My wife and I are planning a trip for early November and are considering flying into Milan. We would spend 2 nights in Milan (we have ben there twice) and then go to Bolzano for 3 nights. Would we be best served renting a car for this portion of the trip of can you easily get around the Bolzano area by bus? Are 3 nights a good number for Dolomites (we don't really hike but love to take pictures) From Bolzano, we plan to take the bus or train to Garmisch-Partenkirken and pick up a rental car to tour the Bavarian alps.
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The whole of South Tirol has an excellent public transport system and given that the city centre was never designed for volumes of traffic a car would be a hindrance. It's easy to get from Milan by train but for most of most days you have to change at Verona (before you start getting ideas, that was the most underwhelming place I ever visited!). Probably not fitting your plans, but on most days there is a direct morning train at around 07:00 (from Porta Garibaldi and Lambrate stations) and on business day evenings there is one at about 17:00 from Centrale station.
If you stay in proper tourist accomodation in Bolzano you get a Guest Pass which then gives you unlimited travel on the regional trains, regional and city buses and some cable cars (if they are still running in November, the Ritten from near Bolzano station is a good one and the connecting tram on the plateau is also included) https://www.suedtirol.info/en/en/information/suedtirol-guest-pass
Some bus routes run primarily for tourists will have finished by November but any that connect residents to Bolzano will have a service.
Three nights will give you two full days and possibly the previous afternoon, you could fill at least a week even with November schedules.
Onwards to Garmisch by train is easy - and the Guest Pass covers your departure journey on a regional train as far as the border at Brenner. There you get a local train down to Innsbruck, and from there you have direct trains to Garmisch about evey 2 hours