(1) We are planning to be spend four days in the Dolomites in mid-April 2026. We will have a car. However, after reading Rick's Italy guide and other sources as well, it seems that many hotels, lifts and some trails will not be open at this time. Can someone provide me w/advice as to whether (a) the weather will still be questionable, i.e.snow (b) whether it is worth going at this time of year. We are not huge hikers, but wanted to take advantage of the easier trails.
(2) From the Dolomites we are planning to travel to Nice, France. We do not want to drive, so flying or taking a train seem to be the alternatives. Can you recommend how best to accomplish this? We know Bolzano has an airport and have tried to check flights from there, but Venice seems a better location to fly from. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Posted by
Green Bay
22546 posts
Venice has nonstops on Mondays and Fridays on Easyjet if that works for your schedule.
Posted by
canada
43 posts
HI Mbird!
I did this exact trip in April. We spent 10 days in Cortina, then drove to Venice for an overnight stay. I originally had a ticket on Easyjet direct to Nice and then they cancelled the flight on me. So I ended up flying Venice-Zurich-Nice on Swiss Airlines. That meant leaving Venice around 1030 am and arriving Nice just before 2pm. That worked pretty well. The train would have been 9+ hours.
I can't speak to the weather in the Dolomites beyond what we experienced from April 10-20. A couple of ski hills around Cortina marked their final day of skiing while we were there. Snow had melted everywhere except the highest elevations. We went up one lift to the Masi wine bar. That lift stopped running people down the hill by 5pm. A couple of other lifts were working. There was still snow/ice on the trail around Lake Misurina, so we couldn't walk around that without spikes...which we (stupidly) left home. So I'm actually not sure how much hiking you would find. It likely depends on the elevation and how much snow there is next winter. The roads were entirely clear of snow during our visit. We did have several days of rain. Our trip revolved around the World Junior Curling Championships, so hiking/skiing were not priorities for us.
Cheers!
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Thank you so much for the fast response! Our plan now is to spend April 21-April 24 in the Dolomites, driving on April 25 (Saturday) to Venice Airport and catching a flight to Nice-which as of now is on SwissAir, through Zurich-sounds like the one you took.
Our plans for the Dolomites as very preliminary. We were was hoping to "hike" the Seiser Alm meadow and do not have precise plans for anything else. So, my further questions are: Did you do this? Do you think at this elevation most of the snow will be gone? Did you have problems finding chair lifts that were operating? Where did you stay? If you have any other helpful/advice information, it would be greatly appreciated. I will be checking on various chairlifts before we leave-as advised in Steve's Guidebook.
Posted by
Wengen
3351 posts
Where are you picking up your car?
You could drop the car off in Milano, and take an IC to Ventimiglia, followed by a short local train to Nice.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
We were planning to pick up and drop the car off at the Venice Airport. Since this is not set in stone, we can reexamine driving to Milan.
Posted by
canada
43 posts
@mbird1225, I envy you this trip. Such an amazing part of the world!
We stayed at the Passo tre Croci hotel, which is part of the B&B Hotel chain. Loved it. We searched for months and they consistently had the best prices. Clean rooms, amazing views and one of the best breakfasts we've ever had. It's 10km or so outside Cortina, which is 10km of driving straight up the switchbacks into the pass. Gorgeous, if a little off-putting at night when it was foggy.
There were several hotels in open in Cortina proper.
The drive down from Cortina to Venice Airport to return our car took about two hours, so you'd want an early start to catch that 1030 flight. Not a difficult drive. It just not fast until you're out of the mountains.
The weather for us was consistent with what we had read in advance: a mix of brilliant blue skies and mild temperatures some days, followed by heavy rain other days. One night there was a lot of snow but it didn't last.
We did not go to the Selser Alm in April. Our only experience there was in July a few years back (glorious). My understanding is most of the lifts would be closed by late April, but that you can drive or take a bus up. https://www.seiseralm.it/en can give you more information. We stayed in Ortisei, which comes up on this forum frequently as a favorite base for touring the Dolomites. I don't think you could make it from there to Venice or Milan in time for a morning flight, however.
I would go back in a heartbeat.
Posted by
123 posts
I don’t know why you would choose a watered down Dolomites experience in April. A much better choice if you want a similar experience is the Picos in northern Spain during that time.
Posted by
Boston
1873 posts
We tried to hike in the low hills of the Dolomites in late May from Cortina one year and it sucked. Water flowing even in fields and mushy footing everywhere. Many, many businesses were closed and wouldn't open until early June. We were camping and we were one of just two couples in a huge campground. Don't go in April - make a special longer trip in September.