The Great Dolomite Road Bolzano: Cortina

By Enrico Massetti

The Great Dolomites Road crosses three regions: Südtirol, Trentino, and Veneto. It is a classic itinerary to visit some of the most scenic parts of the Dolomites. I advised anyone driving along it is to begin in Bozen (Bolzano in Italian). The road is paved and very well developed; however, it is very curvy with a maximum gradient of 12% and requires real driving.
I only partly recommended the route for teams because the streets are very narrow and confusing, especially from the Fassa Valley onwards.
This guide will help you go on the entire road, with clear color maps that indicate the distance and time between places, in addition to photos of the localities. It gives you the route to follow between the different stages.
Numerous viewpoints and parking areas on the Great Dolomite Road allow a panoramic view of the surrounding Dolomites.
The guide starts with a description of the attractions in Bolzano, the Ötzi – the Iceman Museum, Bolzano's castles, and nearby locations.
It then leads you in a drive from Bolzano to Cortina d'Ampezzo, going through the Carezza Lake, Val di Fassa, and the Tofana.
It contains many reviews for the best-recommended restaurants at the location described.
An extensive section full of useful information on how to get to Bolzano and Cortina, and how to go back, plus what kind of services are available to rent a bike, the favorite means of transportation to ride the Great Road, are available.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Enrico Massetti
• Release date: Oct 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005912437

Enrico Massetti

Enrico Massetti nació en Milán, Italia, donde vivió durante más de 30 años, visitando innumerables destinos turísticos, desde las montañas de los Alpes hasta el mar de Sicilia. Ahora vive en Washington, Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, visita regularmente su ciudad natal y disfruta recorriendo todos los lugares de su país, especialmente aquellos a los que puede llegar en transporte público. Puede contactar con Enrico en [e-mail].

Book preview

The Great Dolomite Road

Bolzano - Cortina

Enrico Massetti

Copyright Enrico Massetti 2014-2021

Cover Enrico Massetti from a Photo © Davide Busetto

Text © Enrico Massetti

Images © or Creative Commons licence as specified on every image

2021 edition

Published by Enrico Massetti

All Rights Reserved

Table of Content

Links to the establishments’ websites

Restaurants reviews

Website addresses

Bolzano

Bolzano: Gateway to the Dolomites

Bolzano: The countryside in the city

Bolzano: A bit of history

Ötzi - the Iceman

Where to eat in Bozen/Bolzano

Where to stay in Bolzano

Castles in Bolzano

Bolzano Sigmundskron Castle

Bolzano Runkelstein Castle

Maretsch Castle

The Great Dolomite Road

Bolzano - Kardaun

The legend of the ghost riders of Karneid

Kardaun

From Kardaun to Nova Levante

Vacations in the Rosengarten area

Welschnofen/Nova Levante

Where to eat in Welschnofen

Where to stay in Welschnofen

Nova Levante - Vigo di Fassa

Lake Carezza - Karersee

Where to eat at Lake Carezza:

Where to stay in Carezza

Passo di Costalunga

Vigo di Fassa

Vacations in the Fassa Valley

Where to eat in Vigo di Fassa:

Where to stay in Vigo di Fassa

Vigo di Fassa - Canazei

Paragliding in Canazei

Surroundings of Canazei

Pozza di Fassa

Where to eat at Pozza di Fassa:

Where to stay in Pozza di Fassa

Campitello di Fassa

Where to eat at Campitello di Fassa:

Where to stay in Campitello di Fassa

Canazei

Where to eat in Canazei

Where to stay in Canazei

Passo Pordoi

The road from Alba to Fedaia Pass

Where to eat in Alba

Where to stay in Alba

From Fedaia Pass to Salesei (Pieve di Livinallongo)

Livinallongo - Arabba

Where to eat in Arabba

Where to stay in Arabba

Col di Lana

Salesei (Pieve di Livinallongo) - Passo Falzarego

Passo Falzarego to Cortina d'Ampezzo

Cunturines-Spitze

Cinque Torri

Tofana

Cortina d’Ampezzo

Where to eat in Cortina d'Ampezzo

Where to stay in Cortina d'Ampezzo

How to return to Bolzano from Cortina

How to continue from Cortina to Venice

Where to rent a motorcycle in Bolzano

A Great Road, why not a stop, a short one?

How to reach the Dolomites Road

How to get to Bolzano

How to get to Cortina

Other tourism guides

The Author

Things to Know

Links to the establishments’ websites

Many establishments invested quite a lot of money to have their website. Unfortunately, many of them do not have the security of the Secure Layer SSL installed. Accessing the website can expose you, the visitor, to all kinds of risk, including malicious stealing of financial information, like your credit card number, or the installation of viruses on your computer.

I did not include any link to these websites, only to the ones that have the SSL protection. You can recognize if the security is present or not from the character on the left of the website URL in your browser’s top line. I urge you not to use websites that are not secure.

Since most establishments also have a presence on Facebook, a secure environment, I linked to their Facebook page.

Restaurants reviews

All the restaurants mentioned have great food and courteous service. I will only say what makes them unique.

Website addresses

When indicating a website address, I did not include the https://www initial part. Of course you have to enter it for the URL to work.

The QR code, when scanned with a smartphone, will take you directly to the website.

Bolzano

Lebenberg - Castel Monteleone - juliuspayer

This itinerary crosses three regions: Südtirol, Trentino, and Veneto. It is a classic itinerary to visit some of the most beautiful parts of the Dolomites.

To anyone driving along the Great Dolomites Road, I recommend starting in Bolzano. The road is well traced and paved. However, it has many bends with a maximum gradient of 12% and requires concentrated driving. The route is only partially recommended for bikers in groups because the roads are very narrow and not always marked, especially from the Fassa Valley onwards. Numerous rest points and parking areas provide a panoramic view of the surrounding Dolomites.

The route starts in Bolzano (Bozen in German), the capital of the autonomous province of Südtirol, which lies in a fertile basin at the crossroads of the Isarco river (Eisack), coming from the Brenner Pass, with the Talvera (Talfer), coming from the Sarntal Valley. The Eisack, thus enriched with water, flows into the Adige (Etsch) to the south of the city.

The panorama to the east is formed by the magnificent Catinaccio group, with the Vajolet Towers, typical Dolomite peaks. Situated at the intersection of important routes and the starting point of famous mountain roads, Bolzano has a full traffic flow.