Lake Orta to Ortisei (Dolomites)

Last year we took the Village Italy tour and visited Ortisei before the tour so we've been in both those places although not in your order. Towards the end of the tour your guide will arrange transportation out, grouping people into taxis to the airport or train station. We were going to Rome via train and to make it easy we told the guide either was fine. We ended up splitting a taxi with other people to the airport, taking the shuttle train to the Milan train station, then onto Rome. But you can tell the guide you want the train station if you prefer. Then take the train to Bolzano and you can either use the extensive public bus network to get to Ortisei (which we did) or you can rent a car. The buses were fine, generally one per hour up from Bolzano. Most hotels will give you a pass good on buses in the region so after buying the 1st ticket in Bolzano you're set. You can certainly get to Ortisei in one day although it will probably take 6+ hours.

Be sure to check the lift schedules before you commit to the trip. In October the summer season is ending and winter hasn't started so lifts shut down. Hopefully later than your trip, but check. You don't want to end up in Ortisei with no way up into the mountains.

Hi John,
Thank you for your response and suggesting to check on lifts. I just did, and the major ones will run until Oct. 12 (fewish!). I have found that rental car agencies are not open on Sundays in Bolzano, so we'll take the bus into Ortisei as you suggested. I did rent us a car to pick up in Ortisei on Monday, primarily so we can go to some of the mountain lakes. Did you find it easy to use the bus system even to the lakes? Where did you stay in the Dolomites?

We didn't visit any lakes, we stayed in Ortisei and did hikes up in the mountains as well as going down one day to visit Bolzano and see Ötzi in his museum. The tourist bureau in the region runs guided hikes that are free if your hotel is a member of Val Gardena Active and many appear to be members. We did two of them and liked being with someone who knew where they were! You can find the hikes and other activities on the calendar at https://www.val-gardena.com/en/events-calendar/

Some hotels have half pension which means dinner is included. Ours didn't but if I was visiting again I'd probably pick one that does. There wasn't that big a choice of restaurants in Ortisei so I suspect a sizeable part of the lodging either includes dinners or are rooms with kitchens. If you do end up using the bus there is a südtirolmobil app you can put on your phone that will figure out which bus(es) to take.

Lastly be prepared for virtually any weather. A storm had come thru the day before we arrived last Sept so the trails had snow/ice for 2 days until it melted. But on one of the guided hikes they told us that a week earlier it had been in the 80's and people were hiking in shorts.