Suggestion for short site seeing trips in the Dolomites - Arabba and Oberammergau to Arabba and Arabba to Verona

[GreyHairedWombat]

I note most of the articles/tours posted on UKGSER relate to riding the passes but as this trip is for my wife and I'd like something other than riding mountain passes.

We are based in Arabba for 2 nights 9/10 September and would like to recharge batteries, rest and wash clothes, so a short ride somewhere nice would be preferable.

I've read through several threads/post and checked out trip reports. Considered so far Cortina d'Ampezzo, Lago di Braies, Val di Funes, some or all

Riding from Oberammergau on the 9th and then to Verona on 11th. I could taking some sites/interesting places in transit from Oberammergau to Arabba on the 9th and Arabba to Verona on the 11th. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[Wapping]

That‘s three separate questions in one post.

Question one

I note most of the articles/tours posted on UKGSER relate to riding the passes but as this trip is for my wife and I'd like something other than riding mountain passes.

We are based in Arabba for 2 nights 9/10 September and would like to recharge batteries, rest and wash clothes, so a short ride somewhere nice would be preferable.

You chose Arabba as your base; what dictated that choice? Most people stay in the town, simply as it’s a good hub to ride passes and nothing more. If you wanted other ‘short distance away’ stuff (and not riding passes) another location might have been better perhaps?

Be that as it may, now that you have settled on Arabba, look at a map and decide how far you want to ride in a morning / afternoon / day out. Do have in mind, that riding around mountains isn’t always as quick as riding down the M1. Arabba is served by buses, which you can take to Cortina, or up the various passes. Here’s an example:



or book a taxi to take you somewhere.

Google: 10 best things to do in Arabba:




Questions two and three

Pump the two journeys into Google maps and have a simple look around. The most obvious and easy ‘large place’ on the way to Arabba is Innsbruck…

8 Great Things to Do in Innsbruck, Austria

Innsbruck is a colorful city nestled in the Austrian Alps. Here are 8 great things to do in Innsbruck with tips to plan your trip.

www.earthtrekkers.com

Two seconds in Google, shows that Trento is about halfway to Verona.

10 things to see in Trento

10 things to see and do in Trentino’s largest city: art, history, nature walks and tasty aperitifs.

www.visittrentino.info

Everything is out there, just a click, surf (and imagination) away.

 

[Khulu]

I note most of the articles/tours posted on UKGSER relate to riding the passes but as this trip is for my wife and I'd like something other than riding mountain passes.

We are based in Arabba for 2 nights 9/10 September and would like to recharge batteries, rest and wash clothes, so a short ride somewhere nice would be preferable.

I've read through several threads/post and checked out trip reports. Considered so far Cortina d'Ampezzo, Lago di Braies, Val di Funes, some or all

Riding from Oberammergau on the 9th and then to Verona on 11th. I could taking some sites/interesting places in transit from Oberammergau to Arabba on the 9th and Arabba to Verona on the 11th. Do you have any suggestions?

You could visit the "three chimneys" peaks NE of Cortina.

 

[Wapping]

You could do a whole bunch of things, depending on what this means:

….so a short ride somewhere nice would be preferable.

A cable car up the Marmolada, for instance, if the weather is good.

World War One, stuff: https://cortinadelicious.it/EN/p55-The-WW1-OpenAir-Museums but that is not everybody’s taste and you might need a head for heights (and being underground) if you go to the tunnels, dug thorough and to the tops of the mountains.

 

[GreyHairedWombat]

Thank you very much for all your suggestions. Very helpful

 

[Wapping]

Welcome.

This thread, along with your several ‘Plan my holiday for me’ posts show how difficult it is for people to plan holidays for other people. For example, Arabba is a perfectly nice mountain village but it is predominantly geared to:

a. Skiing… you are going in late summer, so that’s out

b. Walkers / off-road cyclists….. I don’t think your are up for hiring a bicycle and I think you mentioned frequent stops? That maybe strikes those out.

c. Blokes on motorbikes who want to hoon around the passes, its crossroads location making it all but perfect. But you want a day away from the passes.

The latter means that Arabba often comes up as a suggestion on UKGSer. The danger then lies in just copying, when you probably don’t want to copy at all.

If you don’t want to ride passes on the one day that you are in Arabba, you’d maybe have been better offmaking the location somewhere that suited that need. In other words, somewhere still quite nice but with things to do within the town or say a bus or a train ride away. If you wanted to visit Cortina for day, why not chose that as your two night stop, rather than Arabba?

Likewise, things to do between X and Y. Oberammergau to Arabba…. It’s four hours, down a motorway if you go direct. Leaving at, say 10 AM (nobody knows when you plan on leaving) with say a 45 minute stop half way, means you arrive in Arabba at near enough 15:00…. Does that suit you or do you want to arrive at 18:30? If the latter, then you have more time to see and do ‘stuff’. It would probably have made more sense to have gone Oberammergau to Cortina, instead of Arabba and killed two birds with one stone.

 

[GreyHairedWombat]

Thank you. I'm learning. Booked Arabba as seemed a popular destination for other forum members. Hopefully my novice attempts will help to serve others to avoid similar errors.

 

[Wapping]

No problem. We see it a lot on these pages.

The problem (if you want to make it one) is that going from Arabba to Cortina is at least an hour, over the Falzarego Pass. There is a more northerly route, but inevitably it will still involve some hairpins, most particularly in the run to Corvara.

An hour there, an hour back. 20 minutes halfway break. That’s all but three hours out of your day gone, getting to Cortina and back. Does that suit you and your wife’s idea of a “….something other than riding mountain passes…. short ride somewhere“? That is the crucial question, which only you can answer.

 

[GreyHairedWombat]

No problem. We see it a lot on these pages.

The problem (if you want to make it one) is that going from Arabba to Cortina is at least an hour, over the Falzarego Pass. There is a more northerly route, but inevitably it will still involve some hairpins, most particularly in the run to Corvara.

An hour there, an hour back. 20 minutes halfway break. That’s all but three hours out of your day gone, getting to Cortina and back. Does that suit you and your wife’s idea of a “….something other than riding mountain passes…. short ride somewhere“? That is the crucial question, which only you can answer.

Thank you. That's very helpful. Teresa and I appreciate all the advice I get from you. About to leave this afternoon down to Folkstone. Really looking forward to it. One message that I have taken on board is that you don't necessarily need to plan to the nth detail and the aim is to have an adventure. Cheers

 

[Wapping]

Have fun.

 

[GreyHairedWombat]

Have fun.

Having an amazing time here in the Dolomites. Wife gave me a pass out this afternoon to ride the Sellaronda which took in enough of the mountain passes to satisfy. Weather 29-30c. Lots of bikes out today (Sunday) mainly Italians, some German and Austrians. Did not see another UK bike today. Soo many cars, bikes, cyclists so there is a constant noise.

Went for a walk this morning and as you go up say another 1000’ you then get some peace and quiet.

Hotel Portavescovo is excellent and would recommend