Italian Dolomites
It’s been a while since my last travel posts – but don’t fear I am still a dame on a dime and I am still here with fabulous tips and tricks for your next trip away On Holiday.
To come back with a bang – I have decided to share about one of my most favorite places in the world – The Italian Dolomites.
North of Venice and Verona you will find this treasured land with views and vistas that seek to awe and inspire, but be warned… this is by no means an “easy to get to” spot. It takes careful navigation and plenty of research to do The Dolomites “right.” The good news is I have done that research so you don’t have to. In fact – it was in preparing to visit the Dolomites (summer of 2020) that I came up with the idea for a travel blog. I researched for what felt like ages and was truly unable to find any substantial guidance on how best to approach a visit to the Dolomites. Guides recommended weeks of hiking – time I didn’t have available (and let’s be honest I don’t know how much of a hiker I really am). Other websites would suggest a cool hotel here or there, but I wasn’t able to really grasp enough about how best to navigate a 2 night – 3 day adventure. So I took some risks, made some exec decisions and pulled together my own itinerary. Let’s just say… I smashed it. See below my go to- quick visit to the Italian Dolomites filled with MUST DO’s, Please DON’Ts and other passing humors.
But first - what are the Dolomites?
- Land north of Italy bordering Germany and Austria
- Combines cuisine and culture of all of these places
- Stunning in summer and winter (I visited in summer)
Visiting The Dolomites it is recommended you fly to either Verona or Venice. We were already in Verona, so decided to rent a car and drive (what we thought would be) three hours north to the Dolomites. Seemed simple enough – right? Wrong.
Well I shouldn’t say renting a car wasn’t simple. It was and it is a fantastic way (and really the ONLY way) to get to the Dolomites. How we went wrong was in our specific route that we decided to take on our journey from Verona.
You see, I had it all mapped out… It would take three hours to drive from Verona to the Dolomites. In between- we would stop in a little town called Trento for lunch at a cute, traditional restaurant called Al Vo. We would then make it on our way up to the mountains.
And we did that. The town was small and cute and we had wonderful pasta and a few sips of red wine. Lovely, lovely.
Next – we would get in the car and flip on google maps to find our journey – as expected – to be another 1.5 hours. On track – great. Quickly, Steve and I were lost in conversation and music listening (ah to be in love 😊) and maybe a note would pop onto the google maps screen – not a decision but a mere comment, but we would ignore it and keep driving. Well – in fact this note suggested google had rerouted us based on some of our own mistaken turns. We would now be driving up and up and up into the Italian Mountains. After several hours of hard turns and cliffs- my partner would ask me… how long until we arrive? We were dumbfounded to see that somehow – we had another 1.5 hours left.
Yep – unbeknownst to us we had doubled our drive to the Dolomites with one wrong turn and an apathetic google maps application. Not only that – but we were on a very steep, very windy and very difficult road. It felt impossible. Each minute went by like hours – we got stuck in a hailstorm and generally went from being excited and happy to be together to irritated and annoyed with each other’s sheer existence.
How would we get there? Was this even the right way? We wondered – silently.
Somehow out of nowhere Covara in Badia appeared. I still remember it, green and glistening sitting in a narrow valley of this epic series of mountains – all with jagged teeth-like peaks. It was like nothing I had ever before seen.
The time was 8 PM – and our trip had taken us nearly 6 hours to complete. We were exhausted.
We had booked a pension in the center of town that was well regarded. The Pensione Garni Ciasa Blancia was slightly worried, as we were 3 hours later than expected. A small Italian couple – man and woman appeared immediately as we pulled up. It felt like the Italian grandparents we both wished we had.
Let’s pause so I can quickly tell you – outside of general frustration and exhaustion upon arrival, we stepped out of the car wearing practically no clothes. It was August and Verona had been nearly 95 Degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) that day. Steve was wearing a Boston Celtics Basketball jersey, shorts and flip flops. I was in small black athletic shorts and a tiny tank top – my mother would have been horrified. The Dolomites were considerably colder and it was evening. The temperature had dropped by nearly half from our city visits in Southern Italy.
So we arrive looking crazy and our Italian grandparents greet us with pleasure, delight and concern. They are interested in our American nationality and the Italian man calls Steve a name that we continue to not be able to decipher. We finally realize he is calling / asking Steve if he is a capitalist (but it sounds more like cap-EAT-il- ist) we laugh and Steve nods that he is (a capitalist!). They eventually check us in and ask us for payment (in cash) up front. We of course don’t have this (even though Steve acknowledges is he is a capitalist ha ha) so we promise to get cash when we go out for dinner later in the evening. They (being the lovely pseudo grandparents they are) of course kindly accept this offer. We check into our cute little pension room. It was simple, but perfect. It had rustic wooden features, a shower with great water pressure but most importantly - a balcony and view.
After taking this in - we immediately go out to source dinner – unsure of what we would find open. We find Pizzeria Ristorante Salvana. It is a true hybrid of the countries surrounding The Dolomites. It is Italian – in that it serves fabulous pizza, yet German in that it serves large steins of German Beer (our favorite being Paulaner) and Austrian in that all are wearing dirndl’s and generally feel classy and sophisticated. Something else made us laugh that night too – but I can’t recall except this general feeling and memory of being somewhere completely different and also very comfortable and warm. Covara was off to a wonderful start.
