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What to do/see during the drive from Venice to Dolomites (Castelrotto)

Posted by (California) on

We will be driving from Venice to Castelrotto during the last week of May this year. We will be in a rental car and would like to stop along the way to check out some sites. We don't need to be in Castelrotto by any particular time, but before sundown would be nice. We are staying three nights in Castelrotto.

We are thinking about stopping in Verona versus driving through the Dolomites and hopefully catching parts of the Great Dolomite road.

I love driving mountain roads so the second options sounds better to me. Avoiding city car parks is also a plus. But with a three nights stay in Castelrotto maybe we should do a day trip to Verona and then drive the Dolomites one of the following days?

From Castelrotto we will be headed to Lake Como.

Thanks for all the advice.

Posted by
20023 posts

Ok, here is my route. Drive north to Cortina d'Ampezzo, then over the Passo Falzarego. Top of the pass, check the cable car and decypher the sign about the Battaglia de Galleria, WW I front line. Continue on to San Cassiano and Corvara. Then its up over the Passo Gardena and down to Selva. Continue on down to Ortisei and ride up the lift to Alpe de Siusi. After that, hang a left for the road to Castelrotto.
To Lake Como, take the Autostrada to Bolzano, then on to Rt 42 west over Passo Tonale and then left on Rt 38 to the north end of Lake Como.
Don't know if that is the Great Dolomite Road, but it is a pretty awesome drive.

Posted by
500 posts

Verona is somewhat distant for a day trip from Castelrotto; visiting a large city like Verona during the drive takes too much time. The drive between Verona and Bolzano is along the narrow Adige valley, with never ending vines and orchards, I find it a bit boring to drive so that it seems to me to be longer than it actually is.

My personal strategy when driving this route is timing it to have lunch at the De Tarczal winery near Rovereto. The lunch will probably be one of the better and the cheaper you will have in Italy. You can buy a bottle of their Marzemino red wine (named to be excellent in Mozart's Don Giovanni) that will enlighten the rest of your trip.

You could consider such a stop also on the way back to Lake Como. There are several possible routes from Venice through Dolomites but do not underestimate distances as driving is slow in the area and out of motorways you can hardly drive much faster than 60 km/h on average.

Doing the four passes circuit (Sella-Pordoi-Campolongo-Gardena) is very much possible in a day from Castelrotto.

Posted by
167 posts

I have an interest in this thread because I will be in Verona and will be taking day trips from there ,no car, only use trains, bus.
Roverto was not on my list until I saw this. Anything else in Roverto of interest?
Also looking at Mezzlombardo, further up the train line towards Bolzano. Mezzlombardo could potentially be a longish day trip from Verona.

Posted by
4 posts

Sam, can the first portion of your trip be accomplished in a single day? It seems like from Venice to Castelrotto through the Dolomites is at least a 6 hour drive.

Posted by
20023 posts

Yes, Viamichelin say 5 hours 10 minutes. Add at least 4 hours for side trips and breaks.

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