About The Dolomites
The facets of dolomite crystals (a magnesium limestone named after the 18thC French geologist Dolomieu) are slightly curved. Hence their diamond sparkle and pinkish pearly glitter. Hence the vivid gleam of those massive outcrops called the Dolomites in the Alpine country of the Veneto, Trentino and Alto Adige regions of north-eastern Italy. From far off the crinkled peaks are a winter fairyland. Closer, amid snows (but the pinnacles are too sheer for much snow to lie), you see a sunny or rosy refulgence. In places there are coloured veins, brown and purple, in the pale stone. These find their way to the souvenir workshops of Dolomite towns and end up in the baggage of tourists in the shape of ashtrays, lamp-bases and paperweights. Sharpness and steepness characterize the mountains. Your road often runs directly beneath crags of amazing perpendicularity and grandeur.
Through the main group of the four Dolomite massifs goes the celebrated Grand Dolomites Highway, opened 1909, broadened several times since. This engineering triumph connects Ponte Gardena on the Bolzano-Bressanone road with Cortina d’Ampezzo, one of the world’s most beautiful high-altitude resorts. The circuit connecting the best places to visit shown by the map (two to three days if you do it all in one go) negotiates the full length of the Highway and brings you back via parallel valleys to the south and high passes from which stupendous panoramas open out. Among them are views from several angles of Monte Marmolada (3,342 m), the highest Dolomite summit and the only glacial one.
Attractive valleys, crossing national parks, link the high points of the circuit. They can be busy in summer and winter, at least half the vehicles wearing ‘D’ for Germany or ‘A’ for Austria.
In the Alto Adige two cultures clash. Separatists, calling the region ‘Sud Tirol’ against geographical logic, demand closer ties with Austria. Between 1961 and 1981 terrorist outrages drove foreign visitors away. Tourism is vital to the prosperity of a land starved of natural resources and the activists, stubborn but not stupid, pursue peaceful paths to autonomy. Road signs in Italian and German, a bilingual and trilingual people, a strange mix of Latin and Teutonic cuisines and customs… they enrich the tourist’s experience, whatever private animosities they conceal.
In Ortisei, we recommend The Classic Stetteneck, a traditional and unpretentious mountain lodge. In Castelrotto, sister hotels Villa Kastelruth and Cavallino d’Oro are both excellent starting points for hiking. In Sesto, Berghotel Sexten offers a welcoming chalet in a classic alpine spot.
TRANSPORT
The nearest airports are Verona and Milan in Italy, Innsbruck in Austria. An airport for Bolzano is at the discussion stage.
The main Brenner-Bolzano-Trento-Verona railway gives access at two points: from Fortezza (for Brunico and Dobbiaco); and from Trento (for Belluno and Pieve di Cadore by a very roundabout route). At peak times in holiday months the main-line trains, especially the Osterreich-Italien express, are overcrowded and seats must be booked days in advance. In winter, avalanche debris often closes the line, at the Brenner Pass and commuter bus services then come into operation.
Dolomiti Bus (www.dolomitibus.it), and SAD (www.sad.it), cover most routes. All towns are efficiently linked with the nearest ski slopes. The principal bases for public transport, as for our tour, are Bolzano, Trento and Belluno. National bus and coach operators run Dolomite tours and excursions from many Italian cities.
Through local tourist information offices or hotels in various resorts you can hire bicycles or mountain bikes and tackle some mighty passes and forest trails. In the national parks, and often elsewhere, they are sensibly waymarked for cyclists and walkers.