During dinner as we built our plans for the days ahead – we realised we had absolutely no clothes appropriate for this trip. We had organised to be in Europe for August and therefore had only brought shorts and bathing suits. We barely had a jacket and I had one pair of pants. We had planned to take the gondolas up the mountains to see all the different views and visit some of the Refugio’s up in the mountains and we didn’t have anything appropriate for the climate or activities!
So in this gorgeous little town – we decided after dinner (now likely 9.30 / 10 at night mind you) we would need to find a store that was open that we could buy some equipment for the days ahead. After all – we were only visiting for a few days so we needed to wake up early to take advantage of a full day of activities.
One thing to note about the Italian Dolomites – yep its like all the fancy European ski towns, it’s expensive. So we needed clothes but we did not want to spend anything significant. Challenge accepted.
We then walk into the ONLY shop open, (it’s tiny - the size of a NYC apartment) and ask them for their sale section. They laugh and say we don’t have any sort of thing. We feel defeated but are still laughing somewhat from the jovial dinner and lovely pension so decide to browse the store. We don’t need much but we put some serious effort in to find something that can make us warm for the two days of travel but also aren’t serious investment items. We quickly discover this woman was either lying or hates us because there were many items “on sale” they are not in a specific section – sure, but there are some affordable items! We decide not to point this out to her and instead rejoice in our findings. I get a reduced pair of long underwear and a jacket that can fold into a bag – Steve finds a hat and a shirt that he can wear to add an extra layer of warmth. Success!
Lastly – we decide to seek guidance about the gondolas / day passes for our hiking adventure the next day. We take a tip from my father, and go into the fanciest hotel in all of Covara – Hotel La Perla. Five star hotels are a wealth of knowledge about the surrounding areas and their concierge always have time to help a kind traveler with guidance or direction. We ask them about the different gondola day passes, costings and locations. They are warm and help us to develop our itinerary for the next morning.
A successful evening completed - we start to walk back to our pension – nearly at the door when we realize we have forgotten to get “our grandparents” their money for our stay. We laugh, thinking how embarrassing it would be if the capitalist can’t get his act together to pay for his lodging. We get the money and head back to our place.
Morning day one we wake up to a jaw dropping view from our balcony. Remember, it was nearly nightfall when we had arrived the day before and so we had not been able to fully appreciate the splendor of the dolomites and these incredible mountains. Stunned, we get ready as quickly as possible to seize the day.
Included as part of our pension ( and most all pensions – fancy European word for bed and breakfast) is breakfast. Of course this wasn’t just a buffet – the lovely Italian Nonie would prepare you a plate and a coffee and hustled around all the guests to make sure they were fed, watered and comfortable. I tell you now – a smile still comes to my face when I think of that breakfast.
We left satisfied – taking in the fresh air and unable to peel our eyes away from the fantastic views every which way we turned our heads.
We went to the main gondola site to buy our day pass. These day passes cost € 39 per day - and allow you to go up and down as many of the Corvara of Badia mountains as you like. We started our day here.
We went up two whole sections of mountain – taking in the views- and found the lovely Rifugio Col Pradat for a coffee and an apple strudel – divine.
Each time you go up you can find areas to hike around and take in the spectacular views.
After finishing on that side – we made our way to the other side (entering the entrance right next to fancy Hotel La Perla). Before doing so – we stopped at the Spar in town for some snacks to take up the mountain. While there are many restaurants you can stop in for lunch– they are expensive and we much preferred to spend our short time in The Dolomites taking in the spectacular views and hiking around. I did have a cheeky pint at this wonderful restaurant and viewpoint on our way up the other side of Covara (highly recommend).
The other side was much more vast and had a variety of different trails and views to look at.
We eventually came back down the mountain and got dinner in town at Ristorante Pizzeria Black Hill. Yum truffle pizzas and more Paulaners abound!
On our second day – we decided to visit one of the neighboring towns of the dolomites Pragser Wildsee this town is known for its electric blue water that you can swim in, boat in or just sit and admire. Only a 30 minute drive from Covara – this little town is well worth visiting. On our way back – we found dinner at another place in the outskirts of town. It was lovely.
Our final day we drove back down – stopping through Cortina in the dolomites to check it out. This town also has a variety of restaurants and would be a good place to stay – but our little village still to me seemed to have much more to offer.
On our way back – we stopped at Lake Garda for a few nights and enjoyed that spectacular beauty. Ill post more about Lake Garda later….
The Dolomites are phenomenal – key takeaways for you as you plan a visit:
1. Pay attention to your route – when coming from Verona make sure to take A22/ E45 highway AS LONG AS POSSIBLE do not veer off for you will be very angry with yourself…
2. Stay in Corvara of Badia – it has amazing hotels, pensions, views and so much to do – by far the best base for a stay in the dolomites
3. Visit Pragser Wildsee – the blue magical lake
4. Check the weather! It has very different weather than Southern Italy – beware!
Hope you visit and look forward to hearing about your time On Holiday!
