How to Visit the Dolomites

The Dolomites

Several years ago I visited the Dolomites for the first time with my family, splitting our time between Val di Fassa and Val di Fiemme. I absolutely loved the trip, but I admit that I still didn’t have a good feel for the Dolomites overall. There are 12 major ski areas, 7 nature parks, and dozens of peaks and valleys. Planning a trip as a first-time visitor can be overwhelming. Visit Trentino helped organize our first trip – otherwise I would have had no idea where to start.

This year three friends and I wanted to visit the Dolomites, so I found myself starting from scratch. How do we get there? Do we need a car? Where should we base? What hikes should we do? This is how we organized an amazing four days. Hopefully it helps you plan your trip!

Where to Stay in the Dolomites

One thing that I did right on this trip is that I found Cyprianerhof Dolomit Resort, and I booked it because the setting looked amazing, it had good reviews, and it was family-run. I’m so glad I found it. If you search TripAdvisor for Dolomites hotels, well, good luck. It’s not as easy as most places in the world – you really need to know the different areas and towns and then search within them. And like I said, I still don’t have a good feel for all of the various areas, even as a travel writer. So dive in and research, or copy my homework and simply book Cyprianerhof.

How to get to Cyprianerhof

Once I chose Cyprianerhof, I had to figure out how to get there. Luckily it was fairly easy. I chose to fly into Venice, spend a few days there (since my friends had never been), and then take a train to Bolzano, the closest major train city to the hotel. We took a water taxi from our Venice hotel to the train station (highly recommended), got on the 10:48am train to Verona, and then connected to a Bolzano-bound train, getting in exactly three hours later at 1:48pm. I always book Italian trains directly at trenitalia.com, and then use the TrenItalia app to access the tickets. Otherwise you can simply pull up the PDF of the tickets from your email when the ticket checkers come around.

At the Bolzano train station I had pre-arranged for a rental car to be waiting for us. That seemed to be the only reasonable option, since otherwise there are no rental companies within easy walking distance. I booked through toRent Bolzano based on really good reviews online. It was seamless – they texted me in advance with the exact parking space in front of the train station, and a rep was waiting to give us the keys. We were at the hotel half an hour later. I should note that the car was expensive, €468 for four days. That included insurance and an early-morning drop off, but was still a lot more expensive than I’m used to paying for cars in Europe. So that’s the downside to arriving in Bolzano by train and renting a car.

Cyprianerhof Dolomit Resort

When we arrived at the hotel we learned that it’s a hiking hotel. During the summer and fall, they offer multiple daily hikes. Just sign up. When there’s snow, they switch to snowshoeing and winter hiking. Plus there’s a gondola right across the road that can take you up to Rosengarten for your own hiking, and to the Carezza Karersee ski area.

The hotel is all about getting out into nature during the day, and then relaxing and revitalizing at the saunas and pools in the afternoon, so you’re ready for the next day. The most popular booking option seems to be half-board, with breakfast and dinner at the hotel – which makes sense since there aren’t really other restaurants nearby. Dinners are five courses, but you can opt out of anything. The food was different every night, and consistently excellent. Service was outstanding. Most employees have been there for years if not decades.

There are rooms for one person up to five people. You can borrow backpacks, hiking equipment and mountain bikes for free. There’s a fee for e-bikes, and for ski rentals in the winter, but otherwise most of what you would want/need is included. I loved the saunas (go to at least one of the infusions!), pools and scenery. Plus waking up to cow bells just outside my room was magical! We stayed four nights, but wish we could have stayed at least a week. It’s that idyllic.

What We Did in the Dolomites

We didn’t know about Cyprianerhof’s hiking options before we arrived, and had already arranged for a guided Rosengarten hike our first day and a guided e-bike ride our second day, working with Our Whole Village, Claudia from the Dolomites and Eggental Tourism. Then our third day we took advantage of having a rental car and did the Latemar Labyrinth hike. Specifics on each:

The King Lauren Tour (Rosengarten/Catinaccio)

Isabel from Eggental Tourism and Claudia met us at our hotel and took us across the street to the Tires Gondola to start our King Lauren Tour day hike. Note: you can ride on top of the gondola, so do it! That 9:30am gondola then connected to two other gondolas and we found ourselves at the base of the Rosengarten massif before 10am. From there we hiked several kilometers to Paolina Hutte for lunch. The hike was easy – I think kids could handle it without complaint – and the views are stunning. From the restaurant we took the Paolina Chairlift down to Carezza Karersee, where we walked to Lake Carezza. We then hiked to the Tschein Chairlift, which took us back up the mountain, connecting to the Tires Gondola down to the hotel. Overall it was a perfect introduction to the Dolomites for my friends who hadn’t been before. It was great to have guides, but with the AllTrails app and the information on the Eggental website, we easily could have done it ourselves.

