Planning Summer ‘26 Trip to the Dolomites: Can we loop in Bavaria/Innsbruck?

You shouldn’t have any problems crossing borders in Europe. It is similar to going from state to state in the U.S. I highly recommend Ortisei as your base in the Dolomites. It has beautiful views, many excellent restaurants and hotels.Innsbruck is mostly a transportation hub and I wouldn’t stay there.

Easy to do with two weeks because your total drive time for your base cities will be less than eight hours. Better yet, you plan to pick up your rental car in Germany and return it in Germany. That means you won’t be subject to a one-way car rental dropoff charge which can amount to hundreds of euros.
There’s no problem driving into Italy from Germany and then returning to Germany— it’s all within the E.U.
The drive from Innsbruck to Kastelruth/Ortisei through the Brenner Pass will be spectacular.
www.AutoEurope.com may have cars to pick up in Fussen and dropoff in Munich through the large rental agencies.

I’m going to the Dolomites in two months!
Cheers!

Hi Brian,
We just got back from doing the RS My Way Alps tour. We visited many of the places that you are planning on going.
Have you considered visiting Salzburg from Munich? It’s an easy train ride from Munich. There is lots to see in Salzburg and it’s a great base for doing a day trip to Hallstatt.
We spent a couple of hours in Innsbruck after leaving Salzburg on the way to the Dolomites. The Dolomites were spectacular! We stayed in Kastelruth which is a darling village and so convenient for hiking. The Dolomites were the highlight for me of The Alps tour!
After the Dolomites, we went to Fussen. We used public transportation to visit the places/castles that we wanted to see in the area.

Last year we started in Munich, went to Salzburg, and then on to Dolomites. We found it easy to do by train, I'm not sure a car would add much to your trip after Fussen since there is extensive bus service in the Dolomites that most hotels give a card to use for free.

Although the RS book recommends Kastelruth and his tours stay there, it has no lifts directly in town. I asked about where to stay before my trip and most people recommended Ortisei which has two lifts and a funicular right in town. We stayed there and thought it was the right choice. You might want to use the search bar at the top to look up these two towns and see previous discussions.

Thank you all! Much appreciate your timely feedback. Good to know there’s no issues with crossing borders with rental car. Also it helpful to know that train could be viable option to get from point to point. If we don’t need a car-I’d be fine with that:) Also, I’ll make sure to spend time searching Kastelruth and Ortesei as options for a home base. Both areas sound amazing! Thanks everyone. Enjoy the 4th and safe travels on your next adventure!

I did roughly the same trip a few years ago. A car would almost be a handicap on this trip (it was for me) as trains are affordable and you can sit back and enjoy the scenery instead of having to watch the road. And the scenery is stunning. If you do rent, the advice on pick ups nd drop off in Munich is spot on.

I enjoy Fussen - been there twice. As everyone says, Neuschwanstein is overrated but I enjoyed Hohenschwangau.

Innsbruck is good for a few hours, but I would recommend going to Bolzano instead. Just as nice with a quaint old town center but a better jumping off spot to the Dolomites. Busses from Bolzano to Ortisei should be about one hour.

Stay in Ortisei and use the lifts for the best hiking options. As mentioned, there is excellent bus service in the area. We did not use our car once in five days.

I agree that Salzburg might be a nice stop as well. I loved that city and would even consider it a better stop than Fussen.

On our last trip through Germany to Dolomites (agree about Ortisei vs Kastellruth) I was able to arrange a few hours between trains at Innsbruck. Wouldn't bother, seemed to me very similar to other largish European cities. Ricks walking tour does a good job routing you and providing background as usual. I just wasnt that impressed. This was fall maybe winter is better. And we came close to spending that time in the train station since hardly any of the many storage lockers I had made sure were provided were working. Finally found one. So I'd also go with Bolzano. Go see Otzi good museum. Luggage storage is pricey but over the counter with a person.

Hope you had a great 4th! We almost always fly in and out of Munich to explore South Tyrol and the Dolomites. We rent a car at the airport and either drive straight to the region or spend a night around Munich. It is a very easy drive; however, I would try to avoid it on Fridays or Saturdays if possible as there can be a lot of people from Germany heading to the region for the weekend. Be sure to purchase a toll sticker, either online or at a gas station, once you enter Austria: https://www.austria.info/en-us/planning/toll-vignette-and-go-box/.

A couple of other bases to consider near Kastelruth are Seis and Völs am Schlern. If you want stay somewhere a bit more secluded and authentic, consider La Val in Alta Badia. https://throneandvine.com/la-val-alta-badia/. It's a great base if you are planning to visit both the eastern and western Dolomites.

Thank you for the suggestions everyone. We are certainly weighing car option now-pluses and minuses for sure. We rented a car last summer in Ireland and while it was useful-I find rail transportation more relaxing:). Yet, it may just hing on where we want to go and if train/bus service makes more sense. Also, I appreciate hearing about other locations to stay in the DOlomites. We’ve been looking at Ortisei and Kastelruth area and finding there’s very few options for next August unless paying near $1,000/night for vrbo/airbnb is just the norm for the area.

We’ve been looking at Ortisei and Kastelruth area and finding there’s very few options for next August

I think you're looking too early, that's more than a year out. In Sept or Oct try looking again. We used the websites https://www.valgardena-active.com/en/summer and https://www.val-gardena.com/en/ to book about 4-5 months before our trip

BTW Val Gardena Active leads hikes and other activities that are free if your hotel is a member. You can see what they're doing this summer at https://www.valgardena-active.com/en/summer

Bolzano will be hellishly hot in August. I was just there (mid June) and, though "normal" highs then were 82, actual highs were 90-95 for the week.

High summer temps are really common down at/near sea level in that valley (through which the train line runs). I like lovely Bolzano, but for a multiple-night stay intended for exploring mountainous areas, it's safer, weather-wise, to stay at altitude. At the very least, you need to be sure accommodations in Bolzano, Bressanone, etc., are air conditioned; many perfectly decent places down in that valley are not.

Ortisei is quite a bit higher than Kastelruth, but I don't know whether the variance is enough to make an appreciable difference in temperature.

For accommodations you might also look at Selva di Val Gardena and Santa Cristina Gherdeina. They are about 3 and 6 miles from Ortisei with bus connections to Ortisei.
In looking at August 2026 availability in Selva, I see quite a few properties for $250-$300 per night on www.Booking.com. Same for Santa Cristina Gherdeina.

Greatly appreciate everyone’s ideas. That’s what I love about this forum! So I realize August may not be ideal time to travel to the area due to the warm weather and the crowds, but my wife is a special education teacher and we travel in the summer months since it’s nearly impossible for her to take extended time off during the school year.

John-you’re probably right that perhaps I’m looking too early for accommodations next August-timeframe. Great tip about Val Gardena hikes. I’ll look at the link you attached for insights!

Janet and acraven-great point you both make about the warm summer temps. Will probably first search for AC-offered accommodations and go from there.

Another Steve-Thanks so much for the car rental tips and roads to take/avoid. Also, I never would have thought about looking into insurance/permission to go to Austria/Italy.

Kenko-I haven’t been using Booking.com so will take a peek. Appreciate the input into additional areas to consider as a home base along with insight on bus service in the area.