy, Bolzano, for instance, or Tyrol, Innsbruck, and up to Munich. Easy peasy on the train. Each of these offers opportunities to visit the surrounding areas, not just urban centers. I could entertain myself for 10 days doing this (again).