Dolomites with kids ?

I don't remember the timing for your trip, but I imagine it's in the summer. If so, I recommend staying up in the mountains in a place like Ortisei rather than down in the valley (Trento and Bolzano). The valley can be very hot in the summer, and it's not so easy to find budget-level accommodations that are air conditioned. Normally, staying up at altitude means air conditioning is not needed.

A day-trip to Bolzano is definitely worthwhile. It has a very pretty historic district and several museums, the most important for tourists probably being the one housing the Iceman.

There are lots of easy walks up in the Dolomites.

"We are from Montreal and there is no mountain here."

Hey! We do have Mount Royal, which is not exactly majestic but is always referred to as "the mountain". We used to toboggan and ski there once upon a time. And then there are the Laurentian Mountains not many miles north of the city, chock a block with ski hills, and winter and summer resorts. Not the Dolomites to be sure, but mountais nevertheless.

Are you not interested in Scotland and England anymore? Or Scandinavia and Iceland? Or Southern France? You received a lot of good advice for those countries.

You will see much more if you rent a car, especially when traveling in most mountainous regions. The roads are of course crooked when you get up there, but the paving is good and you shouldn't have any problems navigating.

Hi to all and thanks for those answer !
1) we will do some research about being more uphill than downhill ...how many nights should we allows % is 3or 4 enough for the region ?
2) Yead we have small moutains (more hills thn mountains in fact !) , and we do like to some skying in the Laurentides, but not the size of the ones we can find in Europe.
3) yes I have receive good ideas for other trip plan but...England would be too expensive and the same goes for Scandinavia.. travelling is expensive but we think we can get more bang for the buck in Croatia and Slovenia (a bit less in norther Italy). Southern France is not completly out of the mix.....

Norma, I laughed thinking the same thing. A small mountain right in the city and more within an hour's drive north & south.
Ortesei has 2 cable cars for easy access to mountains & hiking.

And of course, there are the Rockies in Alberta about a 4 hour flight away.

If your kids enjoy the outdoors ; then yes. In Montreal you are surrounded by less populated natural areas so should have a good idea about that.
I remember walking each morning I stayed in Montreal up Mont Royal for sunrise, was a nice short hike. Do the kids like doing that? If they do then you are good and can use that walk as a practice before your trip to get used to walking uphill.
If they prefer to be in the city and not that walk, then maybe not.
Age of the children is also a consideration.

Many love the Dolomites because you can go on walks/short hikes with huge reward for minimal effort.
Sure there are long hikes and plenty of via ferrata (sp?) for the serious types but also lifts to make an otherwise hard to reach place very easy and trails to walk around from the top of the lifts.

If you like mountain scenery you will love it, would give it 4 nights.
I would rent a car and NOT stay in one of the cities on the outskirts of the Dolomites stay in one of the towns directly in the mountains.
Ortisei is one I recommend, but there are others.

I’m with acraven on using Ortisei as your base for the Dolomites area. I was there in late August for four nights, and it offers lots of opportunities for both hiking and day tripping, although a car would be needed to get the most out of your day trips. A day in Bolzano would be a must. Note that there is another town nearby with a very similar name to Ortisei- look for Ortisei/Sankt Ulrich, or Urtijëi. There’s lifts from the town into the mountains in three different directions, on either side of the valley, with trails for all tastes. There are the two cable cars mentioned by Marika, but if you’re not really into lots of hiking, I’d recommend taking the Rasciesa funicular. It offers a fairly easy, flat hike along a ridge with some spectacular views of the valleys. The town also has a great community pool complex which would keep the kids (and parents) entertained for hours. There’s about eight different pools, indoors and out. Many hotels include free passes to the complex, so ask when booking. Another thing you might want to consider is flying into Verona, rather than Venice. The routing from Trudeau airport is the same for both- generally through either Frankfurt or Munich- but the drive to Ortisei is shorter from Verona. If you planned on spending the first few days of your trip in Venice, it makes sense to land there, but Verona also makes a nice first stop for visiting the northern part of Italy.

I'd also check flights into Milan.