E-Bike Tour to the Stellar Observatory

Our second full day, we took the same Tires Gondola from our hotel to Frommer Alm and met up with Georg from Carezza Skiservice, who had e-bikes and helmets waiting for us. Once we learned how to operate our e-bikes, we started out for the Stellar Observatory – not because we were going to visit the observatory, but because it was a good turnaround spot with a restaurant. The ride overall would be considered easy-moderate if you’re an experienced mountain biker, but for us it was challenging. Of course that was our fault – every time Georg asked us if we wanted the easy path, or the more difficult path with better views, we went with the views. We left Frommer Alm at 9:30am, reached the observatory around 12:15pm, had lunch, and then were back at Frommer Alm by 3:30pm, including taking the Carezza Gondola up to Frommer Alm with our bikes at the end. Some of the ride was on paved roads and bike paths, but most was on dirt roads through forests and cow pastures. Definitely one of my favorite rides ever, just more difficult than I thought it would be, with serious inclines, tree roots and rocks. Again, we could have chosen the easy route and didn’t! I highly recommend doing this with a guide.

The Latemar Labyrinth Hike

We could have done absolutely anything our last day, from driving to lakes to doing a hike with our hotel to visiting Bolzano. We chose to do a moderate hike that looked gorgeous, the Latemar Labyrinth. We could see the Latemar massif from both our previous hike and our e-bike ride, so it was fun to get up close. We drove roughly 20 minutes from Cyprianerhof to Karerpass | Passo di Costalunga, where we parked (you pay when you leave the carpark) and then hiked from there. We followed the directions on the Eggental site (linked above), but also used the AllTrails app and opted for a much more difficult climb at the end instead of going straight back to the car, which was a good move – the views were stunning. We started the hike at 9:45am and ate lunch at Antermont around 2:15, at the end of the hike near the parking lot. Highlights were the views and the fall colors, with the yellow larches everywhere. I’d absolutely do this hike again! Dolomites perfection.

Do You Need a Car in the Dolomites?

As I mentioned above, our rental car was expensive. We used it to reach the hotel the first day, to head to/from the Latemar Labyrinth the fourth day, and then to drive back to the train station on day five. If we didn’t have a car, we could have taken a public bus from next to the Bolzano train station to the hotel (bus 185). It’s free with a South Tyrol guest pass, which the hotel sends you after you check in online. That would have been easy. However, returning to Bolzano, the bus doesn’t start operating until 6:02am, arriving at the train station at 6:43am at the earliest. Our direct train to Florence was at 6:42am, so that wouldn’t have worked. We could have taken a later train, but it would have been a lot more expensive and it wouldn’t have been direct.

So we could have gotten by without a car, but a lot of those savings would have gone to alternative train tickets, and we likely wouldn’t have done the Labyrinth hike the last day, which was amazing. So it’s your call, based on your schedule and what activities you want to do. When I return with my wife at some point, I’d be very tempted to skip the car and just base at the hotel for everything.

How Much Does it Cost to Visit the Dolomites?

Cyprianerhof averages around €250 per person per night for half board. Some dates are less, some are higher. Our rental car was €468 for four days. Our three-day Eggental Mountain Passes, which gave us access to all gondolas and lifts, would have been €72 per person if Eggental Tourism hadn’t provided them. Our private e-bike ride would have been €250 plus €60 for each bike rental, although the Carezza Ski and Bike school also has less-expensive rentals and weekly group rides. Our train tickets were €26 per person from Venice to Bolzano and €25 per person from Bolzano to Florence, all on fast trains. Lunches weren’t expensive. Hiking is free.

Dolomites / Eggental / Cyprianerhof Overall Thoughts

This was a perfect trip, and made me realize how easy it can be to visit the Dolomites. Flying into Venice and then transferring to Bolzano worked well. Fall was a great time to visit – we had perfect weather (sunny and generally 60-70f / 15-20c for our activities), and the fall colors were beautiful, although they hadn’t quite peaked the second week of October. I absolutely loved Cyprianerhof and want to return. Sitting by the pool, or in the sauna or hot tub, and looking at Rosengarten in the late-afternoon light is wonderful. A one-week stay would be ideal. A four-night stay wasn’t long enough.

While the sauna area is adults-only, there were several families at the resort while we were there, and there are pools and kid areas perfect for families. Likewise there are kid-friendly hikes all around.

Eggental is the region with Rosengarten and Latemar and is a great base. I know everyone has their favorite areas of the Dolomites, but I thought Eggental was perfect, and with Bolzano nearby, it’s easy to reach. Eggental has two of the Dolomites’ major ski areas (90km of slopes, 80 km of cross-country ski trails) and in the summer has 500km of hiking trails and 200km of mountain bike trails. Plus there’s all sorts of other winter and summer activities. We barely scratched the surface.

Dolomites Traveling Companions

I traveled throughout Italy with Kim (@stuffedsuitcase), Karilyn (@nobackhome) and Lindsay (@lindsaynieminen). Any photos of me above were taken by one of them!