Seeking advice on a centralized town for exploring the Dolomites

For towns with a train station: Bolzano, Trento, or Bressanone might fill the bill. More charming would be Merano. Further east, San Candido has a train station.

The little villages in the mountains (Val Gardena, Cortina) are only accessible by car or bus so I have omitted those but they have everything you need except the train station.

We are Home Exchange members, though with limited experience.

I tried a few individual towns we know in the Dolomites and came up with nothing. Then I put "Dolomites" in the search field, and "USA" in the field for where people want to exchange to. (Important as not everyone wants to come here). It produced lots of hits, most of them nowhere near the Dolomites ( like one in New Zealand). But there were some, of which I found this one in San Candido most interesting:

https://www.homeexchange.com/en/listing/570522

San Candido/Innichen is a village on the northern edge of the Dolomites, close to Austria. It is "in" the mountains, unlike the towns of Trento, Bolzano, etc. It has a train station. The line is a spur off the main North-south line from Innsbruck down into Italy. You change for the spur at Fortezza. We have ridden that train as far as Brixen, where we caught a bus into our goal, the upper Val Badia.

I think you might like San Candido (I know I would). You might also see if there is anything in Dobbiaco, on the same train line. A friend of mine leads ski trips to the Dolomites (Nordic), and uses Dobbiaco as the main base. Both villages will have shops, groceries, and restaurants.

Bus transport around the area is very good, but you might want a car for maximum flexibility. We did two week-long hiking trips there without a car, and then one with. For staying in a base area and hiking, you don't need a car. But to "explore" the area, you might want one, at least part of the time.

Thank you both for the replies ! Excellent information.

I really like the romantic town of Castelrotto, Kastelruth in German. There is a beautiful blend of cultures here which means a big variety is food choices! No train station but the bus from Bolzano is easy (and a fun trip up the mountains). Buses from Castelrotto, or cars, can get you to plenty of wonderful places to walk, shop, and just sit in awe of the scenery.

Bolzano has the train station so you can travel easily to Lake Garda, Merano, even Verona or Milan. Castelrotto is a wonderful place to stay for a few days to see the Dolomite area. It is less money and less crowded than Ortisei. Perhaps you split up the 3 weeks into 2 different places? You get free bus pass when you stay in Castelrotto so you can easily get around to Ortisei, Selva, and up to Seiser Alm for gorgeous hiking. You must go there! While small, Castelrotto has 3 grocery stores.