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Venice to Dolomites in May

Our Rick Steves Venice, Florence, Rome tour begins in Venice in the afternoon of May 18 and we will be flying into Venice, arriving in the morning of May 15. So we will have several days – two full days and two partial days -- before the tour, and we hope to rent a car and drive to the Dolomites. We are hoping to see as much as possible of the Dolomites before we have to meet up with our tour. We need any help you could provide, lodging and itinerary-wise.
We are not sure what would make the most sense as a base town or if we should change hotels a couple times.
We also aren’t sure if we can do all that we want in the time that we have. Any thoughts/suggestions/alternatives would be greatly appreciated.
Here is our rough list of Want-To-Sees/Dos:
Seceda (not sure how best to get atop the mountain given cable cars are not running then. Is the Funicular Resciesa a good option?)
Alpe di Sius
Lago di Braies
Tre Cime di Lavaredo

Posted by
26840 posts

It's really not a good idea to take an overnight (possibly sleepless) flight to Venice, pick up a car and set out on a drive to the Dolomites. Use ViaMichelin.com to estimate your driving time, understanding that it doesn't include stopping, getting lost, traffic delays, looking for parking, or walking from your parking place to what you want to see. I think you'll find that it will take more than three hours to drive to any of the places you've mentioned. It's not safe to do that on the day you fly in.

What you could do is take the train to a place like Bolzano (beautiful valley city housing the Iceman) and rent a car there the next morning. You may be zombified that entire day, anyway (I am). Just try to stay out in the sun, walking around, so your body adjusts to Italian time.

I can't tell you anything about when the mountain lifts open, but there's bus service from Bolzano going to places like Ortisei (and beyond).

Posted by
839 posts

No car is needed.

https://www.suedtirol.info/en

You can catch a bus to Cortina d'Ampezzo in the eastern Dolomites from the parking lot in front of the Marco Polo Airport terminal. Check ATVO and Cortina Express.

https://www.atvo.it/index.php?lingua=en#
https://www.cortinaexpress.it/en/

18 Euro per person and about half a dozen buses a day. It takes 2 hours to get there.

To get to the western Dolomites (Bolzano, Castelrotto, Alpe di Siusi you take the bus to Venice Mestre station and the train to Verona to Bolzano. The bus from Bolzano to Castelrotto takes about an hour. The bus station is 100 meters north of the train station (about 8 euros i believe). Access to the gondola to the Alpe di Siuis will be by local bus from Castelrotto.

Say Hi to Otzi the 5,000 year old Ice man at the Archeological Museum in Bolzano!

Posted by
11247 posts

NickB, good advice on bus transport but the cabinovia to the Alpe di Siusi is not open until May 21. There will be a bus to the AdS, which runs when the gondola is down seasonally.

Posted by
839 posts

Local transport links from the South Tirol website discusses the way to get around by bus too.

https://www.sii.bz.it/en

It says it takes about 20 minutes from Castelrotto to Compatsch, which on the AdS, by bus.