Rising up out of north-eastern Italy at the far eastern end of the Alpine range, the Dolomites are some of the most dramatic mountains in Europe, piercing the blue skies in preposterously sharp needles and towers – not for nothing Le Corbusier called them “the most beautiful architecture in the world”. Frequently pink or bronze at sunset, rising up out of dense, dark forest, the Dolomites offer an extraordinary backdrop to some of the most beautiful villages in Italy – not to mention a fantastic playground for climbers, skiers, white-water rafters and walkers. Here, even non-climbers can scale the steepest of cliffs, ascending on vie ferrate, a system of chains, ladders, cables and artificial hand-holds developed during WWI to aid infantry movements through the mountains. Famous for hosting the 1956 Winter Olympics, Cortina in Veneto is an achingly elegant ski resort today, while neighbour Dobbiaco, at the entrance to the Valley di Landro, is better known as a summer base, with the sunniest climate in the Dolomites, and a superb network of walking trails leading up to its summits. Further west, the Central Dolomites around Selva di Gardena, Canazei and Val di Fassa are dotted at almost every turn by wonderful refuges and mountain cafes, while the Brenta Dolomites at the western end of the chain offer solitude and spectacular mountain scenery on an almost dizzying scale. Painted against this magnificent backdrop, Trentino is a land of 300 lakes, some appearing at the foot of glaciers more than 8,000ft above sea level. Here, German is the mother tongue of more than two-thirds of its people. Further down the valleys that stream from the summits, pretty towns and villages – many still speaking German – are graced with onion-domed Baroque churches, arcaded streets and frescoed houses of Habsburg yellow. A calendar of colour throughout the year, the valleys are scented and coloured with almond and magnolia in March, palms and pomegranates in June and July, roses in October and chrysanthemums in November. Studded with elegant towns like Bolzano, Merano and Val Gardena, with palaces and castles reflecting the area’s affluent, sophisticated past, the Dolomites is, as Kafka put it,: “the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. Freer, broader, grander; the air is clearer and the sun is stronger.” A retreat of Kings and Queens, Emperors and Princes, it is a place that deserves as much time as you can give it.
Local highlights
The city of Bolzano, ringed by ancient castles, once overseen by Tyrolean archduchess Claudia de Medici, today distinguished by elegant facades and colourful markets; Merano, with its attractive promenades, luxuriant vegetation and spa centre. Here, you can take the Passegiata Tappeiner which winds 4 kms long above the town affording panoramic views, or take the cable-car to Merano 2000 and then walk in the mountains above the town; Val Gardena, another summer retreat of kings and emperors, where Ladin is still spoken, and Ladin culture still practiced; skiing at Cortina, and stunning Veneto mountain resorts of Cadore, Valle d’Ampezzo, Comelico, Marmolada and Mt Cristallo, which offer a vast playground for climbers, skiers, white-water rafters and walkers; via ferrate all along the range, allowing even non-climbers to scale steep cliffs and rockfaces; Stelvio National Park, where mountain goats, deer and eagles survive; the Romanesque chapel of San Procolo in Naturno with its remarkable 14th century murals.
Getting out and about
Criss-crossing the Dolomites, you'll find a dense network of local roads that make it very easy to move around by car to all the major points of interest of the mountain range. The mountains also boast a very extensive bus network that is particularly useful during the summer months when access to many of the trails is provided by a regular schedule bus service. There are also numerous private taxi companies that offer specialized services that can assist walkers who need to get to isolated walking routes. As services can be limited on Sundays and outside high season, we would recommend car-hire, which we include with all our holidays here. One drive we recommend in particular is out along the Val Venosta to the spectacular mountainscapes of Val Gardena and Val d'Ega and then on over the Dolomites to Cortina.
Travel arrangements
By air to Verona for the Dolomites with daily flights with British Airways from Gatwick. It might be preferable for you to fly from Heathrow direct to Milan. We include a hire-car with all our holidays to the Dolomites. With your own car the Dolomites can be reached easily with two overnight stops from the UK, perhaps in Alsace and then the Italian Lakes. We can make the hotel reservations for you in France as well. In addition to holidays by air, you may also be interested in holidays by rail (including the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express and an overnight sleeper service from Paris to Italy), rail travel whilst you are in Italy or taking your own car all the way to
Italy (self-drive holidays).