This summer, as the heat waves started to hit Europe, we finally arrived in a cooler part of Italy: the Dolomites. We’ve been wanting to visit the Italian Alps for a long time and the amazing scenery they offer. We ran away to the Dolomites for a long weekend trip, for my birthday, at the end of June. And how good it was! But let me tell you all the practical details for organizing a trip to this magical land.
- How to get to the Dolomites?
- Where to stay in the Dolomites?
- 3 days Itinerary Dolomites
- Travel Budget Dolomites
How to get to the Dolomites?
We didn’t want to bother with a long drive, so we chose to fly. There are two options where you can fly near the Dolomites: Milan and Venice. From Romania we have many low cost flights that reach the two destinations, so the flights can be really cheap. From the two cities, it takes another 2-3 hours by car to reach the Dolomites, depending on the final destination.
We chose to fly Timisoara-Bergamo (Milan), direct flight with RyanAir (it was the best price for the period we chose). From there we rented a car, right from the airport, with which we traveled to the Dolomites and around the area. I find it very useful to have a car in the Dolomites – it’s not like in Switzerland, where we visited many car-free villages. Here, in the Dolomites, we got almost everywhere by car. You don’t need a 4×4 for this trip. As usual, we searched for the best rental car prices using a search engine. The prices were much higher than usual, but at least I could see which were the lowest of them all. We rented from Budget.
We traveled a large part of the way on the highway – you pay on the spot, in cash (euros) or by card. We paid cash. The parking lots in the Dolomites cost about 1.5€ per hour, but I also found free ones.
Where to stay in the Dolomites?
We chose to stay in Val Gardena, a beautiful area, around which most of the places we wanted to visit were located. Ortisei is the name of the small town near which we stayed and it is a great starting point for the places I will mention a little below.
So, we chose a good accommodation area, after which we also chose a wonderful hotel – we wanted to fully enjoy what the Dolomites have to offer, but also to relax, so we chose – La Cort my Dollhouse. An extremely comfortable room with a balcony and a view to Ortisei and the Dolomites, delicious food and, the icing on the cake, a SPA with rooftop infinity pool. La Cort My Dollhouse is an adults only hotel (14+), so it is very quiet and nice.
What a day in the Dolomites looks like for us: waking up to the dream landscape, a healthy buffet breakfast, which we could serve whether we were getting up early or having a lazier day (between 7:30am and 11am), followed by exploring the gorgeous Dolomites. We would then return to the accommodation for linner (lunch-dinner) between 4pm-7pm, where we would find a rich buffet of local delicacies and a traditional main dish. We then moved to the top floor where we indulged in swimming in the infinity pool or relaxing in the jacuzzi (yes, the pool could become the biggest jacuzzi I’ve ever been in at the push of a button). We enjoyed the panoramic sauna, the relaxation area and the soft drinks at our discretion.
The hotel is one of the most special ones we visited, with a themed design: Dollhouse – wooden dolls that the locals of the area used to make a few hundred years ago, from the sales of which they would feed their large families. After a break of decades, the tradition was resumed by a local woman, and the hotel promotes this tradition. We took the time during our stay to read about them and admire them.
You can find the hotel on Booking.com and they also have their own website where you can check availability, room types and prices – La Cort my Dollhouse. The accommodation price includes the breakfast buffet, the linner buffet (lunch-dinner) and full access to the SPA, for two people.
3 days Itinerary Dolomites
We spent 4 nights in the Dolomites, but only had 3 full days. So we have carefully chosen the most beautiful places to see in the Dolomites, including short hikes – and a moderate one, of about 3 hours. We were not disappointed with any of these, they are even more beautiful than in the pictures!
- Val Gardena – the area where we stayed
- Gardena Pass – Dolomites’s Transfăgărăşan, a splendor! You can park at the top, it costs 1.5€ per hour, but the whole route is wonderful.
- Rifugio delle Odle (Geisler Alm) & Adolf Munkel Trail – 3 hour loop hike, moderate. Superb route, and the destination in the middle of the circuit, Rifugio delle Odle, is a dream! It starts on route 36 from Parcheggio Malga Zannes – click on the link for exact coordinates. Parking costs €8, from 7am, or €3, after 1pm. It is paid at the machine, only in cash.
- Val di Funes – the area with the picturesque village of Santa Maddalena and the Adolf Munkel Trail, Rifugio delle Odle.
- St. Maddalena – here I recommend a short 30-minute hike from the village parking lot to a fairytale viewpoint, with the church of Santa Maddalena and the Dolomites in the same setting. It’s called Santa Maddalena Viewpoint, and if you click on the link, you’ll find the exact coordinates on Google Maps.
- Alpe di Siusi (Seiser Alm) – a plateau of rare beauty. Special landscapes at sunrise, with mystical fog, but just as gorgeous during the day. The pictures on Instagram speak for themselves. It can be reached by car only after 5pm, or anytime if you have accommodation in the area. Otherwise, you can get there by cable car from the Seiser Alm Bahn (I leave the coordinates in the link), which costs €20 round trip, per person.
- Lago di Carezza – a tiny, surreal turquoise lake with fir trees and the peaks of the Dolomites behind it. It is a true splendor! There is a paid parking opposite it, it costs €1 per hour and you can do short hikes around the lake.
- Seceda – one of the most famous mountains, where there are countless hikes. It can be reached by hiking, or by cable car from Ortisei. There are actually two cable cars. The route is Ortisei – Furnes + Furnes – Seceda. The ticket costs €37 return, for both cable cars.
Travel Budget Dolomites
How much does a holiday in the Dolomites cost?
To be completely honest, this is not the cost of our trip, but the cost of a trip exactly like ours: with the same accommodations, route, meals, number of nights, flights. You already know that we have collaborations on the travel side, so we don’t pay for certain services, but I show the costs for them, for your convenience.
So, these are the costs of a 4-night trip to the Dolomites, by plane + rental car, with superb accommodations, rooftop infinity pool & SPA, good food and dream scenery, in high season, for two people:
- Timișoara-Milan flight: €49 (2 x €11 return flight + 1 piece of 10kg luggage)
- Accommodation in Ortisei: €185, 1 night, with breakfast
- Accommodation at Cort my Dollhouse: €576, 2 nights, buffet breakfast and dinner + SPA included
- Accommodation in Bergamo: €117, 1 night
- Rental Car: €305, 4 days
- Bergamo-Ortisei Motorway Toll: €18
- Tubladel Ortisei dinner: €121
- Dinner 2 Pizzas: €25
- Alpe di Siusi snack: €22
- Drinks & snacks Seceda: €25
- Snack St. Magdalena: €24
- Bergamo dinner: €36
- Gas Alpe di Siusi: €42
- Dolomiti-Bergamo Motorway Toll: €18
- Gas Bergamo: €57
Total 2 people: €1620
That’s about it for our trip to the Dolomites. We know there’s more to see, but we’re glad we’ve seen even that – it really is a once-in-a-lifetime magical land! We post on Instagram live updates, on the blog it’s a little harder to keep up with the stories.
Safe travels!
