Do you need a car in the Dolomites? Well, yes. Find out why.
Do you need a car in the Dolomites? Well, yes.
It is possible, of course, to get around the Dolomites without one – most of the public transportation in South Tyrol / Alto Adige / Sudtirol is free and the whole area is well connected. But still, it’s just inconvenient to rely on the bus schedule.
For the sake of research, I tried planning and getting around the Dolomites without a car once. Let me tell you, although the place we stayed at (Obereggen) was very well connected by buses, it was still a pain to plan going around with them.
So, in my opinion, the Dolomites are best explored with a car.
Why do you need a car in the Dolomites?
The biggest reason – for sure – is the freedom that a car provides.
You want to see the sunrise at Lago di Braies? No problem.
Cloudy at the mountain pass that you’re visiting? Just come back later!
The public transport, although quite convenient if you don’t have any other options, still runs rarely enough that it doesn’t give you the freedom to move about as you wish.
I was taking a bus from Obereggen to Lago di Carezza, and the options I had were – either stay there for ~20 minutes or for more than 2 hours, as that’s how the buses were running at lunch time.
With a car, you don’t have to worry about how much time you spend hiking or if there’s a long wait at the mountain huts on the trail.
Is it expensive to drive in the Dolomites?
It’s not exactly cheap to drive a car in the Dolomites, but I wouldn’t call it that expensive, either.
The car obviously uses a bit more fuel when driving up on the windy roads than it would on a straight road, but you save a bit when driving downhill.
There are some toll roads in the Dolomites – for example, to Rifugio Auronzo, where you’ll find the trailheads for the Tre Cime di Lavaredo loop and the Cadini di Misurina viewpoint hike. Another toll road is to Prato Piazza.
The fuel is more expensive in the mountains, but you can drive a bit out of them when you have a chance to fill up the tank.
And another cost to account for is the parking lots. Some are more expensive, for example, by Lago di Carezza or Lago di Braies. Some are normally priced, and there are even free parking lots, for example, in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
What to know about driving in the Dolomites
Driving in the Dolomites is similar to driving in any other mountains, whether in Northern Italy or anywhere else in the world. The mountain roads are well maintained, well, as well as they can be.
There are quite a few roads with hairpin bends – in fact, the road to Stelvio Pass has 48 hairpin bends and it was famously labelled the best road in the World by TopGear.
Driving to Alpe di Siusi is very limited. There are specific times that you can drive, depending on whether you stay in a hotel or not.
There are not too many gas stations in the area so make sure to fuel when you can.
The two peak seasons – summer and winter – are the time when you need to be the most careful when driving in the Dolomites. Autumn and Spring pretty much depend on the weather conditions – so it might be driving like in the Summer or in the Winter.
Summer season
In the summer, the roads can become quite crowded. There are runners, bicyclists, motorbikers, hikers, and the occasional animals. And of course, loads of cars and buses.
The roads are often being fixed so there might be traffic lights – and traffic jams.
Sometimes, rock falls happen – it actually happened when we wanted to cross the passo Gardena to our hotel in Santa Cristina di Val Gardena. On the way, the big official signs were showing that Passo Gardena is open, but there were A4 paper signs put out in some places saying that the Passo Gardena is closed. I checked online, and the official website said that the pass is open.
Well, when we went up the pass (going around a barrier, oops!), the pass was closed. Apparently, on our way to it a rock fall happened. The whole time we were in the Dolomites, the road remained closed.
Another thing is, when the buses drive in the hairpin bends, they tend to block the whole two lanes. So be careful – don’t drive too fast!
Winter season
Driving in the winter season, when there’s snow on the roads, gets a bit trickier.
Some of the roads and passes close if there’s snow. For example, the toll road to Rifugio Auronzo closes until the snow melts.
Generally, there are signs in the valleys that say if the respective mountain passes are open, but sometimes they might not be updated. Check the website which might get updated.
