Easiest way to the Val Gardena

We drove to the beautiful Val Gardena along the western side of Lake Garda, staying there in Salò overnight. We were coming from the Piemonte and had flown into Nice. After staying in the Dolomites, we drove down the eastern side of Lake Garda staying overnight in Malcesine, and drove on the Bologna, our next destination. The trip ended with a week on Tuscany.
In the Val Gardena we stayed in Ortisei at the wonderful Hotel Grones.

Thank you Suki. Yes, I'm thinking it might be easier to end our trip in the Dolomites rather than start it there. My only problem is I don't know yet what the other half of the vacation will be. We want it to be seaside/beach - french riviera, italian riviera or puglia all sound great. I know a lot of people combine Croatia with northern italy.......so many options!

Hi,

We have flown r/t NJ to Munich a number of times for our Dolomite trips. Easy and very scenic. Car rental in Germany is much cheaper than in Italy. We have always picked the car up at the airport. Very simple to get out and on the road.

FYI: we rent through www.gemut.com (Andy Bestor).

https://gemut.com/latest-travel-news/what-you-should-know-about-renting-a-car-in-europe.html

Most or all car rental co. won't allow a "high end" Benz's, BMW's and the like to be driven into Italy from Germany. We've never had this problem as we rent a compact car.

paul

I agree with Paul, easy drive from Munich down to Val Gardena, scenic with decent roads, easy transition from Germany to Austria to Italy. I too have rented from Gemut and found them very professional and their website was great for me on my first trip to Europe. Give it a look. www.gemut.com. It is about the same travel time from Munich to Val Gardena as it is from Val Gardena to Venice, it would make sense to get a look at Austria and Bavaria since you have been to Venice. A word of caution, if you choose the Munich route be positive on the gas pumps when you buy gas in Austria, Italy, and Germany. The pump colors can be confusing and it is not difficult to pump diesel fuel into your regular gas engine car, pay close attention as you change countries.

The closer Italian airport would be Verona, still a couple hours driving to Ortisei.
Bolzano has an airport, but at present it has no commercial services. Innsbruck would be even closer but services are somewhat limited.

What about arriving Venice them immediately taking the train to Bolzano. Spend the nite here, then pick up your rental in Bolzano and drive to Ortisei, 40 minutes. .

Then, if you decide on Puglia, fly from VCE to Bari. The train is 8 1/2 hours, drive is almost 8. A little over 2 hrs. flying. Rent another car for this area.

You don’t specify your home airport on the west coast.
But from here in San Francisco the fastest way would be Lufthansa from SFO to Munich.
From Munich you could drive the 3.5 hours to Ortisei. However if you prefer to land in Italy you could stilll take Lufthansa (operated by Air Dolomiti, part of Lufthansa) from Munich to Verona. The drive from Verona is shorter (2 hours).

Depending on where you’ll be spending time before heading to Val Gardena, you could drive from Verona through Bolzano to Ortisei in about 2 hours. I love to drive mountain roads and last September drove the Grande Strada di Dolomiti (the Great Dolomites Road) from Padova to Cortina to Bolzano. It was an all day affair but the scenery was unbelievable. If you are averse to driving hilly, twisty roads, don’t do it.

Gerri beat me to it again. Take the train to Bolzano upon arriving in Venice. If you will arrive late, then stay one night in Bolzano and rent your car the next day. Best to rent the car in Italy if that is where you will drop it off. Dropping off in another country = $$$.

In late August last year, I flew into Verona on a connection through Frankfurt, picked up a car at the Verona airport, and drove directly to Ortisei. The drive was straightforward and beautiful, and took a little under 2.5 hours. I returned the car at the Verona rail station, and later headed by train to Trieste for a few nights, then by bus to Rovinj, where I rented another car for my travels around Istria and ultimately to Zagreb. All the connections worked out very smoothly, and I didn’t have to deal with cross-border rentals.

Aha! I didn't even think about taking the train from Venice to Bolzano, thank you!
I'm still searching for cheaper flights to Munich or Verona from sfo/oak because we've never been and the drive sounds enjoyable. Maybe the prices will drop....Thank you so much!
As for the beach part- we may end up back on the Amalfi Coast- why mess with perfection :) Although I'm easily side tracked by those Creek Islands.....