Please sign in to post.

Northern Italy / Dolomites

Posted by on

Hi travel friends

I have read lots of books and reviewed maps. and I am at the point that I need your collective best experience to make my dream reality.

I want to plan an excellent 10 days largely to :
Selo and Sirmione around Lake Garda ,
the alpe de siusi area,
Merano area, and
The Ortisei area of the Dolomites

Last summer I spent 4 days in cortina d’ampezzo visiting and hiking in that area including Lago de Braies and the WW1 tunnels... I also spent 2 days in Milan and toured the Duomo and viewed “the last supper”.

I will be returning to italy summer 2026 . I would like more of an Alpine / Austrian Dolomite experience this coming summer in the Dolomites west of cortina. Please advise.

I will be landing in Milan July 12 and want to plan 10 days, ending up in Venice by July 22. My thought so far is:

-1 night in Milan and renting a car to drive largely North east to experience :

  • Selo and Sirmione around Lake Garda for 2 -3 nights (hopefully stopping in Bergamo along the way which seems to be a nice city) -the alpe de siusi area for 1-2 nights meadow strolling -Merano area for 2 nights staying at a nice spa and doing moderate day hiking -The Ortisei area of the Dolomites for 2-3 nights hiking day hikes based on Gillian price’s book “ day walks in the dolomites “

Please advise:
do i have the correct # of nights in each area?

Are some areas close enough that i can visit from a central locale or 2 rather than 3?

Exactly which moderate hikes, drives, gondola or chair lift rides shall I do in each location?

Shall i drive some of the 4 hour picturesque “Abbreviated Dolomite Loop drive” which Rick describes or will I see enough Dolomite drives in my other travels?

Are there some specific experiences you recommend?

Should i spend time in Bolzano ?

What 5 star hotels do you recommend?

I generally see places quickly & don’t need to languish in a town a long time to get a feel for it.

Thank you

Js

Posted by
29934 posts

The Alpe di Siusi and Ortisei areas can be combined. They are close enough to Bolzano to allow a day trip down to that city by bus or lift + bus.

Bolzano is a beautiful city with an excellent archaeological museum. The Otzi-the-Iceman exhibit is outstanding. However, Bolzano is not at altitude and is quite likely to be miserably hot in the summer. Since you want to do some hiking, you'll do better to stay up in the mountains for most of your time in the area.

I can't help with 5-star hotels, travel by car or hiking. You can find some lodging suggestions in Ortisei, especially, via the Search function here. There won't be many 5-star hotels, I don't think, so you might want to take a look at booking.com as well. You'll probably save money by booking directly with the hotels, but the reviews on booking.com are very helpful. You can't leave a review there unless you've stayed at the hotel.

Posted by
86 posts

Dreaming over maps is my favourite winter passtime! You've picked some wonderful destinations.

As others have said, it's easy to visit the Alpe di Siusi from Ortisei. A cable car in the centre of town takes you right up to the plateau. Four nights in Ortisei would give you good flexibility to experience the excellent local hikes (Seceda is stunning and also accessible via cable car from town). I stayed at the Hotel Grones (recommended by many others on this forum) and it was excellent with particularly helpful staff and owners. I was there in late September during a three-month-long trip to Europe and was shipping home summer clothing and they not only offered me a box but also provided the paper and twine to package it all up!

Around Merano, I spent a week in Schenna in 2022 and am trying to plan a return visit for 2026. While Merano is in the base of the valley (giving it such a lovely warm climate), Schenna is a 10 minute bus ride out of town but gives you a spectacular view with the slight elevation gain. If you want to walk to Merano, it's a gentle hour or less. I was there without a car so used buses to get to various trails. There are gentle trails (waalweg) along irrigation channels (https://www.merano-suedtirol.it/en/merano/active-relaxing/walking-hiking/waalweg-trails.html) and every level of trail up at Merano 2000 (https://www.meran2000.com/en/summer/hiking/), but really your hiking options are endless in that area. I stayed at the Hotel Tyrol, which has a spectacular heated outdoor swimming pool plus saunas, whirlpool, and outdoor Kneipp path, really excellent food, and comfortable rooms (though only one English-speaking staff member when I visited so it's nice to have some German).

Posted by
108 posts

LAKE GARDA

What are all your experienced opinions about Lake Garda in July ?

2 vs 3 days? I experience places quickly . Is there enough to do as a single there for 3 days in July?

Salo vs Sirmione as base?

What activities do you recommend there?

I was thinking of driving up the western coast one day. Or would the traffic be prohibitive then ?

I could visit my base town and ferry to visit another town one day
Perhaps visiting a hot spring in sirmione another one of the days

What more interesting vistas could i see there?

I was leaning towards Salo.

What hotels do you recommend there?

Thanks all

Js

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.