On the other hand, the roads which are open are very well maintained. Even when we had to drive in a huge snowstorm, it was not that bad.
It’s a legal requirement to have snow chains in the car when you drive in the Dolomites in winter. And they need to be on the wheels if the road has snow on them.
Parking situation
The parking situation in the Dolomites is actually quite well thought out. There are parking lots by most of the popular places,
Most of the parking lots in the Dolomites, at least by the popular sights, are paid. At the height of the season – July and August – they fill up quite quickly.
For example, the parking lot by Rifugio Auronzo has limited space. When the space fills up, the toll road gets closed – and you have to wait for someone to leave, take a bus, or hike.
Some of the parking lots are free in the winter.
And there are usually parking lots just by the cable car stations so if you’d like to visit places like Seceda, Alpe di Siusi, or even Rifugio Lagazuoi, it’s easily doable when you have a car.
Where to rent a car
If you fly into Italy and decide to go for a car, it’s a good idea to use a rental in the airport you fly to. The two cities with major airports near the Dolomites are Venice and Milan (or Milan Bergamo).
If you do decide to take the train to the Dolomites, you’ll go to Bolzano through Verona, to get to the Western Dolomites, where there are rental companies available.
The best place where to rent the car for your trip depends on where you’d like to base yourself, as well as which “side” of the Dolomites you arrive to.
So, in short, the best places to rent a car to drive in the Dolomites are: Milan, Bergamo, Verona, Bolzano, or Venice.
Bolzano
There are rental companies in and near the train station in Bolzano. There are some bigger brands there, such as Hertz and Dollar. And there are smaller, more local Italian brands in Bolzano, for example, Sicily by Car.
We’ve used Sicily by Car before (in Sardinia, though) and it was quite good.
Venice
Venice is closer to the Eastern side of the Dolomites, that is, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Tre Cime, etc.
It takes just a bit over 2h to get from Venice to the Dolomites. Also, there are two major airports in Venice, serving both international and local flights (Venice Marco Polo airport and Venice Treviso), plus a major train station – Santa Lucia station.
If you’re arriving in Venice, it’s very convenient to rent a car there and drive to the Dolomites.
Since Venice is such a big destination, you’re going to have a huge choice of both rental companies and price points.
Milan or Bergamo + Verona and Bolzano
Both Milan and Milan Bergamo (thanks, Ryanair) airports are already not that close to the Dolomites, but they are big and international.
Milan, Bergamo, and Verona are al located closer to the west side of the Dolomites, that is, Val Gardena, Alpe di Siusi, Seceda ridgeline, and all that.
If you don’t wish to drive all the way from Milan or Bergamo, you can take the train to Verona or Bolzano, renting there, and driving on.
All of these places have great rentals and big choices.
What to know about renting a car in Italy
The things you need to pay attention to and know when renting your car in the Dolomites are the same as anywhere else in Italy.
- Check if all of the dents and scratches are marked in your rental contract. Last time we rented a car in Italy, it was full of dents and scratches, some of which weren’t marked in the contract.
- Check if the fuel tank is full. Once, we didn’t have a full tank, although the contract stated full.
- You’ll need a credit card – and for my European folks, that’s a credit, not debit card. Unless you buy full insurance from the rental company, they’ll hold some money on your credit card that will be returned to you if the car is ok on return.
- There should be chains, documents, and all else in the car, but double check it just to be sure.
What to have in your own car
If you don’t have a rental car, which should have everything that’s legally required in it, make sure to double check that you have packed the following things:
- High visibility vests – easily reachable
- Hazard triangle
- First aid kit
- Snow chains
Bottom line – should you have a car in the Dolomites?
Whether you have your own car or a rental car, it’s better to have a car in the Dolomites.
The freedom a car gives you is undeniable. Whether your days on the hiking trails or just sightseeing, a car is worth it.
Do you have any questions? Ask away in the comments!
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