Packages/Excursions for 1-3 days in the Dolomites with light hiking?

Would think Belluno would be easy to get too. Lovely town in an impressive setting
Theres a good trail on via Alta 1 above a steep river valley towards "the bishops finger". If you are brave theres also some via ferrata up the face

Trying to find a trip that I read about many years ago where you could hike in the Dolomites but the trail was skinny so you wore a harness and attached and unattached yourself as you moved forward to a metal cable affixed to the mountain. Not looking for a strenuous rock face climbing experience but not afraid of heights or worried about the length of the hike etc. Does anyone know what I am talking about and can someone point me in the correct direction ? Maybe the term via ferrata is applicable and maybe not...

I'm not sure whether this helps at all, but it is very easy to take the train to Bolzano (probably more convenient) or Bressanone, then a bus up one of the valleys, and (if you want to go higher) finally a cable car, etc. There are many, many trails in the Dolomites, some suitable for casual family strolls and some (I'm sure) quite technical. I know folks have referred to refuges, too, should you want to overnight along a trail rather than just taking day hikes. I think all of this would be easy to do via public transportation. I don't see any need to take a tour.

As of 2015 the tourist offices had a very handy booklet containing all the transportation schedules for their area--trains, buses and mountain lifts. It was very easy to figure out connections.

There are lodgings in many of the mountain villages, Ortisei being one of the most developed though I think the RS tours often go to Castelrotto. You can easily find something on a site like booking.com, or Google if you're looking for hostels.

Should your scheduling be such that you decide to spend a night down in one of the valley cities (Bolzano, Bressanone, etc.), be aware that they are not at altitude and can be very hot in the summertime. If you hit a hot spell, it will be unpleasant if you have a non-air-conditioned room.

The Iceman is housed in a museum in Bolzano. Both Bolzano and Bressanone have very attractive historic districts. Bolzano is a much larger city.

If you want light hiking, I can't recommend the Alpe di Siusi too highly. You can take the train up to Bozen/Bolzano. From there, you'll find buses that will take you up to the cabinovia up to Compatsch.

Thank you for all the tips.
I should explain....When I say light hiking, I still want to hike 'up', just not more than around a 1500 ft gain in elevation, and don't want to pull myself up along steel cable the whole way either.

Curious why you don't recommend Alp di siusi?

Thank you!!

I think Kristin is recommending Alpe de Siusi. It is beautiful.

Alpe Di Suisi is a plateau up in the mountains.
You take a lift up (cable car) to reach it and it offers fantastic views and miles of trails which you can walk on relatively flat ground so all of the beauty of hiking surrounded by peaks and wild flowers without the danger or extreme effort.
Alpe Di Suisi is also called Seiser Alm and even Mont Seuc depending on the language since that region speaks 3 languages, Italian, German and Ladin.

You could do it without a tour and without a rental car but only in the summer months.
A day trip wouldn't be possible, you would have to spend at least an overnight, figure you will be out hiking for most of the day and need time to get there and back.
But there should be ways to take public transit from Venice to a town like Ortisei which has a lift up to the Alpe Di Suisi.
It probably involves a couple of train changes and then a bus so a rented car would be better but it will be possible.
Other towns in the area other than Ortisei also have lifts up to the Alpe Di Suisi (Castelrotto, St. Christina I believe both do as well but I have only stayed in Ortisei)
Ortisei has many nice hotels.
I see Kristin has advised you could train to Bolzano stay there and take a bus to the top of Compatch which is Alpe Di Suisi as well, the only part reachable by car so that is probably your easiest option but would not give you the same nice small town feel that Ortisei would.
You could then take public transit from Ortisei to your next destination without going back to Venice which will not be along the way. Verona is a nice stop afterward and likely along the way to wherever you were planning.

Thanks everyone... things are starting to take form...

I think the plan is looking like at least a 3 day stay in the alps area, 3 days Florence, 3 days Rome.
Trying to pick places I can get fairly straight forward transport to so I don't have to drive and can just enjoy being a passenger.
Looking like I should be able to fly into someplace near the alps (?venice) and take a train to alps area, train to Florence, train to Rome and fly home Rome. Thinking last half of September.
Where in the Alpe di Siusi to stay?
Any input on the general trip outline always appreciated.

There are a few resort type hotels up on the Alpe Di Suisi but for most would recommend staying in a town below it by lift like Ortisei as mentioned previously
Very pretty town with things to do, shopping and plenty of hotels
Hotel Genziana is one I can highly recommend

You are covering a vast amount of area traveling from the Austrian border area to Rome will be much time lost on trains

If mid-late Sept public transit bus schedule in the Dolomites could be limited; that is late in the season and you may be more likely to see snow than flowers

If starting with Western Dolomites ; Innsbruck Austria or even Munich, Germany may be better airports to start from

I suspect that train service to Bolzano (from which you'd bus into the mountains) from Milan won't take much more time than from Venice (check TrenItalia for Milano Centrale and Venezia S. Lucia), and you may find fares into Milan to be lower; it varies by origin, but Milan nearly always shows up cheaper for me.

Last Sept we visited the Dolomites and stayed in Ortisei. It is a beautiful little town offering lots of dining options but the nicest thing about it is it has 3 lifts going up to 3 different parts of the Dolomites including the Alpi di Siusi and Seceda. The walks we took were not difficult- definitelt not via ferrata but were breathtaking. If you get a map of the area you can plan out walks according to your level of comfort. We had a car but never used it after arriving in Ortisei as our hotel gave us cards for free bus transport.