Going from Varenna to Castelrotto

These locations aren't very conveniently connected by bus or train unfortunately. If you have the option to rent a car, you could drive from Varenna to Bolzano. Once in Bolzano there are Busses that run up to the scenic areas (not tour buses, just regular ones). The buses run every few hours but you may find them inconveniently scheduled for such a short amount of time. Keep in mind you'll really only have two half days (subtracting your driving/relocating time).

Edit: It is worth noting that the drive is 3.50 to 4 hours. So in my opinion not really worth it for so little time spent in that area.

There’s no problem getting from Bolzano to Castelrotto, your problem is the time to get to Bolzano from Varenna

There’s a bus every 30 minutes from Bolzano to Castelrotto, the trip takes 50 minutes and is worth every euro. When exiting the station from the main entrance, turn right and walk about 100-150 metres past the taxis and passenger pick up area till you get to a bus stop and buy your tickets from the driver. Coming back the bus drops you at the pedestrian crossing that takes you to the station entrance.

Bus timetables, go to this site http://www.sii.bz.it/en/siipdfOldtimetables scroll down to route 170 Ortisei – Castelrotto – Bolzano.

On our last trip we travelled Varenna > Castelrotto > Venice.

Varenna to Castelrotto –

Regional train depart Varenna 07:37 to Milano Centrale arrives 08:38

Fast train depart Milano Centrale 09:05 to Verona Porta Nuova arrives 10:27

Fast train depart Verona Porta Nuova 11:02 to Bolzano/Bozen arrives 12:31

Bus depart Bolzano/Bozen 13:12 to Castelrotto arrives 13:58

Drop your bags at the hotel and start walking around town. You may have time to get the Marinzenlift (chair lift) to just above town, have a drink at the outside bar then either walk back to town or catch the lift back

Next day catch the local bus Route 171 to Siusi/Seis, don’t get off at the main bus station in town stay on until the cable car stop Seiser Alm Bahn and then get the cable car to Compatsch, you are now on the Alpe di Siusi, from here you can catch other cable cars/ chair lifts to walks all over this area. There are plenty of maps available in Castelrotto to help plan your day up here.

It’s well worth the effort.

Next day Castelrotto to Venice –

Bus departs Castelrotto 07:28to Bolzano/Bozen arrives 08:18

Regional train departs Bolzano/Bozen 08:31 to Verona Porta Nuova arrives 10:14

Fast train departs Verona Porta Nuova 10:29 to Venice arrives 11:40

As stated previously, once in Bolzano, the Dolomites are within an hour bus ride. You say "2 days". Is that 2 nights? If so, I'd go for it. I would highly recommend staying in the Val Gardena. The Mont Seuc/Seiser Alm cable car from Ortisei takes you up to the Alpe Di Siusi/Seiser Alm and is open until mid October. Many lifts close mid to late September.

www.val-gardena.com

www.seiseralm-seilbahn.com

Paul

The Ice Man museum is open 10:00-6:00 (closed Mondays), so leave your bags at the bus station and try to visit that on your travel day in or out of the region, rather than disrupting your high mountain day.

Take the train to Bolzano and rent a car there ( you may have to go to the airport to pick it up). Drive up to Val Gardena (much better than Castelrotto which is not actually in the mountains). Spend two nights there and then drive to Venice and return the car there---there should be no drop fee. You will save the cost of train tickets from Bolzano to Venice.

pat,

Unfortunately, given the distance on that route it's going to take about six hours to get from Varenna to Castelrotto, regardless of which method you use. That would work if you could allot three days in Castelrotto, as that would provide time for a travel day. With only two nights, when you arrive in Castelrotto in the late afternoon, you'll only have time for a walkabout and dinner and then one day of hiking, and that's it.

Where are you going after Castelrotto?

We had planned on going to Venice from there. I was thinking if we had a car we could do it faster as we wouldn't be waiting for trains everywhere.
I am so appreciating all the advice. I don't want to give up this part of the trip but don't want to run ourselves into the ground either.

Hi again,

Yes, a car would come in very handy, especially for the trip from Bolzano into the Dolomites and then on to Venice. From Bolzano to Val Gardena or Castelrotto, it's about a 40 minute drive.

Paul